Solutions Podcast Series
Solutions Podcast Series
IEC and what it means in the US
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IEC is a very important standard in the world of motor manufacturing. IEC is the International Electrotechnical Commission which provides the most widely adopted standards worldwide. IEC has 60 member countries, which includes the US. In this episode, host Mike Murphy is joined by Robert Boyce, ABB Local Division Manager for IEC Low Voltage motors, to discuss IEC and what it means.
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Welcome to another episode of The ABB Solutions Podcast, where we speak with experts on issues we face in the industry. I'm your host, Mike Murphy, speaking to you from Greenville, South Carolina. I'm excited to have here today, Robert Boyce, ABB local division manager for IEC low voltage motors for the US. Welcome, Robert.
Robert Boyce:Thank you. Appreciate you inviting me here.
Mike Murphy:Yeah, it's great having you. Okay, I'm sure many of you listeners are already familiar with NEMA, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. This is the primary motor standard in the US, Canada and Mexico. But another very important standard in the world of motor manufacturing is IEC. IEC is the International Electro Technical Commission, which provides the most widely adopted standards worldwide. IEC has 60 member countries, which also includes the US. Robert, let's first dive a little deeper and discuss IEC in the US, because, I'll be honest, I thought it was the NEMA standards that are mostly followed here in the US.
Robert Boyce:Yeah, the US market is one of the largest in Okay, it sounds like IEC is in a truly a fast growing, expanding the world at $3.5 billion. And inside that market, there is a very fast growing, IEC portion of it. But the majority will still be NEMA but the IEC market is growing. In fact, it's about 10% of this market. So what we're really starting to see here is kind of a blending because outside of the United States, you're seeing about 78% of the world market is IEC. So when you start talking about the two standards, you're starting to see a blending of the two and you're seeing like MG1 specifications, calling out IP code. IP codes actually define how a motor is protected against water and dust, whereas MG1 didn't have a definition. So you're starting to see the blending there. But at the end of the day, both specifications are trying to talk about the same things and motors are doing the exact same thing. They're turning a shaft, creating torque. It's just how do we talk about the differences between NEMA and IEC? It's almost like learning a different language, but we're saying the exact same thing. So by understanding the two different languages, you'll start to understand what the customer is asking for. If you need to talk about an IEC motor or a NEMA motor and being able to give the motor to the right application. market. So I want to explore that just a bit further. So what's really going on with IEC in the expanding market in the US? And can you tell us how is ABB providing the necessary support? Yeah, so what we're really seeing as looking at studies and just listening to the customers and distributors out in the market. It is a fast growing market in the fact that a lot of new machines are coming into the United States from outside, from Europe, Asia, and all over the world coming in, and they're putting IEC motors on their machines that are being installed in the States. I mean, for example, you see it in food processing, you're seeing it at car washes, you're seeing it and X-ray machines, you're seeing it in every industry. First of all, that really creates a huge aftermarket, that we need to be able to replace those motors when they need to be replaced. So what we're seeing now is customers are asking us - I need an IEC motor; I need to replace this. And we need to be able to have that inventory readily available for them to be able to replace an IEC motor just as readily available as we are with the NEMA side of the business. Then, the other side of the customers are the customers that are building machines that are re-exporting outside of the United States. Those motors need to be IEC because they're going to go into a country that is used to having an IEC motor. There we need to help those customers building machines to understand what the, outside of the United States, what are they looking for what kind of motor performance are they looking for inside of that machine. So that's kind of where we've been really paying attention to in the United States, And that's why we really feel that United States is a good target for us to keep looking for the IEC products because the customers are demanding that we have the products available and that we understand how they work.
Mike Murphy:Okay, great. So you mentioned motor replacement. So let me ask you this given a motor has the same power requirements and speed, can an IEC motor be a drop in replacement with a NEMA motor?
Robert Boyce:So this is probably one of the biggest gotchas we have on the IEC. If anyone has ever tried to replace an IEC motor on an existing machine here in the States, what we find out is the European manufacturers of these machines are using different guidelines. Whereas NEMA's very strong that a certain speed, horsepower is in a frame size. For example, five horsepower 1800 RPM is in a 184 T frame. In Europe, they're actually looking at what motors are going to fit their machines, and how can we optimize the design. So what will happen is they might put more horsepower into a smaller frame, they might change the flange diameters to a smaller one to fit what they're trying to do. They might change the shaft dimensions. In the IEC world there's not a strict rules, it's more guidelines. So what happens is, the motor might look sort of the same, but we really need to understand what the nameplates are saying. We need to sometimes measure shaft dimensions, flange dimensions, because if we don't, we're going to hurt the customer by not having the exact drop-in replacement that they're looking for. This has caused a lot of problems in the past. And we just want to make sure people understand that this is not per IEC it's per how the OEMs or the customers in Europe are building their machines. And again, knowing all of this and how to All right, fantastic. I just got nostalgic there. So, so replace the motor is is a huge advantage to anybody here in the States. As as a quote "GI Joe" from the 80s, "Knowing is half essentially, they're trying to accomplish the same thing, the battle". though, right? They're, you know, you're you're spinning the shaft. Yeah. So as you're trying to, you're spinning a shaft, but there's multiple differences. The main difference is measurement. One motor, IEC motors are are made on the metric system. So they're measured in millimeters where NEMA motors are built on the imperial system or inches. So there's going to be physical differences on shaft heights, shaft sizes, where the feet are going to be, flanges. So again, they're all trying to do the same thing, but they're going to be a little bit off. I mean, for example, I know I drive a Jeep. And when I have to wrench on it, half the bolts are metric and half the bolts are imperial. So I have to have a wrench set that has to be metric and imperial at the same time. They both are doing the same thing again. It's just we're just trying to show that there are going to be some differences as we're talking about this motor.
