Nippon Pulse has introduced a box-level controller to join its chip and board controller product lines. The FMAX-4X-2SD is a box controller for up to four axes of movement, with built-in servo drivers for X and Y axes. The X and Y axes can control rotary and linear brushless motors, such as Nippon Pulse’s Linear […]
Jim Williams and Chris Curran to lead PTDA in 2018
The Power Transmission Distributors Association (PTDA) elected its 2018 Board of Directors and Manufacturer Council at the annual business meeting during the recent NIBA/PTDA Joint Industry Summit in Hollywood, Fla. Jim Williams, vice president corporate purchasing & supplier relations, Motion Industries Inc. (Birmingham, Ala.) will become PTDA’s president in 2018. He succeeds Tom Clawser. Williams […]
Rack and Pinion Drive System: What Is It?
A rack and pinion drive system consists of a rack (or a “linear gear”) and a pinion (or “circular gear”). The teeth of a rack and pinion drive can be straight or helical, although helical teeth are often used due to their higher load capacity and quieter operation. For a rack and pinion drive system, […]
Using a dedicated pulse control LSI vs. a CPU for motion control
Pulse control LSIs specialize in motion control, and feature high operational reliability. Jerame Chamberlain Nippon Pulse In motion control, acceleration and deceleration are central to the move profiles used to control a motor. Good acceleration and deceleration control ensures quick and accurate positioning, and fast settling without damaging equipment or materials. For instance, consider a […]
PTDA Foundation presents Wendy B. McDonald Award to Tribby Warfield
To honor the memory of Wendy B. McDonald, one of the power transmission/motion control industry’s true pioneers, the PTDA Foundation established the Wendy B. McDonald Award. The award acknowledges a woman who has established herself as a critical contributor to her company’s success and has affected positive change within the power transmission/motion control industry. The […]
Encoders with BlueBeam technology increase resolution, signal quality
BlueBeam is a specially developed blue-light LED, which Pepperl+Fuchs uses in the new ENI58IL incremental rotary encoders, thereby offering performance features that have so far only been possible in high-performance special solutions. The blue light from the new emitter LEDs exhibits a decreased diffraction compared to a longer-wave infrared light of the same gap width […]
Koford debuts 60-mm diameter 2-pole slotless brushless motor
Koford Engineering LLC has introduced a new 48-V 2-pole 60-mm diameter slotless sensorless brushless motor. The motor features 512 W continuous output at 15,792 rpm at 48 V with a peak motor efficiency of 93%. The 24-V version outputs 256 W at 7,560 rpm and has a peak efficiency of 92%. These motors are also […]
Where do chain drives still make sense?
Chain drives are a tried and true method of linear actuation and are used in much industrial machinery. A typical chain drive consists of two key components; a chain and a sprocket. The chain itself is composed of several components including a pin, bushing, roller, pin link plate, and a roller link plate. The chain […]
New organization promotes no-charge, open-source interface technology for industrial control systems
POSITAL FRABA has announced that it is participating as a founding member of the BiSS Association e.V., a new organization dedicated to encouraging the use of the BiSS family of open-source industrial communications protocols. BiSS communications protocols were developed by the German company iC-Haus GmbH as an efficient and feature-rich digital interface for communications between […]
Direct-drive motor designs: What variations are there?
The most basic definition of a direct-drive motor is a type of design that allows the motor to be connected directly to the driven load. Doing so eliminates mechanical transmission elements that tend to add compliance into a drive system such as gears, couplings, belts and pulleys, and chain drives. Direct-drive motors are sometimes also […]