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Motion
Control-in-a-Box
 Lee Stephens calls motion control
and logic on a motor the “extreme end of distributed
intelligence.”
But the Radford, Va.-based motion-control engineer
with vendor Danaher Motion (www.danahermotion.com), of Wood
Dale, Ill., sees one real benefit of this combination that he
labels motion control-in-a-box: reduced power and feedback cabling.
This is particularly important with moving applications such as motors
located on moving members of a robot, he says. “With a
typical distributed-intelligence system, at least 60 percent of the
cable volume would be reduced,” he estimates.
And less cable equals smaller footprint. For
example, Bosch-Rexroth Corp.’s (www.boschrexroth-us.com),
IndraDrive Mi product combines control electronics and servo motor into
a single,
highly compact drive unit. This reduces the drive’s size by
50 percent, compared to traditional servo solutions, says Rami
Al-Ashqar, product manager in Bosch Rexroth’s Electric Drives
and Controls Group in Hoffman Estates, Ill. “The
unit’s design also combines the power and SERCOS (Serial
Real-time Communication System) communication links into a single
cable.”
Get outta there
In addition, cabinet space is also reduced, points
out Carl Owens, application engineer with the Production Machines/Drive
Technologies Group within vendor Siemens Energy & Automation
Inc. (www.sea.siemens.com), in
Norcross,
Ga. “Our end-users are typically used to large control
cabinets, which sometimes are mounted next to the machine,”
Owens observes. But he’s seen demand increase in the past two
years for decentralized systems, Owens adds, because “people
realize there’s a cost savings” due getting out of
the cabinet... Read
more
Expanding Choices
for Automation Buying
To buy online, or to
use a distributor? That is the question.
Procurement poses problems for every company from
time to time, and it was one of those times for Samuel Jackson Inc., of
Lubbock, Texas. Nestled in the heart of the largest cotton patch in the
world, the builder of cotton-gin equipment learned that its
programmable logic controller (PLC) of choice had become obsolete and
would no longer be available. Its engineering staff would have to find
a new one that made sense for its dryers, heaters and other
moisture-control equipment.
It was then that the staff came across an
advertisement for a brand of PLC that was much cheaper than the one its
distributor was offering. The downside was that these controllers were
available by mail order over the Internet from AutomationDirect, a
supplier halfway across the country in Cumming, Ga. So, besides
wondering about the reliability of a controller unknown to them, the
engineers also wondered whether a faraway company would be able to
stand by its products and provide technical support when they needed
it..." Read
more
Motion Systems
Offer Precise Motor Control
For most manufacturing
processes, especially discrete manufacturing, nothing happens until a
motor turns. Motors convert control algorithms into actual work.
Controlling motors is a crucial element of
automated manufacturing.
One control method uses traditional
“clang-bang” motor starters, which are essentially
on-off switches for high currents. For applications that require
precise position and speed control of the motor, including the ability
to hold full torque at zero speed, motion control, or servo control
systems are employed...
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