Mike Murphy:Okay, great. So speaking of physical differences, let's talk conduit boxes or some may call them terminal boxes. I know from my experience that the conduit box on an IEC motor typically is on top, are there any other differences?
Robert Boyce:So that's the big one that everybody notices first is the combo boxes on top on an IC motor, whereas NEMA is on the left hand side looking at the shaft or what we call F1. So the conduit box on top is kind of a kind of a dead giveaway, typically to tell if that's going to be an IEC motor. But the key factor of that conduit box is when you actually open them, open that up, there are no flying leads. There's no tying the wires together. You're really, you're seeing a terminal block. So there you terminate your motor leads right onto a terminal block. So there's no really loose connections inside that box. There's no loose wires inside the box. And that is a very typical IEC thing that we see across the board on those motors. But that kind of throws some customers off. Especially in maintenance, because at first they're expecting to see some flying leads. And you have to kind of explain to them how to connect to a block. But once they get the hang of it, they love it because it is easier to maintain. And it makes a very secure connection.
Mike Murphy:Okay, great. So no free wires that prick the fingers. I like that. So Robert, in my history of looking at motor nameplates, I'm not sure I've seen service factor on an IEC motor. Do they even offer service factor?
Robert Boyce:So this is probably the number one question when we talk about IEC motors. Is there like well, IEC motors don't have service factor. So, the way it works is NEMA recognizes service factor of 1.15 or 15% overload capabilities of a motor. In the IEC standards, it's not recognized, so service factor is not recognized but it doesn't mean it's not in the motor. The motors are built on thermal capacity. And when you look at a 1.15 service factor on a NEMA motor, there's enough thermal capacity to allow that motor to run intermittently in an overload situation at 15% more than what's stamped on the nameplate. In IEC motors, there is the exact same thermal capacities. And what we, but we don't stamp at 1.15, because it's not recognized by the standard. It doesn't mean that we don't have, we, we have it. And we could have provided if needed if a customer's very comfortable with it. But we try to tell customers that are re-exporting overseas to not put it on the nameplate because most customers overseas won't even understand what it is. But the key factor here is both motors are built by the same materials of copper, resin, wires, electrical steel. It's the exact same components. So, the temperature rises are pretty much the same between a NEMA and IEC motor. And so we really are paying attention to is - can this motor handle the thermal overloads that are needed to the application? So the little bit more explanation - sometimes it's easier to just say 1.15 service factor, but we really like to dive into the application and understand really what the customer is trying to do with this motor.
Mike Murphy:Okay, great, Robert, I know energy efficiency is a huge topic with ABB, along with other responsible motor manufacturers. So, let me ask you this, I might put you on the spot without charts and graphs here, but are IEC motors as efficient as NEMA motors?
Robert Boyce:So over the years, if you've watched the differences between the United States and the EU, out of Europe, you'll notice that every, they leapfrog each other over the years. And the latest one in the United States was the integral horsepower rule, which they mandated that the motors had to meet premium efficiency levels, which we call IE3. IE3 is a band, or what we call on a curve, a band of efficiencies. And Europe last year, they came up with Ecodesign mandate. That means all motors out of Europe now have to meet the IE3 efficiencies which actually caught up to the United States. But then they went one step further and expanded the power ranges all the way up to almost 1200 horsepower. Whereas the integral horsepower rule is only up to 500 horsepower. So again, they always kind of try to compete against each other. So as of right now, the Ecodesign out of Europe is actually broader range than than the integral horsepower rule in the United States. And then to go one step further, Ecodesign Phase 2, which will be July of next year, certain horsepower ranges from about or 100 horsepower to 250 horsepower. We'll have to go to the next level of efficiency, which we call IE4. So again, Europe's a little bit ahead right now, but I do feel that United States will catch back up. And I think all motor manufacturers have to really pay attention to what's going on with the efficiency levels. The good news about this is it really is helping the customer save energy. Motor use in in the United States and around the world uses more electricity than almost everything else put together. So if we can save a few percentages of efficiency, it's going to save the customer a lot of money in the future.
Mike Murphy:All right, great. I guess with that, that's a fantastic place to stop. Robert, hey, thanks again for speaking with me today on IEC motors. Remember, if you'd like more information on choosing IEC or NEMA motors, contact your local ABB sales representative or visit us at www.abb.com and then under Products, choose motors and generators. And as always find our podcast by searching ABB Solutions Podcast in your favorite browser. Thanks again everyone and have a great day.
