Air Bearing Motion Systems
PI (Auburn, MA) is offering custom air bearing motion systems, designed to boost performance in production, test, and metrology in a wide range of industrial applications including photonics, medical design, aerospace, and semiconductors. Building on a research and manufacturing team with hundreds of man years of air bearing and nanopositioning design experience, PI’s air bearing systems offer unprecedented levels of accuracy, stability, and flexibility. In addition to a large range of standard air bearing products, PI can design custom motion systems, from miniature linear actuators and spindles to large multi-axis gantry systems. Both motorized, closed-loop and passive air bearing solutions are available, and air bearings can be designed to perform multiple functions in a very compact package, using the air for both bearing and actuation purposes. PI’s air bearing motion systems harness the advantages of this technology and enhance it further through advanced motion control algorithms — improving step and settle times, noise, and tracking accuracy.
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AKD2G 24A Servo Drive
Kollmorgen’s (Radford, VA) new AKD2G 24A is designed for applications in precision multi-axis servo systems. The new single-cable optimized drive builds upon the strengths of the AKD2G portfolio including upgraded safety features, SD card backup and a graphical display with higher amperage to support more applications with higher power requirements such as conveyors and vertical lifting applications. Compared to other drives in its class, the AKD2G 24A servo drive provides 3× the continuous current rating during peak operation for up to 5 seconds — ideal for intermittent-use, high-power servo motors. In these peak-dependent applications, customers can potentially downsize their servo drive to this new 24A offering. Kollmorgen’s Motioneering sizing and selection tool provides guidance through the process. The new AKD2G 24A servo drive provides configurable options including safety level, I/O, feedback, and fieldbus. It supports a secondary brake through a standard X4 connector and allows for faster Smart Feedback Adapter (SFA) wiring with a standard X5 connector.
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EnDat 3 Encoder Interface
HEIDENHAIN CORPORATION (Schaumburg, IL) has announced EnDat 3, a new version of its popular absolute position encoder interface. The new EnDat 3 interface has all the benefits of previous versions, but is even faster and more robust, with simplified functional safety features. EnDat 3 uses a 200 kHz clock frequency, compared to the 16 kHz of previous versions, and has doubled its supported bandwidth, from 12.5 to a 25 Mb/s. This means that data can be transferred much more quickly. HEIDENHAIN has simplified functional safety aspects of the interface, and EnDat 3 now leverages the industry standard for functional safety: black channel. This makes implementation much easier for OEMs. The EnDat 3 interface detects its absolute position, rather than just its position relative to a reference. This is a big advantage when a machine starts up, as it does not require any machine movement to establish its position, which can be extremely time-consuming for large machines. EnDat 3, therefore, enables faster startup, which means more throughput.
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High Torque Rotary Indexers
Nexen Group, Inc. (Vadnais Heights, MN) has announced a new line of Rotary Indexers. The X-Line delivers up to three times more torque and greater moment load capacity in a compact package. Nexen’s X-Line has a redesigned roller pinion and a larger gear pitch to handle higher torque capacities that deliver accuracy, fast acceleration, high-speed positioning, increased load capacity, and true repeatability. The X-Line’s mounting features and the additional fastening points of the rigid cast housing are designed for a greater moment load capacity than a standard design. Additionally, systems can be designed for low or zero backlash to meet the project specifications. Nexen products provide torque in clutches, brakes, torque limiters, and coupling products. The power transmission product line includes a variety of designs that interface with imperial and metric components. Nexen units fit industry-standard motors, gear reducers, pulleys, sprockets, shafts and couplings. All products are well-engineered and ruggedly built to the highest standards.
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Compact Controllers
Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc. (Vernon Hills, IL) has expanded its line of MELSEC iQ-F series compact controllers to now offer a basic model providing OEMs with an all-in-one controller for small machines up to 60 I/O with integrated Ethernet connectivity. The FX5S PLC is a solution for simple automation applications at a more affordable price than the original FX5U high-performance model and FX5UJ mid-range model. Unique features of the FX5S PLC include a built-in Webserver for connection to customized webpages and CC-Link IE network capability for reliable communication to HMI, VFD, servo, and remote I/O. The MELSEC iQ-F series compact controllers have faster speeds and increased memory for programming. The series is ideal for customers that need to modernize from serial to Ethernet. This model is programmed in the same GX Works3 software environment as other iQ-F series compact PLCs which makes it a great fit for applications in packaging, material handling, food & beverage, and water industries.
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