Packaging machinery uses cutting-edge automation, and it’s no wonder. Facilities that parcel products need to deliver high throughput, but modern consumers demand smart packaging in the form of no-fuss containers that protect everything from M&Ms to patio furniture. What’s more, there’s a continuous drive to customize packages and let consumer-facing companies wrap products for bulk […]
Controls
Technology Tuesdays: Todd Walker on Trends in Motors and Speed Control
For this week’s Design World Technology Tuesdays Podcast, I spoke with Todd Walker from Oriental Motor USA. We spoke about some trends in motion control including advances in brushless DC motor technology and speed control techniques. Technological advances combined with decreasing costs mean designers can get more functions packed into smaller spaces. Click below to […]
PCL61x4 series high-performance servo/stepper controller chips from Nippon Pulse
Nippon Pulse has released its newest series of motion controller chips, the PCL61x4 Series. PCL61x4 is a series of two high-performance servo/stepper controller chips: the PCL6114 single-axis chip and the four-axis PCL6144 chip. The PCL61x4 series has some improved features over the PCL61x3 series, a similar chip series in the Nippon Pulse family of products. […]
Yaskawa’s new motion trifecta packs automation punch
Yaskawa America’s Drives & Motion Div. now sells three new motion-control products to improve automation systems and maximize effectiveness when used in combination. The MP3300iec machine controller makes automated equipment more responsive by boosting both processing speed and memory capacity, lifting both parameters to the highest levels in the motion control industry. In addition, MP3300iec has the ability to utilize […]
Advanced functions move to cost-effective PLCs
Now a family of new controllers — the iQ-F Series compact controllers from Mitsubishi Electric Automation — gives engineers a compact and affordable design option. Based on Mitsubishi Electric’s FX Series, they deliver the same control capabilities as their predecessors … but the controllers have new functionalities for even better performance and user experience. More specifically, the controllers offer synchronized motion control, data logging, and […]
New software helps designers pick suitable enclosure cooling
Rittal now offers designers an app to calculate the right amount of cooling and fans required for electronic enclosures. The RiTherm app for Android and iPhones handles time-consuming calculations. Then it lets designers quickly and easily email results to colleagues for action or documentation. A user-friendly interface also lets users access the app from their smartphones to get […]
How to use vibration controls to boost machine throughput
Designers can double manufacturing productivity in all kinds of applications with the simple addition of adaptive vibration control. Some such systems operate at the drive level to get the fastest possible corrections. By Bipin Sen, Senior Business Development Engineer, Bosch Rexroth Increasing the speed of a packaging line, machine tool or pick-and-place operation may seem […]
Gearmotors: More integration, more applications
Gearmotors have been around since at least the early 20th century, so it’s a fairly well-established technology. (A basic gearmotor is a motor designed with an integrated gear reducer.) However, that doesn’t mean that gearmotors have not been improved upon over the years. Nor does it mean that they’re an outdated technology. In fact, there […]
More programmability tops motion controller trends
Motion controllers are getting better simply because state-of-the-art industrial automation needs more capable controls. That’s the message coming from motion-industry veterans these days. “The amount of programmable features that can reside in FPGAs continues to rise,” said Joseph Profeta, control systems group director at Aerotech Inc., supplier of motion control, positioning and automation systems for […]
Human-machine interfaces (HMIs) get smart software and mobile access
Recent years have brought major advances in HMI technology—increasingly affordable multitouch screens, a shift from resistive displays to projected-capacitive displays, and displacement of proprietary design platforms by web-based HTML5 platforms. That’s according to Derrick Stacey, solutions engineer at B&R Industrial Automation. The spread of capacitive displays has expanded HMI use in industries needing bezel-free designs, […]