Many of today’s precision applications necessitate gears capable of dramatic speed reductions, power densities, and transmission accuracies. Leading choices in these designs include trochoidal and cycloidal gearing as well as gearsets relying on wave-inducing subcomponents having an elliptical or Reuleaux or other polygonal shape. Trochoidal and cycloidal gearing includes elements that rotate and trace curves around […]
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New micro servo-drive system for extra-low-voltage manufacturing applications
Siemens is extending its drive portfolio in the extra-low-voltage range for 24 to 48-V EC motors with its new SIMATIC MICRO-DRIVE. The new product line with UL- and CE-marked components consists of the PDC (Profidrive Control) servo drive in conjunction with a flexible range of motors and connecting cables from product partners, along with the […]
Plug-and-play conveyor platform for automated production environments
With the new Light Conveyor Platform (LCP), Interroll is expanding its range of products with a platform-based material-flow solution that significantly increases the productivity of manufacturing processes. Designed as a plug-and-play modular system, the LCP allows all system integrators to implement scalable belt conveyor sections easily in order to quickly meet customer-specific automation requirements for […]
Low-cost motion control offered with CLICK PLUS PLCs from AutomationDirect
AutomationDirect has released the new CLICK PLC programming software version 3.30, which allows any CLICK PLUS CPU to be configured as a 3-axis PTO/PWM motion controller. 100-kHz high-speed inputs and outputs are offered with any dc option slot I/O module placed in slot 0 of the CPU. With this module, CLICK PLUS PLCs can easily […]
Motion Control Trends: Automation, robotics spur motor demand
Electric motors are at the heart of motion. Across the board, motor manufacturers are seeing increased demand for their products. Hastened by the pandemic, demand in areas such as robotics, autonomous vehicles and automated production and manufacturing lines across a wide swath of industries has risen, spurring new business as well as innovation. Some top […]
Motion Control Trends: Automation drives encoder development
Encoder manufacturers are making sure that their offerings keep pace with broader technological changes and the demands of the market. For example, more powerful motion controllers and drives have spurred a rise in more sophisticated automation systems across a range of industries and applications. Robotics in particular is one area that continues to see growth, […]
Kollmorgen debuts new generation of robot-ready frameless servo motors
Kollmorgen has introduced the new TBM2G series of frameless servo motors, introducing features that simplify the design of collaborative, surgical, aerospace and defense and other robots while delivering optimal performance in a lighter, more compact package. These new motors will complement Kollmorgen’s existing TBM and KBM series of frameless motors. Resulting from several years of […]
What are biquad and other filter types for servo tuning?
One way to improve servo system performance is to increase the gains in the control loop, allowing the system to respond faster to commands and to settle more quickly, with less oscillation. But increasing the servo gains means that any resonances in the system — typically due to mechanical compliance — are further amplified, which can […]
New plastic bevel gears from igus offer lubrication-free motion
igus has expanded its gear offering with bevel gears made of its iguform S270 and igutek P360 high-performance plastics. These abrasion-resistant, self-lubricating gears are a lightweight and maintenance-free alternative to traditional metallic gears. Gears are widely used as drive elements in a range of applications, from e-bikes to locking systems to actuators. However, when forces […]
Automated foodservice with EtherCAT to disrupt restaurant industry
Now an industrial-appliance-sized design called the Makeline from food services company Hyphen is leveraging software, rugged automation, and networked controls to help labor-strapped restaurants meet modern business demands. “We founded the business in July 2018 to leverage automation technology in modern restaurants,” says Daniel Fukuba, Co-Founder and CTO of Hyphen. “Shortly thereafter, we built the […]
