Electrical Apparatus magazine, April 2005 Motor Research & Development -- Not What it Used to Be"

Well over a century ago in the United States, Thomas Edison established what has been called the first industrial research laboratory. After his firm evolved into the General Electric Company, it and many competitors (large and small) maintained research facilities that developed both products and manufacturing capabilities to give the United States technological leadership.

Today, as factory production from automobiles to textiles moves rapidly outside the country, defenders of the "outsourcing" and "offshoring" trends argue that the United States can hope to maintain such leadership only in basic research outside the realm of "mature" industries such as industrial electrical apparatus.

Whatever the truth of that, research work once done by U. S. electrical apparatus manufacturers in their own laboratories is no longer the major source of either product or manufacturing innovations. For example, insulating tapes or resins; coil winding machinery; lamination production; squirrel cage rotor construction -- developments in these and other motor manufacturing concerns increasingly originate outside the motor industry itself, as plants have been closed, engineering staffs reduced, and overseas competition has intensified.

Domestic leadership is more often displayed by a variety of outside organizations, many of them founded only a few years ago. They include ACEEE (American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy); CEE (Consortium for Energy Efficiency), which developed higher motor efficiency standards eventually resulting in NEMA's "Premium" product line); EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute), sponsoring research into motor efficiency and improved motor repair methods; EPRI's PEAC (Power Electronics Applications Center), testing apparatus response to power interruptions, and the capabilities of drive systems; CDA (Copper Development Association), sponsoring development of cast copper squirrel-cage rotors; MRC (Motor Resource Center), studying reliability and cost-effectiveness of "Premium" motors; and the U. S. DoE (Department of Energy), using several National Laboratories to evaluate apparatus test methods and efficiencies.

Meanwhile, the IEEE -- world's largest professional organization of electrical engineers -- continues to emphasize "new" technologies, such as microelectronics, while de-emphasizing manufacturing of power apparatus, and power engineering education. In the United States, continuing decline in research and development within industry itself appears inevitable.

Industry news...

Featured Technical Article
April 2005

On this page is a summary of the Electrical Apparatus April 2005 featured technical article, by Richard L. Nailen, P.E. , "Motor Research & Development -- Not What it Used to Be"" Motorforschung und entwicklung-nicht mehr, was es einmal war ... La recherche et le développement des moteurs - Ce n'est plus la même chose ... La Investigación y Desarrollo de Motores - Ya No Es Lo Que Era.

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