Global Standards for Rotating Machinery: Navigating Worldwide Industry Requirements for Electric Motors

The end users, engineering firms, and manufacturers for the motor industry utilize several standards to specify, design, and procure rotating machinery. The world of legal responsibility, liability, and safety is driving the industry to have rotating machinery built to various standards. It is often difficult to navigate through the multitudes of standards developed by the different industries and global associations. This article will focus on the global industry standards for low- and mediumvoltage rotating machinery and show how to navigate through their provisions to determine the applicable requirements for areas of performance such as efficiency, vibration, sound, temperature rise, winding insulation, electrical installation, and test requirements. Furthermore, the article will specify hazardous location needs as well as construction requirements that incorporate terminal box volumes, mounting arrangements, physical dimensions, nameplate markings, and shaft and frame design requirements. With the number of requirements increasing for rotating machinery, many standards have been revised and developed to improve design, testing, certification, and installations. As these standards continue to grow, it can be challenging at times to keep up with which standards are applicable when procuring rotating machinery. Electric motors have many standards depending on what part of the world the machine is going to.