Developer’s Kits for Focus Modules from New Scale Technologies

Victor, NY – New Scale Technologies announces the availability of developer’s kits for its miniature M3-F focus module. Each kit includes an M3-F module for precision closed-loop lens motion, along with a USB adapter and New Scale Pathway software for easy evaluation and prototyping. The modules are easy to integrate into applications requiring precision motorized lens motion such as miniature OEM cameras for biometric security, machine vision, medical diagnostics and more.

Configured for I2C or SPI serial interface, the modules in the developer’s kits accommodate M12 or smaller lenses and image sensors up to 17 x 17 mm.

Each M3-F module is an integrated micro-mechatronics system with a piezoelectric SQUIGGLE micro motor, position sensor, driver and microprocessor in a compact 20 x 22 x 16 mm housing. Its small size and low power use make it ideal for OEM camera systems. Mounted over the sensor on an OEM board camera, it improves image quality and efficiency in applications such as biometric imaging, machine vision and medical diagnostic systems.

The Developer’s Kits are $750, available from stock and can be ordered online at http://shop.newscaletech.com.

www.newscaletech.com

ORMEC Systems Corp. Announces Major Boeing Contract Award

Rochester, NY – ORMEC Systems Corp. has announced that it has been awarded a major contract from The Boeing Company for hardware and software retrofits and upgrades of two Wing Join tools and one Major Join tool used in the manufacture of the Boeing C-17 military transport aircraft. This latest contract award, incorporating ORMEC’s SMLC family of motion controllers, SD-Series servo drives and WinCC software, is the second for the company in three years. Previously, ORMEC Systems Corp. was Boeing’s supplier of choice for the control systems on the under-wing maintenance tool for the C-17 Globemaster III, delivered to Robins Air Force Base in Houston County, Georgia, USA.

The airframe manufacturing and assembly process incorporates use of both Wing Join and Major Join tools. The Wing Join tool is used to position the two major sections of the aircraft wing and hold them in place while they are permanently assembled to form one massive wing, which is ultimately assembled onto the aircraft. This tool is controlled by a number of jacks holding the wing in place; the wing sections must be positioned for a seamless fit, and then locked in place so that the mechanical join can be completed. The Major Join tool holds the four major pre-assembled aircraft sections together. The center section of the aircraft fuselage is placed atop of jacks, then positioned and leveled, followed by the aircraft nose, assembled wing and tail section. In order for these airframe components to be properly joined, use of high-precision and high-reliability servo systems and software is essential. Retrofits will improve airframe assembly operations by increasing reliability and will substantially reduce long term maintenance costs. This upgrade will also enhance the user interface which, in turn, will make the tools easier to use and more effective.

More than a dozen SMLC controllers and nearly sixty SD-Series servo drives will be used for communication, motion control and monitoring of each join tool. The systems are controlled through the use of operator interface consoles with touch screens for ease of use and remote pendants for flexibility. Available in 3-, 8- and 16-axis models, the SMLC family offers the benefits of both motion control and PLC functions within a single package. With high-performance computing capability and a true real-time operating system powered by Intel® 32-bit processors, the SMLC is able to provide cost-effective, robust computing power for even the most demanding multi-axis motion and I/O control applications.

ORMEC Systems Corp.
www.ormec.com

Galil Motion Control Achieves 100th Consecutive Quarter of Profitability

Rocklin, CA— Galil Motion Control announces that it has completed its 100th consecutive quarter of profitability. Despite several recessions, changes in technology and the competitive environment, since 1985 Galil has always kept its balance sheets in the black.

“We have made decisions to keep the company lean and nimble which has enabled us to stay strong despite the challenges in the economy,” said Wayne Baron, President of Galil Motion Control. “Our focus has remained on product development and application support based on genuine customer need.”

Since the introduction of their first servo motion controller in 1984, Galil has gone on to deliver over 500,000 motion controllers worldwide. Galil is currently shipping their 5th generation motion controllers- the Accelera Series which provide ultra high-speed and precision. Features include multi-axis coordinated motion, advanced PID with velocity and acceleration feed forward, multitasking, and non-volatile memory for programs, variables and arrays. Galil also sells plug-in, multi-axis drives for steppers and servos which save money, space and wiring.

“Our focus on extreme customer service has been fundamental to Galil’s success,” said Lisa Wade, Director of Sales and Marketing for Galil Motion Control. “We partner with customers to deliver cost-effective solutions that make a difference.”

Galil expanded into the I/O market with the introduction of its RIO-47xxx Pocket PLC. The RIO combines intelligence along with 16 analog and 32 digital I/O in a cost-effective, compact package. It can be used stand-alone or connected to the Ethernet for unlimited I/O expansion.

