Based on the 533 MHz ARM11 processor, the MC403 and MC405 controllers offers a vast array of performance enhancements enabled by the ARM11 core. With an optimized selectable servo update rate from 125 microseconds to 2000 microseconds, up to 512K data table size and over four times the clock frequency at 533 MHz, the double floating point precision processor offers an outstanding servo loop accuracy with fast 64 bit integer position and 64 bit real-number mathematics registers.

The MC403 can control three stepper axes or two servo axes plus a master encoder input, while the MC405 can control five step and direction axes or four servos with a master encoder. Offering a maximum stepper output frequency of two MHz, the controllers’ servo encoder ports are selectable for rotary feedback or incremental linear. The ports can also be configured for Tamagawa, SSI and EnDat absolute types.

Aside from the encoder provision and the axis count, the evident differences between the two models relate to the number of virtual exes offered, the multitasking ability and the physical variations such as the status display, I/O count and size. The MC403 features eight axes in software and can simultaneously operate six tasks, while the four-servo/five-stepper MC405 has sixteen axes in software and can run ten simultaneous tasks.

Although both controllers provide two 12-bit analog inputs and eight 24 VDC inputs, the physical layer of MC405 has ten registration inputs compared to MC403’s six. MC405 also offers eight 24V bidirectional I/O channels rather than four.

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The DMC-1417 can handle the most demanding applications with features such as an extra encoder input for electronic gearing, program memory with multitasking, uncommitted I/O and user-selectable stepper or servo motor control. Modes of motion include point-to-point positioning, jogging, contouring, electronic gearing and e-cam.

Programming the DMC-1417 is simple using two-letter, intuitive commands and a full set of software tools such as WSDK for servo tuning and analysis, ActiveX Tool Kit for Visual Basic users and a C-Programmers Tool Kit. Econo Series controllers do not include uncommitted analog inputs and are not optoisolated.

The DMC-1417 can accept up to 8 MHz encoder frequencies for servos and 2 MHz for steppers and can accept inputs from two encoders for gearing or dual-loop applications. It also features advanced PID compensation with velocity and acceleration feed forward and integration limits as well as modes of motion including jogging, point-to-point positioning, contouring, electronic gearing and ECAM with multitasking for concurrent execution of two application programs.

The DMC-1417 also features sinusoidal commutation for brushless servo motors, memory for application programs, variables and arrays, as well as 7 uncommitted digital inputs, 3 digital outputs, and forward and reverse limits and home input. A 37-Pin D-type connector is standard with custom hardware and firmware options available as well.

www.servo2go.com

www.galilmc.com

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Lenze’s I/O System 1000 is integrated with a 136mm-wide DIN-rail-mounting controller to create a single station with a 1µs time stamp and a 48MHz backplane bus. Up to 64 I/O modules can be combined to offer analog and digital I/O, counters and encoder evaluation, and temperature measurement.

To avoid moving parts, the 3200C makes use of Intel Atom processors, which operate without fans, and flash memory storage. It also features a built-in UPS to save variables in case of power interruptions. The controller has two USB ports and a SD memory card slot.

The controller also has two 100Mbit Ethernet interfaces. A third Ethernet interface is also provided to allow real-time communication with drives. Users can also add further communication buses, while the controller’s two synchronized CAN buses can support CANopen. The 3200C controller can also serve as a gateway between supervisory-level computers and field devices.

The Windows CE 6.0 based controller is complete with Lenze’s PLC Designer software, which allows programming compliant with IEC61131-3. The PLC Designer software is based on the CoDeSys3 programming system, which has been upgraded for the controller. The controller also features an integrated Web server, which provides access to all control parameters and to any Web browser’s logbook.

Individual System 1000 I/O modules can also be added as elements in the PLC Designer’s project tree. The I/O systems are integrated in the controllers mechanically and in the programming software.

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Gimme’s stepper motors are driven by Pololu A4983 Stepper Motor Driver Carriers. The stepper drivers, sensors and microcontroller are all embedded on a custom circuit board designed with Eagle CAD.

The key element that will interest other designers is its use of sensors. Chris Eckert said: “I want rudimentary motion tracking over 180 degrees so my first setup was a static array of five sensors. My idea was that, as an object moves past these five sensors, one or more would register a distance. Interpreting this information with an Arduino micro-controller, I could roughly point toward the object.”

