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Mechanical Motion Keeps Pace
More Engineers Find It Challenging to Integrate Mechanical With Electronic
04/26/2011
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Although the use of electronic alternatives continues to rise, mechanical components remain an important part of motion control. In fact, as electronic motion components proliferate, integration of electronic and mechanical components has become the No. 1 motion control challenge for controls engineers. That’s according to almost half of Control Design’s readers in our 2011 Market Intelligence Report on motion, drives and motors, up from just over 39% of respondents to the 2010 survey.
More than half of our respondents use primarily standard motors, and even more (64%) primarily use servo motors. A little more than a quarter (28%) primarily use stepper motors. New to our poll this year, we added high-efficiency and premium-efficiency motors to the mix. More than 41% of respondents said they primarily use high-efficiency motors, and 35% said they use premium-efficiency motors.
According to our 2010 motion survey, for linear motion applications just over a quarter of our audience favors ball screws and lead screws with slides and guides, and following closely behind (at less than 24%) are pneumatic actuators. Almost 18% use primarily direct linear motors/drives.
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Significant challenges among those polled in 2011 are more precision/less drift, and faster updates/better synchronization. Although 2010 showed a slight uptick in the need for speed, those needing update rates of faster than 100 µs fell this year from 12% to 5%. The most common update rate required is 1-99 ms at almost 38%, up from about 32% in 2010. About a quarter of the respondents required updates in the microsecond range, overall about the same as last year.
More than half of respondents said position control and speed control were of highest importance for motion performance characteristics. Considered of importance but to a lesser degree was torque control.
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Control the Turns |
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Strong Profile |
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Remembers Its Place |
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Holy OLE |
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Slimmer, Stronger |
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Cam-Driven |
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Bevel Geared Motor |
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To Bevel or Not to Bevel RESF37 stainless steel helical gear reducer and KESA37 stainless steel helical bevel gear reducer are shaft-mounted gear units with TorqLoc compact keyless hollow shaft mounting system that combines interchangeable bronze bushings and a stainless steel clamping ring for mounting onto various sized solid shafts. They are available with NEMA C-face motor adapters, IEC adapters or as gearmotors. Other options include seals to provide IP69K protection and food-grade oil. SEW Eurodrive 864/439-8792 www.seweurodrive.com |
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Actuator Alternative |
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Geared to Go |
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Mechanical Drive |
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Protect Your Lower Backlash |
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Variable Stroke Actuator |
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Cylinder Line |
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To Measurement and Beyond |
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Smooth Sliding Series FGXS twin bore, precision table slides have a rail bearing system for smooth operation. Magnetic pistons and sensor mounting slots are standard. Optional sensors feature surge protection, polarity protection, LED indicator, and fast switching speeds. Options include adjustable stroke and shock absorbers, bores 8–25 mm, and strokes to 150 mm. Fabco-Air 352/373-3578 www.fabco-air.com |
| Designed for Strength R08 Planetary Gearhead delivers continuous torque of 0.05 Nm, available in 4-256 ratios that can be further extended to ratios of 4,096. The gearhead can be coupled with brush dc, brushless and stepper motors in their respective frame sizes. It can be customized to meet specific application requirements. Portescap 610/235-5499 www.portescap.com |
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| Worm Gearbox V-Drive+ servo worm gearbox features torsional backlash of <3 arcmin and has continuously high positioning accuracy. Sizes include 050, 063, 080 and 100, with ratios of 4, 7, 10, 16, 28 and 40. V-Drive economy features torsional backlash of <8 arcmin. Sizes include 050 and 063, with ratios of 7, 10, 16, 28 and 40. Wittenstein 888/534-1222 www.wittenstein-us.com |
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| Ramp-Down Mechanical ramp-down attachment for Amacoil/Uhing linear drives needs only a slowdown arm added to the reversal mechanism and an extra end stop bolt on the assembly supports. Production and maintenance personnel need not learn any special procedures or skills. Example applications include moving overhung or cantilevered payloads in linear motion systems with minimal whipping or jolting of the payload. Amacoil 610/485-8300 www.amacoil.com |
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WORM GEAR REDUCERS Ultra Kleen right-angle, worm gear reducers are available in quill and three-piece coupled input and with solid or hollow output. Made of stainless steel for washdown protection, the units are available in ratios of 17, 21, 23, 26 and 30 with center distances 1.75-3 in., and a factory-filled H1 food-grade lubricant. Baldor 479/414-4711 www.baldor.com |
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LINEAR ACTUATORS MDrive linear actuators with integrated step motor and driver technology come in three motor sizes and non-captive and external shaft styles, with options including programmable controller and motion control technology. These products have an input voltage range of 12-75 Vdc, nominal load limits of up to 200 lb and full (256x200) microstepping with an operating temperature range of –40 to 85 °C. Intelligent Motion Systems 860/295-6102 www.imshome.com |
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AIR POWER Nitra pneumatic line of stainless steel, round body, non-repairable cylinders feature type 304 stainless steel bodies with double rolled-in construction with high-strength aluminum alloy porting ends. Single- and double-acting models are available with nose, pivot and double-end mounting options. Some models are available with magnetic pistons for position indication. Bore sizes range 7/16–2 in. Depending on bore size, available stroke lengths range ½–18 in. AutomationDirect 770/889-2858 www.automationdirect.com |
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CAGED TECHNOLOGY SBK ball screw has a recirculation structure where balls are picked up in the tangential direction and the lead-angle direction by end caps. It has Caged Technology with a synthetic resin cage and patented curvature that cradles each ball and separates it from the next one. SBK is available with screw shaft outer diameters ranging 15–32 mm and nut diameters ranging 38–58 mm. THK America 847/310-1111 www.thk.com/us |
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BALL SCREW ALTERNATIVE PDP alternative to ball screws is made of two ground WMH pinions connected through a preload system to reduce rack-and-pinion mesh backlash. When mounted at the output flange of SRP, a high-tech planetary gearhead, PDP offers four different modules with straight or helical teeth, eight reduction ratios, angle-drive versions, two-output pinion diameters for each size, and an input interface in-line flange or with a 90° angle. Andantex USA 800/713 6170 www.andantex.com |
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