Motion Control

HAWE Hydraulics (Charlotte, NC) offers the PSL/PSV proportional directional spool valve series that can be configured for the hydraulic functions of a silage trailer. These functions include raising/lowering the tailgate or front gate, and operating the scraper floor drive and conveyor drive systems. A modular design permits...

The EC-4pole 32 HD motors from maxon precision motors (Fall River, MA) are designed for operation in air or in oil (flooded in hydraulic oil). The power rating depends on the surrounding medium and amounts to 220W in air and, due to the much higher heat flow, 480W in oil. They are designed for ambient temperatures of more than 200 °C and...

The P-736.ZR Large Aperture piezo-Z nanopositioning system from PI LP (Auburn, MA) is designed for imaging and fast focusing applications. It consists of a large-aperture piezo stage and a digital controller. The flexure-guided piezo nanopositioning stages are optimized for high resolution and fast step and settle. The...

Southco (Concordville, PA) has introduced the T Series Tilt Display Mounts with or without counterbalanced constant torque. The AVD25 Tilt Display Mount Basic provides tilt positioning for moving and positioning heavy panels and displays. The counterbalanced version provides even lower operating efforts. The T Series enables...

Jewell Instruments (Manchester, NH) offers the Emerald Series inclinometer MEMS sensors in a small rectangular package, enabling installation in areas with space constraints. They can withstand up to 500g shock, and offer single- or dual-power input. Custom ranges and bandwidths are available. The inclinometers can be used...

Penny + Giles, a business group of Curtiss-Wright Controls (Christchurch, UK), has introduced the NRH275DR rotary position sensor featuring a low-profile sensor housing and separate permanent magnet assembly. With no contacting mechanical parts that can wear, the sensors can be used in extreme and hostile environments...

HEIDENHAIN (Schaumburg, IL) offers the ExN rotary encoders for Potentially Explosive Atmospheres (ATEX) that feature a 12-mm blind hollow shaft in a sturdy design with increased wall thickness. The encoders are resistant to shock up to 1500 m/s2 (for 2ms), and vibration up to 100 m/s2. The IP 66 encoders handle shaft speeds up to...

Fabco-Air (Gainesville, FL) has announced the OEM NFPA cylinders. The FCQN Series is a repairable NFPA interchangeable cylinder line that comes with magnetic pistons for position sensing. Adjustable cushions at both ends of the cylinders are included as a standard option. Stainless steel tie-rods are incorporated into the cylinder...

Mouser Electronics (Mansfield, TX) offers the LPC1500 Motion Control Chip from NXP Semiconductor. The flexible controller can drive a variety of different motors including brushless DC, sensored, sensorless, and permanent magnet motors. The integrated circuit is powered by a 72-MHz ARM Cortex M3 core combined with specialized...

Newport Corp. (Irvine, CA) has introduced the TRB motorized actuator series that provides motorized linear motion with up to 25 mm travel in a lightweight package. The actuators are designed as a direct replacement to the micrometers found in manual positioners or other applications requiring a linear pushing motion like...

Lenze Americas (Uxbridge, MA) has introduced g500 gearboxes that enable speed-controlled operation with frequency inverters. They minimize losses, so the motor can generate less energy. The lower level of generated heat increases the overall service life. The gearboxes are designed for total integration with a Lenze Smart Motor, which...

Lin Engineering (Morgan Hill, CA) offers the BL-100 intelligent, compact brushless DC speed controller that can be used with a large majority of BLDC motors. It features an input operating voltage of up to +48VDC, and up to 10 amps of continuous current, 20 amps peak. It also features closed-loop control with adjustable P and I...

Groschopp (Sioux Center, IA) has introduced brushless DC motor controls for BLDC motors and gearmotors. Designed to provide commutated power and variable speed control, the closed-loop controls provide speed regulation over a range of loads. Features include line and low-voltage options, chassis-mount and NEMA 4X enclosures,...

Macro Sensors (Pennsauken, NJ) offers the HSIR Series LVDT linear position transmitters that can serve as level sensors to measure liquid level changes from a few inches to several feet in gauging tank level volumes when configured with a float. In this configuration, a stainless steel float coupled to a nonmagnetic...

Bell-Everman (Goleta, CA) offers the SLS line of ballscrew- and linear-motor-driven sealed motion stages that feature a lip seal design that keeps debris, particulate, and liquid contaminants from gumming up the internal drive and bearing components. Made from a ruggedized polyurethane elastomer, the seal integrates with the...

