The new SDLM-019-070-01-01 direct drive linear motor is the latest addition to the series of zero backlash, zero cogging, high acceleration, high speed, high resolution, long life linear servo motors from Moticont. Also known as an electric cylinder, this compact direct drive linear motor is just 0.75 in. (19.1 mm) in diameter and 2.75 in […]
Linear Motion
Thomson Industries collaborates with research team to develop new Tesla Coil Designs
Thomson Industries, a leading manufacturer of mechanical motion control solutions, has donated a high-precision ball screw assembly to The Geek Group National Science Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to help develop revolutionary designs of Tesla Coils (TC). An ambitious R&D program has been initiated there to discover new uses for the TC with help from […]
Electric actuator trends: Applications • IoT • online tools
This is Part 2 of a two-part series. You can read the first part here. Tell us about a new application where engineers used your motion-control and power-transmission components to improve their design. What about this application is unlike anything possible 10 years ago? Tom Quartararo Ultra Motion Another industry trend that has been steadily […]
Top electric-actuator trend — integration
If there is one overarching trend for electric actuators, it has to be integration. That is, integrating more components such as feedback devices, controllers and drives, and functions into the actuator itself. Designers are looking for reliable actuators that can be quickly and easily installed, powered up and operational. Here’s what some top actuator manufacturers told […]
Genesis Robotics premieres LiveDrive actuator at Hannover Messe 2017
Canadian manufacturer Genesis Robotics unveiled LiveDrive — the first highly-controllable direct-drive robotic actuator that is three times faster and 100 times more precise than conventional actuators — at Hannover Messe 2017 in Germany on April 24th. Robotic actuators are the physical force behind robots, and make up approximately 30 percent of the cost. For more than 50 years […]
Steinmeyer announces The Pentagon Company as new sales representative for Western U.S.
Steinmeyer has announced that The Pentagon Company will be its new representative for miniature ball screw products in USA’s western states. President of Pentagon, Donna Materna, will team-up with her sales engineers, Mike Peterseim, Al Theis and Art Kuller to represent Steinmeyer. Known as the “application detectives,” The Pentagon Company has a well-established history of […]
Technologies from Bosch Rexroth you missed at MD&M West
MD&M West is known for its unwavering usefulness to attendees and exhibitors alike, and this year’s event delivered as usual. Here’s what we saw at the Bosch Rexroth booth (within the colocated ATX West) during our visit at the show. A main focus at the Bosch Rexroth booth was connected automation technology — also called the Internet of […]
FAQ: What are low voltage piezo actuators, and where are they used?
When voltage is applied to a piezo ceramic material, the material experiences a displacement (expansion or contraction) per the inverse piezoelectric effect. The amount of displacement that results from the applied voltage depends on thickness of material. Thus, for a given displacement, a thinner material requires a smaller voltage than a thicker material. Low voltage […]
FAQ: How do I calculate the inertia of a servo-driven system?
Inertia, or more specifically, inertia ratio, is one of the most important factors in sizing a servo system. Inertia is defined an object’s resistance to change in velocity, and in servo-driven systems, it can be used as a measure of how well the motor is able to control the acceleration and deceleration of the load. […]
Custom voice-coil actuator heads to asteroid Bennu
BEI Kimco, a brand of Sensata Technologies, is a part of NASA’s first asteroid sampling mission that could revolutionize understanding of the early solar system. BEI Kimco designed a customized moving magnet voice coil actuator (VCA) to meet the harsh requirements for a spectrometer moving mirror application on the Origins-Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith […]