“Simple idea but it got a little more complicated. The difficult thing about the sensors I’m using it that their output falls off exponentially with distance; objects farther away produce a MUCH smaller sensor change than objects close up. To get an approximately accurate distance from these sensors, I had to linearize the sensor outputs – lots of math. Took a while but I finally got it working well.”

When Mr. Eckert found “holes” in Gimme’s sensor pattern where none of the sensors can see the person standing on these “holes”, he tried a different approach, instead of increasing the number of sensors to process.

”Rather than having static sensors, I thought I’d sweep the sensors. I attached three sensors to a servo and slowly swept them back-and-forth. If any of the sensors detect an object, they move the three sensor array so that the centre sensor has the smallest distance. Voilà – motion tracking,” he added.

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The Curve Tool’s graphical environment for creating and editing curves–also called cams or splines– makes it easy to view the RMC’s many curve features. With options such as linear or cubic interpolation, velocity and acceleration limits, endpoint behavior and more, the RMC curves satisfy a wide range of applications.

Delta Computer Systems
www.deltamotion.com

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“The RC620+ adds to EPSON’s initiative of providing our customers with more Power of Choice than ever before,” said Michael Ferrara, EPSON Robots’ director. “It is the controller of choice for those applications that require a powerful open architecture solution for system expansion and advanced motion and I/O control for demanding applications. With over 10 years of PC based controller experience, EPSON has combined industry leading PC based controls with superior real time motion and I/O control to provide advanced motion control and open architecture expandability all from the same controller.”

Three PCI slots are also available for options such as Fieldbus masters, Vision Systems or 3rd party plug-in cards to expand the RC620+ as needed for a particular application. The RC620+ operates a separate CPU dedicated to motion control and real time options, which include additional I/O, expansion I/O and DeviceNet, conveyor tracking, EtherNet/IP and Profibus Fieldbus slave options. This provides machine operators with open architecture, expandability and ease of use of Microsoft Windows while providing real-time performance for time critical components like motion and I/O control.

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The DSP unit offers electronic gearing motion, velocity contouring, trapezoidal and S-curve profile modes for several motor outputs. 64kByte Dual-Port RAM permits ultra-fast data exchange and makes the capture of on-the-fly motion data for system performance analysis and tuning of servo filter gains possible. The motion trajectory segments can be mixed into the continuous motion path. The ultra-fast synchronization signal permits multiple boards to achieve coordinated motion.

The controller boards interface with external components through a 100-pin high density connector. The connector provides PWM motor outputs or +/-10 V differential analog and reads single-ended and absolute encoder or differential incremental signals. It also supplies opto-isolated dedicated input signals for home/fault functions and limit switches. They can run in +5V, +12V, +24V or +48V level supplies. Eight uncommitted discrete output lines can be operated at TTL level or up to 50V. These are high-current opto-isolated signals capable of sourcing or sinking maximum 350mA at 50V and can be used as servo drive relays or amp enable, solenoids, LEDs or amps. The TTL level signals can expand to 128 discrete outputs. Moreover, the board has eight analog input channels and eight discrete input lines working in range of 0 to +5V.

The cards are well supported by MotionStation(TM), an Integrated Motion Environment (IME), which consists of GUI applications, drivers and software libraries for all Linux and Windows operating systems. It also permits development of any motion control application.

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While the automation market is full of six-axis type applications, it became clear to the company what the market actually needed was a great control platform with a six-axis arm.

The latest EPSON Pro-Six PS3-AS00 utilizes the same EPSON RC520 PC-based controller that controls EPSON EZ Modules (“Linear Modules”) and E2 Series Robots (“SCARA”) thus allowing machine users to take advantage of a single control solution for the entire factory. With a 791-millimeter (“701-millimeter at the wrist center”) reach, high performance Sigma III-AC servo motors, the famous servo control from EPSON, and EPSON RC520 PC-based controller, the Pro-Six can solve even the most demanding six-axis type applications.

The EPSON Pro-Six PS3-AS00 high points features the same easy to use PC-based controls utilized with all EPSON Robots, a rigid design for smooth, high-speed motion with precise position settling and high-performance absolute encoders

Its compact design requires only minimal installation space and has ceiling, wall and floor mounting configurations. It has outstanding path control capabilities with two Pro-Six (“six-axis”) robots controllable from one RC520 controller and one Pro-Six (“six-axis”) robot plus two EPSON E2 SCARA Robots (“or 8 EZ modules axes”) controllable from one RC520 controller.

