The implementation of China's new motor energy efficiency standard helps multiple industries achieve the "dual carbon" goal.

Under the national goals of "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality", improving energy efficiency is a severe challenge faced by all electricity-related industries. As a power source for electrical appliances and various other machinery, motors are not only widely used in various industries, but also a large electricity consumer. According to statistics from the United States, the European Union, etc., motor power consumption accounts for about 42% to 50% of the total power consumption, three-phase asynchronous motor power consumption accounts for about 90% of the total motor power consumption, and motors of 37kW and below account for about 50% of the total motor power consumption. Setting reasonable motor energy efficiency limits will not only help China achieve the "dual carbon" goals as scheduled, but also promote the energy efficiency upgrade of motor products.

#1
The standard has a wider scope of application and energy efficiency is comprehensively improved.
With the advancement of motor production technology and energy-saving technology, the energy efficiency indicators and energy efficiency level requirements of GB 18613-2012 and GB 25958-2010 can no longer meet the latest motor technology development. This is the fundamental reason for the birth of GB 18613-2020.
The new standard is revised on the basis of the two old standards GB 18613-2012 and GB 25958-2010, so it has a wider scope of application. The reporter of "Electrical Appliances" found that the new standard stipulates the energy efficiency level, energy efficiency limit value and test method of three-phase asynchronous motors, single-phase asynchronous motors and air-conditioning fan motors.
Compared with GB 18613-2012, the new standard deletes the motor target energy efficiency limit value and motor energy saving evaluation value, and improves the energy efficiency limit value requirements for three-phase asynchronous motors from the original IE2 to IE3. At the same time, the new standard revised the scope of application. Among them, the new standard reduces the minimum power of three-phase asynchronous motors from 0.37kW to 0.12kW, and increases the maximum power from 375kW to 1000kW, and adds the energy efficiency level of 8-pole three-phase asynchronous motors. Compared with GB 25958-2010, the new standard has raised the energy efficiency index requirements for capacitor-start asynchronous motors, capacitor-run asynchronous motors, and dual-value capacitor asynchronous motors; deleted the energy efficiency index requirements for air-conditioning fan motors, and added energy efficiency index requirements for capacitor-run motors for air-conditioning fans and brushless DC motors for air-conditioning fans.
For three-phase asynchronous motors, the energy efficiency index of the new standard is consistent with IEC 60034-30-1, and the energy efficiency levels 1, 2, and 3 in the standard correspond to IE5, IE4, and IE3 of the IEC index respectively.
#2
It is difficult to meet the standards, and enterprises face cost pressure
If motor manufacturers want their products to meet the requirements of the new standards, they must be fully prepared to produce and sell higher-efficiency motors in terms of technology, equipment, process, materials, and sales. From the perspective of three-phase asynchronous motors, to comprehensively improve the energy efficiency of motors, enterprises need to increase costs, especially the cost of materials. Compared with IE2 models, the cost of IE3 models has increased by about 20%; compared with IE3 models, the cost of IE4 models has also increased significantly. Especially in the current situation where the prices of raw materials such as steel and copper are high, the challenges faced by motor companies are obvious.
Although it is difficult to meet the standards, motor companies still use various methods to improve energy efficiency while balancing cost and performance. Take VICTORY as an example. VICTORY mainly optimizes the design of motors from the electromagnetic aspect: first, it uses electrical steel sheets with lower loss and adopts more advanced core manufacturing processes to reduce iron loss; second, it adopts multiple measures to reduce miscellaneous losses; third, it adopts optimized air duct structure and high-efficiency bearings to reduce mechanical consumption. In addition, to improve motor energy efficiency, motor companies can also make targeted improvements in production processes (such as processing accuracy) and production equipment.
As for the significance of the implementation of the new standard, starting from GB 18613-2006, China's motor industry has officially begun to catch up with the energy efficiency level of motors in developed countries. GB 18613-2012 China's motor energy efficiency level has basically approached the energy efficiency level of major developed countries. The introduction of the new standard marks that China has officially become a leader from a follower of motor energy efficiency. The energy efficiency limit value level stipulated in the new standard is higher than the current energy efficiency standards of most countries. The implementation of this standard will have a huge impact on the entire motor industry. The increase in the motor energy efficiency limit will greatly raise the threshold of the motor manufacturing industry, eliminate a large number of motor factories with weak technical strength, and increase industry concentration. At the same time, the mainstream products in the motor market will gradually change from IE3 and IE4 to IE4 and IE5.