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 us about the trends they’re seeing in the industry.

Do you see the same or more demand for motion designs offering design simplicity or turnkey operation? If you see more demand, what kinds of pre-engineered solutions are you offering to satisfy this change in the marketplace?

Tom Quartararo
Ultra Motion

We’ve seen a steady increase in requests for turnkey actuator solutions that are robust, reliable and easy to use. The ideal actuator solution in many applications is one that will interface directly with existing PLCs, have flexible communication protocols for future system augmentation, and not require extensive learning curves or actuator specific expertise. In a market dominated by smart motors, we saw a need for a “smart actuator” that had built-in absolute position feedback and control electronics designed specifically for electromechanical actuation and ease of integration. This theme is what drove the development of our Servo Cylinder, which integrates our proprietary Phase Index absolute position feedback with a high performance brushless dc controller and robust mechanical components.

Aaron Dietrich
Director of Marketing
Tolomatic

Yes, motion systems can be complex, with many moving parts and the combination of many different product technologies. The more suppliers can combine products and technologies into solutions to simplify the usage and deployment, the better it is for the end-user. Tolomatic does several things to help customers with design simplicity. Examples include easy solutions such as mounting a motor on an actuator. Tolomatic’s online “Your Motor Here” program is a large database of most brands of servomotors. Once the specifier selects a motor, Tolomatic provides motor mount, coupler, belt/pulleys, and mounting hardware. Another example are Tolomatic’s integrated servomotor actuators that are integrated into any feedback device and mimic any servomotor connector such that standard cables can be used from the drive manufacturer. Further integration involves the servomotor and drive into the actuator that eases setup, configuration, tuning and deployment because the drive/controller already knows everything about the actuator.

Ben Lutz
LinMot

In the U.S., we see a strong demand for design simplicity, our pre-guided axes like the P04 and F-Guide feature an extrusion profile and integrated guide rail allowing customers to directly mount loads without stumbling over alignment. The F-Guide system allows for a bolt together gantry from stock parts, making 3 or 4 axes of motion possible with no teach-pendant.

Our customers have also shown preference for control systems that require minimal drive intelligence and communication setup. PVA and NC streaming both allow axis control to stay within the PLC for tighter machine synchronization and a familiar programming environment.

David Basken
Misumi

Yes, and we are expanding our standardization of customer custom machined products into our standard configurable products, kitting services, and exploring light sub assembly services.

Has your company added or expanded services to provide more in-house engineering support and upfront customization for your customers or their end users? Tell us about that and what problems you are eliminating for your customers by doing some of the integration for them.

Tom Quartararo 
Ultra Motion

The analog signal operation mode of the Servo Cylinder has proven to be extremely popular and effective in applications that require precise motion control over the entire range of travel. The combination of long life mechanical components, control electronics, and absolute position feedback greatly reduces cabling, system complexity, and the number of vendors associated with a project. Our Phase Index absolute position sensor is contactless and batteryless, which increases system reliability and eliminates the need for external sensors like limit switches, Hall effect sensors, encoders, and linear potentiometers.

Aaron Dietrich 
Director of Marketing
Tolomatic

Tolomatic has always worked with customers wants and needs to provide customized engineering solutions. In fact, an increasing trend for Tolomatic is to modify existing designs to meet unique customer demands. Simple modifications such as integrating specialized mounting features are common, but more complex requests involve integrating position and force sensors into actuators.

Ben Lutz 
LinMot

Our company has hired more engineers for the support role, and we maximize their time through remote sessions and virtual meetings. The creation of AOIs and other programming function blocks have made digital motion accessible to a wide range of PLCs and Numerous short tutorials have also been produced to reduce the strain on new integrators.

David Basken
Misumi

Yes, we have expanded the in-house engineering team to meet the demand of our rapid growth as well and further deepen the level of application and component selection support we offer. We find that designers are having to work on shorter timelines, and therefore are looking for more support from suppliers to offset some of that work.

Keith Knight
Product Line Design Manager
Haydon Kerk

Over the past couple of years, we have experienced a trend that more and more of our customers have benefited from releasing some portion of their design to a qualified motion control partner. In many cases our customers have a great deal of expertise in their specific field, but that field is not necessarily motion control. By teaming up with a qualified motion control company they can reduce their development timeline, risk, and ultimately release their product to the market sooner and gain more market share.

What industries are most changing motion-component design? What industries or applications are using more custom components than in the past and why?

Tom Quartararo 
Ultra Motion

Motion control in UAVs/UGVs often uses electromechanical rotary actuators, but a linear system can increase overall performance while reducing linkage complexity, cost, and weight in many applications. The Ultra Motion Servo Cylinder includes a mode to move to a proportional position as commanded by an RC-PWM (1 to 2 msec pulse) signal, which is offered as a standard servo control output in many commercial autopilots. Phase Index absolute position feedback eliminates the need to home the actuator at startup, which is a critical feature for control surface applications since homing is intolerable in the event of a power glitch. The native RC-PWM control mode coupled with high reliability Phase Index absolute position feedback and the extremely dynamic motion capability of the Servo Cylinder offers a great combination for unmanned vehicle applications. Detailed control and diagnostic information is available through the Servo Cylinder’s RS-232 command interface for telemetry purposes or for more sophisticated control and decision making. The Servo Cylinder has successfully replaced rotary actuators on unmanned vehicles in applications such as control surface manipulation, throttle control, and landing gear deployment.

Aaron Dietrich 
Director of Marketing
Tolomatic

We see a lot of change happening in the food and beverage environment, with the continued increased enforcement and effect of the FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act). This has driven customers to demand more hygienic designs from all the components they use. Due to the increased demand for more hygienic designs, Tolomatic is taking more standard product and customizing into hygienic designs that meet their requirements.

Ben Lutz 
LinMot

Very few industries can tolerate frequent changing motion components. In fact, new technology like the LinMot tubular linear motor technology takes many, many years to become an adopted and accepted alternative to traditional point-to-point motion. Europe is leading here as the European OEMs adopt new technology more readily and drive their business through new motion component technologies, creating faster, smarter and more flexible machines. Custom components are used in all industries but many customers find it easier to select from standard dimensions to reduce concern about replacement parts.

David Basken
Misumi

Automotive is introducing different materials and technologies into automobiles faster than ever, and this brings with it unique engineering challenges for the automation equipment to handle these. The most influential now are aluminum body panels for vehicles, and the rise of the Electric Vehicle and the battery-based powertrain.

You can read Part 2 of this series on linear actuator trends here.