Minimum efficiency performance standards, or MEPS, specify the required efficiency levels for electric motors used in residential, commercial, and industrial applications. The goals of implementing MEPS are to increase energy efficiency, promote energy savings, and reduce operating costs for electric motors. And although work is being done to harmonize electric motor efficiency classifications, MEPS vary […]
What are international efficiency (IE) standards for motors and gearmotors?
According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), electric motors are responsible for half the energy use in the U.S. manufacturing sector, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that electric motor-driven system account for more than 40 percent of global electricity consumption. To promote energy savings, increase efficiency, and reduce operating costs for manufacturing […]
What are EtherCAT G and G10 and when are they used in motion control applications?
Since its launch in 2003, the EtherCAT protocol, with “processing on the fly” and data transmission speeds up to 100 Mbit/s, has been widely adopted for automation and process control applications. In 2018, Beckhoff (the developer of EtherCAT), introduced a major performance boost to EtherCAT, in the form of EtherCAT G and EtherCAT G10 — […]
What function do thermistors and KTY sensors serve in motors and gearmotors?
One of the most important operating parameters of motor and gearmotor operation is the temperature of the motor windings. Motor heating is caused by mechanical, electrical, and copper losses, as well as heat transferred to the motor from external sources, including the ambient temperature and surrounding equipment. If the temperature of the motor windings surpasses the […]
Heads or tails? A look at conveyor drive options
Conveyors are extremely versatile systems used for delivering bulk or discrete materials through processing operations or along assembly lines. One of the attributes that makes them so versatile is their ability to be configured in almost any layout imaginable, with curves, inclines or declines, and 90° or 180° turns to form complex travel paths. Another […]
What is an equivalent circuit and how is it used?
When analyzing electrical circuits — including those for AC induction motors and DC motors — if the circuit contains two or more of the same passive elements (such as resistors) and is wired exclusively in series or exclusively in parallel, the circuit can be drawn with a simpler representation that contains the voltage source and a […]
What is a tuned mass damper and how is it used in motion control?
Vibrations in machinery can lead to a premature wear of components, poor quality machine output (parts out of spec, unacceptable finishes), and even damage to the product or failure of the machine. This is why most industrial equipment employs some method of vibration mitigation to reduce or prevent vibrations that could be detrimental to the […]
What is an arbor and how can it reduce machine tool vibration?
On a typical machine tool, the tool that performs the machining operation (cutting, milling, or boring, for example) is attached to a rotating spindle that drives the tool. But on machines that require long machining lengths, such as milling and boring, the tool is mounted to an arbor. The arbor is driven by the spindle […]
What are strain energy and resilience in the context of compression (wave) springs?
When a compressive or tensile load is applied to a spring (or any elastic material), the load does work on the spring, causing the spring to undergo a change in shape (extension or compression). This change in shape creates a type of potential energy — referred to as strain energy — in the material. Typical […]
Timing belt conveyors: benefits and uses
Industrial conveyors span a wide range of designs and configurations to suit specific purposes — from positioning delicate optical components for inspection to delivering automotive parts through an assembly line. When designing a conveyor, one of the first considerations is the conveying media to be used, which depends on the size, shape, and weight of the […]