Galil Motion Control, Inc.
www.galilmc.com

CAN in Automation 402-CANopen Profiles Extended to OEM Drives

Covina, Ca. – QuickSilver Controls, Inc. has added CANopen® DSP 402 (CiA® DSP 402 v3.0) to its OEM line of controllers/drivers for NEMA 11, 17 and 23 frame brushless servo motors, further extending the capabilities by adding encoder following and hard-stop homing capabilities as a manufacturer extension to the specification. This adds the QCI-D2-MG-C and QCI-D2-IG-J low-cost and small format controllers to the QuickSilver products supporting CANopen. These controllers provide 3.5A continuous and 4.5A peak output at 12 to 48V.

CiA 402 refers to CAN in Automation (CiA) CANopen Drives and Motion Control Profile 402. This profile defines such functions as start-up and homing techniques as well as motion profiles. A host controller, for example a PLC, supporting CiA 402 could command multiple CiA 402 motor controllers from multiple vendors.

CiA 402 runs on top of CANopen (CiA DSP 302 v4.0) which can be configured for peer-to-peer, master or slave. This allows controllers to share I/O and registers with other CANopen enabled SilverDust™ controllers or 3rd party CANopen devices such as I/O blocks, encoders, PLCs, etc.

For more information on CANopen and CiA DSP 402, visit http://www.can-cia.org/

www.quicksilvercontrols.com

New Tools for Motor Control Designs from Microchip

Chandler, Ariz. – Microchip Technology announces two new low-cost development systems, one for control of high-voltage motors and another for stepper motors. Along with related application notes and free source-code software, these development tools enable rapid designs using Microchip’s dsPIC^® digital signal controllers (DSCs).

The new dsPICDEM MCHV Development System is a development tool for the rapid evaluation and design of a wide variety of high-voltage, closed-loop motor control applications using AC induction motors, brushless DC motors or permanent magnet synchronous motors. The board includes in-circuit debugging circuitry, eliminating the need for a separate debugger for development with Microchip’s dsPIC33 Motor Control DSC families. Additionally, this tool combines a proven motor-control system and Power Factor Correction (PFC) for regulatory requirements.

Watch a video demonstration of the dsPICDEM MCHV at: http://www.microchip.com/get/PCJT

The new dsPICDEM MCSM Development Board is a cost-effective tool for creating unipolar and bipolar stepper motor applications. The board enables the rapid development of both open-loop and current-closed-loop microstepping routines using Microchip’s dsPIC33 Motor Control families. It also provides engineers with a control GUI, which allows them to focus on integrating other application features and fine-tuning the motor’s operation.

Five royalty- and license-free software application notes with source code are being released for development, five with the dsPICDEM MCHV and one with the dsPICDEM MCSM. Designers can use Microchip’s proven, optimized and efficient code to produce reliable results, while reducing software creation and debug time.

Microchip’s free Field Oriented Control (FOC) software libraries enable the development of green motor-based systems. By using these libraries, engineers can run motors at their peak efficiency and generate the maximum torque using the minimum amount of energy.

Microchip’s stepper motor control library enables the development of high-speed stepper motor control applications with variable micro-stepping down to 1/64 of a step. By using closed-loop current control, stepper motors can be run several times faster than their rated speeds with high torque and low-noise operation.

Included with Microchip’s free MPLAB^® IDE integrated development environment is an application called the Data Monitoring and Control Interface (DMCI). Using this GUI with a USB cable for communications to the target board via the included Real Time Data Monitoring (RTDM) protocol promotes rapid parameter tuning for different motors. Unlike Microchip, other competitor systems require that the motor be stopped, the source code modified, recompiled, downloaded and the DSC or MCU reprogrammed to see the effect of a control parameter change.

For a complete overview of Microchip’s dsPIC DSC motor control solutions, please visit http://www.microchip.com/get/SVSE.

www.microchip.com

Advantech Launches Embedded Motion Controller

Cincinnati, Ohio – The Industrial Automation Group of Advantech introduces the PEC-3240 Embedded Motion Controller providing a unique combination of integrated processing, control, and communications. The PEC-3240 features 4-axis motion control, 32-channel isolated digital I/O, and an Intel® Celeron® M CPU making it a robust all-in-one automation controller.

