Motion Control

Products: Motion Control

Magnetic Encoders

POSITAL (Hamilton, NJ) introduced new models of IXARC magnetic encoders that combine incremental and absolute rotation measurement capabilities in a single, compact package. Absolute encoders provide a control system with a...

Products: Electronics & Computers

Servo Drive

Elmo Motion Control (Nashua, NH) offers the NANO Gold Twitter servo drive that delivers up to 4000 Watts of qualitative power, current up to 50A at 100VDC, and up to 15A/200V with advanced servo capabilities and support for...

Products: Motion Control

Planetary Gearbox

GAM (Mount Prospect, IL) offers the SPH inline planetary gearbox with helical gears for dynamic and cyclic applications, as well highspeed and continuous duty applications. It is available in six frame sizes with nominal...

Products: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Clutches

U.S. Tsubaki Power Transmission, LLC (Wheeling, IL) announced Cam Clutch unidirectional/ mechanical clutches that lock the inner and outer races through the locking action of cams, transmitting torque in one direction of rotation...

Products: Robotics, Automation & Control

Bearings

igus (East Providence, RI) offers xiros® ball bearings with ball races made from high-performance polymer iglide® A500. The bearings are maintenance- and lubrication-free, and are designed for temperatures up to 302 °F. They are...

Products: Motion Control

Linear Motors

Heidenhain (Schaumburg, IL) offers ETEL ILF and ILM series ironless high-speed linear motors for use in the semiconductor and electronics industry. The motors utilize an ironfree coil design for zero-attraction force between...

Products: Robotics, Automation & Control

Electric Cylinder

SMAC (Carlsbad, CA) introduced the CBL50 electric cylinder designed to achieve peak force of 50N at 2 Amp current, and acceleration up to 40G. It features carriage-free design and built-in linear bearings. It is available...

Products: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Pump Drive

The Drives & Motion Division of Yaskawa America (Waukegan, IL) released the iQpump Micro intelligent pump drive for variable-torque pump loads through 25 HP. It is available in NEMA 1 and NEMA 4X rated models. A variety of...

Products: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Stages

Optimal Engineering Systems (Van Nuys, CA) released low-profile XYθ (theta) stages that move in an XY-plane and rotate around the center of the XY-plane. Available in 12 models in two precision grades, the stages have linear travels...

Products: Robotics, Automation & Control

Nanopositioning Stages

Aerotech (Pittsburgh, PA) offers the QNP-XY series piezo nanopositioning stages with resolution to 0.15 nm, linearity to 0.007%, and repeatability to 2 nm. The stages provide a variety of travel lengths (100 μm to 600...

Products: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Coupling

C-Flex Bearing Co. (Frankfort, NY) offers a Super Plastic torsional damping coupling that stabilizes high-precision systems by dampening transient torque variations. The patented design offers high-torque loads with zero backlash...

Products: Robotics, Automation & Control

Brushless Motor Drive

The DPFlex™ II digital, sensorless, brushless motor drive series from Allied Motion (Amherst, NY) offers speed capability to 150,000 RPM, the ability to drive lower-impedance motors, and software settable rotation...

Products: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Motion Controller

ACS Motion Control (Bloomington, MN) released the SPiiPlusCMHV line of EtherCAT master motion controllers that can manage networks with up to 32 axes and thousands of I/Os. The modules control networks with one or two axes...

Products: Robotics, Automation & Control

Robotic Tool Changer

The QC-160 Robotic Tool Changer from ATI Industrial Automation (Apex, NC) has a high moment capacity in a lightweight design, and features internal lock/unlock sensing and five 3/8 NPT and four ½ NPT pass-through air...

Products: Motion Control

Positioning Assemblies

UniSlide assemblies from Velmex (Bloomfield, NY) deliver movement in one, two, or three dimensions with linear motion. The systems also can be customized for specific requirements. They are compact, and the design...

INSIDER: Government

NASA Demonstrates Aircraft Electric Propulsion

NASA’s Leading Edge Asynchronous Propeller Technology (LEAPTech) project will test the premise that tighter propulsion-airframe integration, made possible with electric power, will deliver...

INSIDER: Software

Second, Smaller Rotor Increases Wind Turbine Efficiency

Large wind turbine blades disturb the wind, creating a wake behind them and reducing the energy harvest of any downwind turbines. A turbine sitting in the slipstream of another can...

INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

Orion's Launch Abort System Motor Exceeds Expectations

NASA has tested the attitude control motor of the Orion Launch Abort System (LAS) to prove that its material can survive not only the intense temperatures, pressures, noise, and...

Briefs: Materials

Developing Ceramic-Like Bulk Metallic Glass Gears

This invention describes systems and methods for implementing bulk metallic glass-based (BMG) macroscale gears with high wear resistance.

This invention creates bulk metallic glasses...

Articles: Motion Control

Products of Tomorrow: March 2015

The technologies NASA develops don’t just blast off into space. They also improve our lives here on Earth. Life-saving search-and-rescue tools, implantable medical devices, advances in commercial aircraft...

INSIDER: Motion Control

Axle Design Enables Scalable Electric Drive for Vehicles

The future belongs to electric motors, and commercial vehicles are no exception. To date, however, many attempts to develop electric motors for commercial vehicles have stalled at the...

INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

Football Stadium Stomping Helps Track Real Earthquakes

Scientists with the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network installed instruments to provide real-time monitoring of the Seattle Seahawks’ stadium movement during the 2015 NFL playoffs. The...

INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

Octopus Robot Makes Waves with Ultra-Fast Propulsion

Scientists have developed an octopus-like robot that can zoom through water with ultra-fast propulsion and acceleration never before seen in man-made underwater vehicles. The octopus is...

Briefs: Propulsion

Propellant Loading Visualization Software

Complex pressure systems are utilized during testing in the propulsion branch as well as during the propellant loading stage of a mission. Keeping track of the state of such a system becomes more...