This year in motor design there’s been an uptick in three trends. Disposable medical devices, new consumer products, and the automation of humbler tasks are driving demand for affordable and miniature-motor options. (Read more about motor miniaturization in the second installment of this two-part Motion Trends series on electric motors here.) A related trend towards […]
Industry News
Low cost, plug-and-play joystick motion controllers
Ergonomic, easy to use, and integrated Joystick motion controllers for steppers, DC motors, and servo motor drivers in one, two, three, and four axis models are available from OES (Optimal Engineering Systems, Inc.). Users can choose from 18 models providing: Step and Direction signals per axis, Quadrature signals per axis, Analog Signals per axis and […]
Yaskawa announces partnership with Spartan Controls Ltd.
Spartan Controls Ltd. is now the exclusive AC drives representative in Western Canada for Yaskawa Electric, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of electric drive technology, industrial automation and robotics. With over 100 years of improving productivity through automation, Yaskawa is a welcome addition to Spartan’s portfolio of energy efficiency solutions. “We are very excited […]
Catching up with Ziehl-Abegg on their biomimicry designs, plans for Hannover Messe
Ziehl-Abegg has been doing a lot of interesting things with what they term bionic profiling—for example, their latest generation of radial fans comes from the humpback whale; allowing for energy savings of up to 10%. The company says it can delivers peak efficiency in excess of 70% in its radial fans. I spoke with Rainer Grill at the […]
Efficient 48-V 5-A hall drive from Koford for brushless motors with no minimum inductance
Koford Engineering LLC now sells a line of compact 48-V 5-A brushless motor drives. These drives are suitable for slotless or other low inductance brushless motors and require no external inductors. More after the jump. They are preprogramed and require no user set up, adjustments or programing. Unlike most drives they can operate at 100% duty […]
Motion trends third edition: Industrial clutch and brake technologies
Brakes and clutches all stop or hold or index axes on motion machinery, but they must execute those functions to application-specific parameters. Trends in this technology continue away from strictly stock parts. Case in point: Tailored power-off brakes for production automation continue to proliferate with demand for holding functions. This is to complement the ever-increasing […]
AutomationDirect offers additional fiberglass enclosures
AutomationDirect has added 189 new fiberglass enclosures, subpanels and accessories to its Hubbell-Wiegmann line of non-metallic enclosures. Starting at $143.00, the new Classic Series of enclosures is designed for general electrical and electronic applications as well as applications requiring broader environmental concerns. The enclosures enhance the appearance of any instrument installation. They are especially suited […]
Kleinfelder announces new leadership appointments
Kleinfelder announced today that the firm has named three experienced and accomplished engineering professionals, Derek Fisher, Dirk Applegate, and Louis Armstrong, to senior positions leading its North American operations. Combined, the new firm leaders have more than 80 years of engineering and management experience. The announcement of these new appointments coincides with the beginning of […]
Manufacturer of industrial automation and control devices IDEC acquires APEM
IDEC Corp., a leading manufacturer of industrial automation and control devices, announces the recent acquisition of APEM. Together, IDEC and APEM are now one of the world’s largest manufacturers of human machine interface (HMI) components, panels and systems. With more than $ 500 million USD in total sales, the combined entity has a broad portfolio […]
Belting Association and PTDA address FAQs about Joint Industry Summit
Planning is well under way for the NIBA/PTDA Joint Industry Summit, September 27-30, 2017, at The Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida, for top executives and those who aspire to leadership among distributors and manufacturers in the belting and power transmission/motion control industries. The one-time, combined meeting presents an opportunity for cross-channel/cross-industry networking and collaboration […]