By providing a variety of motion control functions, such as 2/3-axis linear, 2-axis circular interpolation, continuous interpolation, T/S-curve speed profile, and position limit detection, the PEC-3240 is an ideal software-ready solution for general machine automation and testing applications. The PEC-3240 is fanless and diskless with no internal cabling, making it resistant to vibration and allowing it to operate in harsh environments with temperature ranges from -10 to 65°C. Moreover, its dimensions are compact at 244 x 152 x 59mm, making the PEC-3240 one of the smallest embedded motion controllers on the market.

The PEC-3240 supports Windows® 2000/XP, Windows XP Embedded OS, and has pre-installed drivers to control motion and I/O functions, shortening system development time and allowing it to be seamlessly integrated into diverse applications.

For more information, contact Advantech at 1-800-205-7940 or via email at eAinfo@advantech.com.

www.advantech.com/ea

Integrated Step Motor Drive Series from USAutomation

Laguna Hills, CA – USAutomation has announced the introduction of the Accuriss™ Series of fully integrated and packaged intelligent step motors. Accuriss motors combine a 1.8° hybrid step motor with a microstep drive and an intelligent controller in one easy-to-mount package.

Measuring only 1.1 inches across, the Accuriss 28 is capable of microstepping at up to 1,600 steps per revolution, virtually eliminating the resonance inherent in step motors. The Accuriss 60 is 2.36 inches across and can microstep up to 51,200 steps per revolution. A high-level command language is embedded in the controller to allow users to execute real-time motion commands or write programs that can be executed with a start command, upon power-up, or via input signals.

Both Accuriss motors include programmable I/O ports. Communication to the motors is via RS485 and up to 16 units can be daisy-chained together. A USB-to-RS485 converter is a standard Accuriss option to allow users to communicate with standard USB ports.

Three different lengths of each motor are available allowing the Accuriss 28 to achieve up to 11 oz in of dynamic torque and the Accuriss 60 to achieve more than 300 oz in. The Accuriss 28 can be supplied as a standard motor option on USAutomation’s Microstage™ positioning system.

Accuriss motors can be programmed from any standard terminal program (such as HyperTerminal) or from the Accuriss Terminal™ program, a free dedicated terminal program available for Windows. Once the Accuriss is programmed it is capable of independent motion sequences with only the DC power source connected.

USAutomation also offers a wide variety of modifications to the Accuriss Series to help users design an ideal solution. These include custom connectors, cabling harnesses, and unique mounting provisions.

For more information, contact USAutomation at (949) 588-0513 or on the web at:  http://www.usautomation.com.

PC Power for Multi-Axis Machine Control

Roswell, GA – B&R Industrial Automation’s ACOPOSmulti system offers a high degree of efficiency for multi-axis machines implemented in a wide range of industries such as the plastics, packaging, print, and textile industries. Machine manufacturers can use ACOPOSmulti units to achieve maximum performance in minimum space, which in turn means a decisive cost advantage. The APC820 integrates the highest level of PC performance into ACOPOSmulti, allowing users to save even more space in the switching cabinet, by freeing up space intended for the PC.

In the APC820, high-performance Core™2 Duo processors ensure that the most demanding automation and visualization systems run optimally. The Core™2 Duo achieves a high level of performance and a low level of power loss because Windows XP and the real-time operating system run parallel to each other on separate processor core, allowing the available computing power from both cores to be used optimally.

Project can be easily developed in B&R Automation Studio. Completely new options and complex automation tasks that were previously distributed over a number of system platforms are now brought together in a single device. With the integrated Smart Display Link in APC820, up to four automation panels can be connected over a distance of up to 160 m. Complex processes on physically separated machines can easily be controlled on site – a distinct advantage for commissioning, operation and service.

A wide range of onboard interfaces allows the APC820 to be optimally integrated in an automation system. Real-time communication between APC820, I/Os and drives occurs on POWERLINK interface, which also comes standard. This helps achieve cycle times down to 200 µs and ultra-precise timing of less than 1 µs. The two Gigabit Ethernet interfaces provide machine level communication that is completely separated from the connection to the company network. There is an additional CAN interface available for the connection of additional devices.

The APC820 is designed for the toughest environments. For instance, not a single internal cable connection was used during construction, making it possible to achieve maximum vibration resistance and operational safety. CompactFlash cards completely free of moving parts are the storage medium, which are also optimal for use in Windows XP professional as well as Windows XP embedded.

www.br-automation.com

ORMEC Goes International

ORMEC Systems Corp., traditionally a North American supplier of motion controllers, drives and motors for automating the most sophisticated converting, assembly and packaging machinery has branched out across the world.

Over the past two years ORMEC has established authorized distributors covering the European countries of France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. In the Pacific Rim the countries covered include Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan. ORMEC product is also distributed in India by our trade partner headquartered in Belgaum Karnataka.

