Posted to News on 6th Oct 2008, 00:00
Putting ideas into motion
ElectroCraft's latest innovation has been to develop a new line of motion control drive products called CompletePower which drive an entire range of PMDC, brushless DC and stepper motors. The company says the CompletePower drives are ideal for OEM design engineers looking for a compact, easy to integrate motion control solution, providing proof of how modern state-of-the art devices can help users make immediate savings across many areas of machine equipment and plant construction. Not only are investment costs reduced, but so are the costs of secondary tasks associated with installation, commissioning and maintaining.
So what makes up these new drives? Key characteristics of the high performance family include robust design, compact footprint, and ultimate ease of use. Equipment with a switched output designed for two and four quadrant operation is housed in robust aluminium covers. They are just 120mm high, 85mm deep and 27mm wide. PWM technology means the amplifiers operate with an efficiency of at least 95 percent, and additional cooling methods are often not necessary at lower performance levels. The four quadrant PMDC amplifier with linear output is even more compact at 105 mm high, 65 mm deep and the same width of 27.5 mm, however it does have a higher power loss. Power plugs can be attached without using tools. Shielded RJ45-CAT5 connectors are supplied for drive inputs and outputs making signal level cabling simple and straightforward.
The amplifiers can be commissioned quickly using the basic settings shown in the manual. The desired mode of operation is easy to set using simple DIP switches. The versatile range of equipment opens up a wide spectrum of applications, since the amplifiers can be configured for very different situations or applications.
