Low-cost ac dynamometer for basic electric motor testing

New products are coming on the market to ease traditionally complex tasks of dynamometer testing of electric motors.

By Control Engineering Staff July 28, 2005

Unlike its predecessors, DynoLab LT offers a fixed I/O configuration optimized for basic electric motor testing.

New products are coming on the market to ease traditionally complex tasks of dynamometer testing of electric motors. A case in point is introduction of DynoLab LT—a low-cost, complete turnkey system for electric motor testing—from Sakor Technologies Inc. , a leading implementer of instrumentation products for this field. DynoLab LT includes test control and data acquisition capabilities needed for basic electric motor testing (along with benefits of an ac motoring dynamometer), priced up to 35% less than the company’s comparably equipped and more powerful DynoLab EM dynamometer test control system, says Sakor.

DynoLab LT provides for measuring speed and torque, and optional voltage and current supply to the motor under test. These data allow the system to easily calculate input/output power and efficiency. The system software, a true subset of the larger DynoLab EM, reportedly offers the basic functionality required for optimal performance, durability, and quality control testing.

The system is designed to work with Sakor’s Accudyne line of ac motoring dynamometers, which reportedly offer full 4-quadrant operation, transitioning seamlessly between loading and motoring modes. DynoLab LT, complemented with an Accudyne dynamometer, is ideal for performing durability and performance testing, as well as quality control auditing of electric motors. The combined system is particularly suited to applications that need both driving and loading capability, such as in direct measurement of true no-load speed/current, bearing and windage losses, and back-EMF generation.

—Frank J. Bartos, executive editor, Control Engineering, fbartos@reedbusiness.com