Also, the new EPSON Pro-Six PS3-AS00 high points features a high-performance EPSON Robots Servo Control which provides maximum performance, and has fully integrated EPSON RC+ Options (“Profibus, DeviceNet, Force Sensing, VB Guide, Vision Guide, etc.”). It meets the ANSI/RIA 15.06-1999 safety standard, as well as CE mark.

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The Expert I/O 1000 incorporates many I/O functions: 16 digital inputs, 16 digital outputs, 2 analog outputs (6 selectable ranges each), 6 analog inputs and 2 brush DC motor controllers with integrated amplifiers. In addition to these I/O functions, it contains 2KB of user accessible nonvolatile memory. Incredibly, all this is incorporated in a compact 6.125” x 3.375” x 2.25” enclosure.

To complement the digital I/O’s exceptionally large voltage range, the Expert I/O 1000 contains software configurable digital input pull resistors to eliminate the need for external pull resistors. They can be configured as pull-ups or pull-downs or can be completely disabled.

Mounting the Expert I/O 1000 is made effortless with its integrated DIN rail mounting mechanism. The innovative design of the DIN rail mounting feature allows the unit to remain stable on flat surfaces when not using DIN rail. This makes it equally suitable for lab bench uses.

Configuring the Expert I/O 1000 is exceedingly easy. All configuration and control is performed through a concise software API. The API is provided in a DLL, making it accessible from any application or development environment that can utilize DLL’s.

Dajac Inc.
www.dajac.com

Motion Control Tips

A new brochure from Pro-face America spotlights a full line of standard, mid-range and high performance industrial PCs, as well as Open HMI solutions. Pro-face’s unique Integrated Factory Alert system, redundancy and hot-swappable drives solutions come together to deliver a higher level of system reliability.

Pro-face is a global supplier of a broad range of plant visualization and control solutions for industrial automation offering dedicated and PC-based open HMI solutions designed to increase machine and plant efficiency while reducing overall system costs.

The brochure, which includes the full line of Pro-face Industrial PC products, can be downloaded at http://www.profaceamerica.com/ipcbrochure.

www.profaceamerica.com

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Texas – Minneapolis – Detroit – Boston – New Jersey – Ohio

Delta Tau, in partnership with their Distribution Channel, will tour the U.S. hosting six Motion Control Seminars. These free half-day seminars will offer insight into the most advanced Motion Control Solutions today and also discuss the future of Motion Control based on Delta Tau’s development of their 7th generation controller, the Power PMAC. Space is limited and early registration is recomended.

Use this link to register for a Seminar in your area or directly contact a Delta Tau Distributor:

Where & When

Round Rock, TX Monday December 1, 2008 TOOLMEN CORPORATION (888) 771-1166 Maya@Toolmen1.com
Time: 9:00 am to 12:00 noon
Location: Austin Marriott North at Round Rock 2600 La Frontera Blvd Round Rock, TX 78681 (512) 733-6767

Minneapolis, MN Tuesday December 2, 2008 AUTOMATION AND PROCESS CONTROLS (651) 489-7489 Heather@apc-inc.com
Time: 9:00 am to 12:00 noon
Location: Hilton Minneapolis 3800 American Boulevard East Minneapolis, MN 55425 PH: (952) 854-2100

Auburn Hills, MI Wednesday December 3, 2008 AXIS-SYSTEMS (248) 393-0909 Mtwaddle@axis-systems.com
Time: 9:00 am to 12:00 noon
Location: Walsh College Troy Campus 3838 Livernois Troy, MI 48007-7006 (248) 689-8282

Boston, MA Thursday December 4, 2008 AXIS NEW ENGLAND (978) 774-7100 Christine@axisne.com
Time: 8:45 am to 12:00 Noon
Location: Axis New England 6 Cherry Hill Drive Danvers, MA 01923

Clifton, NJ Friday December 5, 2008 FABER INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGIES (973) 546-7900 kruppert@faberinc.com
Time: 9:00 am to 12:00 noon
Location: Faber Industrial Technologies 1111 Paulison Avenue Clifton, New Jersey 07011

Cleveland, OH Tuesday, December 9, 2008 ZESCO INC. (440) 526-0603 Email tsustersic@zescoinc.com
Time: 9:00 am to 12:00 noon
Location: Holiday Inn 6001 Rockside Road Independence, OH 44131 PH: (216) 524-8050

Download a PDF with agenda and details>>

Delta Tau

Motion Control Tips