The Micronor MR330 Series fiber optic absolute position sensor system from Micronor (Newbury Park, CA) features 14-bit single-turn resolution. Rotary sensors are offered in two models: Standard MR332 and MRI Safe MR338. The absolute rotary encoder measures absolute angular position from 0° to 360° via programmable 13-bit (8,192...

Meggitt Sensing Systems (Irvine, CA) offers Endevco Models 41A, 42A, and 43A Isotron accelerometers. The general-purpose, single-axis accelerometers feature 10, 25, 100, 500, and 1000 mV/g sensitivities for the 41A and 42A, with 100, 500, and 1000 mV/g for the 43A. Amplitude response of ±5% is 1 to 10,000 Hz. The stud-mounted...

ACS Motion Control (Bloomington, MN) has introduced UDMMC compact EtherCAT modules that feature two and four universal drives with ratings of 12 Vdc to 80Vdc, and 2.5A (5A peak) to 20A (40A peak) per drive. Each drive is programmable to control a two-or three-phase servomotor, a DC brush motor, a voice coil motor, and a...

The RZM Centric Vice from Röhm Products of America (Lawrenceville, GA) provides work-holding rigidity and contributes to higher-accuracy 5-axis machining. The vice’s design features clamping jaws positioned relatively high, and a horizontal spindle situated at the top of the vice and closer to the jaws. The jaws are shorter...

Trio Motion Technology (Freeport, PA) has introduced the MC403-Z motion controller in two versions offering control of two or three axes. The core axis connections can be configured as pulse and direction outputs to drives, or as incremental encoder feedback inputs or simulated encoder outputs. The three-axis variant allows...

Kollmorgen (Radford, VA) has introduced MMG series linear motor stages in four models that deliver 25-mm, 50-mm, 100-mm, and 150-mm travel. They provide uncompensated accuracy from 6 um to 14 um, and resolution from 1.0 um to 5 nm. Each model delivers repeatability to ±0.4 um, and is rated for 10-kg load capacity. The stages...

The EPPINGER Trifix^® tool positioning system from EXSYS Tool (San Antonio, FL) enables exchanges of both static and driven tooling for multitasking machines. Based on the VDI interface, the system provides positioning accuracy within 10 μm between tool stations, and single-position repeatability of less than...

In two new papers, MIT researchers demonstrate the promise of printable robotic components that, when heated, automatically fold into prescribed three-dimensional configurations.

One paper describes a system that takes a digital specification of a 3-D shape — such as a computer-aided...

Sandia National Laboratories has finished testing a full-scale mock unit representing the aerodynamic characteristics of the B61-12 gravity bomb in a wind tunnel. The tests on the mock-up were done to establish the configuration that will deliver the necessary spin motion of the bomb...

Researchers at University West in Sweden are using nanoparticles in the heat-insulating surface layer that protects aircraft engines from heat. In tests, this increased the service life of the coating by 300%. The hope is that motors with the new layers will be in production within...

University of Sheffield engineers have developed a way of making hundreds — or even thousands — of tiny robots cluster to carry out tasks. The robots do not require memory or processing power.

Each robot uses just one sensor that indicates the presence of another nearby robot. Based on the...

It can cost hundreds of dollars and days to scan biological materials for important biomarkers that signal diseases such as diabetes or cancer using industry standard equipment. Researchers face enormous time constraints and financial hurdles from having to run these analyses on a regular basis. A...

The Multi-segmented Magnetic Ro bot (MSMR) project addresses a capability gap in the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance needs of the U.S. Navy visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS); Navy SEALs; and Marine Force Reconnaissance teams. A segmented robotic platform with magnetic...

Pfankuch Machinery, based in Ahrensburg, Germany, is a leading manufacturer of friction feeder systems for inserting leaflets and products into sales packaging. An embedded smart servo drive from Metronix (part of the Apex Tool Group in Sparks, MD) has allowed Pfankuch to increase the speed of...

The SIMO^® Series linear motion platform from PBC Linear (Rockford, IL) offers low-profile rail heights for tight spaces, or a tall version for greater structural integrity. Each aluminum base rail is qualified with the SIMO (Simultaneous Integral Milling Operation) option for less bow and twist, and better...