We are currently investigating or negotiating coverage in the Benelux countries, Italy, Poland, Spain, Korea, China, Australia and Brazil.

ORMEC is now fully capable of supplying and supporting its products in any of the major trading areas throughout the world.

www.ormec.com

Reduce the Number of Cables

by Alexander Bromme, Managing Director, Steinmeyer FMD and George Jaffe, Executive VP, Steinmeyer Inc.

The use of new, miniature single axis motion controllers enables an innovative cabling concept. Each axis carries its own peripheral controller connected with motor, encoder and sensors by means of short, stationary cables. The peripheral controllers are connected by a high throughput data bus system that allows interpolated movements between different axes. Thus, the number of moving cables (one power, one data bus) is independent of the number of axes in a system.

Cable reduction can be especially useful in wafer inspection systems, which typically consist of a stack of XYZ linear stages plus a theta rotary unit. There can easily be 16 connectors at the final electrical terminal with over 100 wires, many of which are in constant motion during system operation. The disadvantages and potential problems of this many cables include:
1. All moving cables must be accelerated, moved, and bent by the stage system itself, which raises driving force, causing an undesirable temperature rise.
2. The bend resistance of the cables is not constant. The result is stick-slip plus randomly distributed effects that complicate precision positioning.
3. Moving cables generate particles and tend to outgas, which is undesirable in clean room applications.
4. Stage system reliability is reduced in proportion to the number of moving electrical lines. The higher the number of moving cables the higher the risk of a failure or defect.
5. Electromagnetic interference between cables may cause crosstalk, creating problems in system integration.
6. A multi-axis moving cable system requires additional space, so the motion system becomes larger to accommodate the many cable carriers. With the extra carriers, total system cost
increases.

A better solution is to reduce the number of moving cables!

How? Replace central multi-axis motion controllers with single separate control modules mounted directly to the axes.

These modules, connected by a high-speed bus interface, even allow interpolated movements between different stages.

In the system developed by Steinmeyer, the bus-interface is Controller Area Network (CAN).

As an example, the model DAC1005 (manufactured by LPKF) is a universal motor controller for one axis. It complies with the CANopen standards (DS 301 and DSP 402) and is certified by the CAN in Automation e. V. It can control DC-, 2- and 3-phase servo-, stepper- and linear motors. Powerful algorithms and high sampling rates guarantee high quality control. The interfaces for limit switches, digital and analog inputs and outputs, and encoders are integrated.  Alternatively to CANopen, the communication with a master computer may be executed via a serial port (RS232).

By miniaturizing the electronic PCBs, the size and mass of the individual control boxes is smaller than a comparable cabling system. For a 3-axis XYZ system, instead of a huge number of moving wires, there are three moving control modules, a tiny three wire shielded CAN-bus cable in a daisy chain configuration and two wires for power.

In total, the complete system needs just two separate cables with diameters of 7 mm and 12 mm independent of how many axes the stage system includes. The five electrical leads are easy to handle in one moving cable carrier.

Each axis carries its own motion controller independently. All leads to motor, sensors, and encoder systems have a length of typically less than 20 cm. More important, all the electrical connections to the upper axes are static, which means there is no bending or relative movement of the cables.

With a single linear motor driven stage, each axis can require up to 4 separate cables with diameters of 8 to 14 mm.  That means up to 27 electrical wires must be connected. But, replacing a central multi-axis motion controller with single separate control modules mounted directly to the axes can significantly reduce the number of cables in the system.

By shortening the cable length, the main concerns of crosstalk and radiation are eliminated.  Instead of a bulky central motion controller, only an external power supply is needed which is usually available in the machine anyway.

The use of separate control modules is an innovative way to reduce the number of cables in a system.

And in case axis replacement is necessary, the complete stage-controller combination is exchanged. So individual stage related information, like PID-controller tuning, is hardware-connected to the mechanical structure. These parameters can be made as a factory setting so the system integrator saves time and money.

Such a configuration was exactly what Scienion AG, located in Berlin, Germany, was searching for its line of ultra-low volume liquid handling systems used in such applications as DNA microarrays, protein microarrays, reversed phase protein microarrays, cell transfection arrays, and Glycan microarrays.

The company’s leading product is the sciFLEXARRAYER, a state-of-the-art non-contact dispensing system for ultra-low volume liquid handling.

The company recently introduced a novel high throughput instrument for array and biosensor production, the model S100 – which includes 3-axis motion platforms designed and manufactured by Steinmeyer FMD.

Steinmeyer Inc.
www.steinmeyer.com

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