Motion Applications

Posts about:

Industrial

motion application, Lab Automation, Industrial, Medical Devices

Centrifuge Control

Centrifuge control means controlling a high-speed rotating motor (usually a Brushless DC motor) such that it accelerates, coasts, and decelerates thereby separating via centrifugal force the payload - typically liquids, gels, or gasses. We often think of centrifuges as operating in a biological laboratory, and that certainly represents a big segment, but centrifuges are ubiquitous being found in chemical processing equipment, gas separation equipment, scientific analysis equipment and more. What connects all these applications is the need to drive the motor at high rotation speeds sometimes exceeding 50,000 RPM, with high efficiency and minimal motor heating.

In this Motion Application:

Performance Motion Devices
Read More
Semiconductor, motion application, Lab Automation, Industrial, Medical Devices

Peristaltic Pump Control

Peristaltic pump control means controlling the special mechanical characteristics of this type of pump as it rotates. Peristaltic pumps are used in a broad range of industrial and medical applications but are probably best known in patient treatment applications where bodily fluid such as blood is continuously drawn, processed, and returned to a patient. Because of the dramatic changes in reflected load as the pump rotates, peristaltic pump control presents unique challenges to minimize pressure fluctuations and pulsing in the amount of delivered fluid.

In this Motion Application:

Performance Motion Devices
Read More
Semiconductor, motion application, Lab Automation, Industrial, Medical Devices

Spindle Control

Spindle Control means controlling high speed motors (usually Brushless DC motors) in applications such as machine tool cutting, drilling, centrifuges, cryo-pumps, bar code readers, rotating marking and scanning systems, spin coating, and more. What connects all these applications is the need to drive the motor at high rotation speeds sometimes exceeding 50,000 RPM, and with high efficiency and minimal motor heating.

In this Motion Application:

Performance Motion Devices
Read More
Semiconductor, motion application, Lab Automation, Industrial

High Speed Pick & Place

High Speed Pick and Place in this motion application will focus on the control of mechanisms used for electronics, motor, and textile production where an actuator head rapidly moves back and forth. High speed pick and place encompasses a wide range of machines including SMT (Surface Mount Technology) Pick and Place, Die Bonding Equipment, IC Insertion Machines, Motor Winding Machines, Embroidery Machines, Automated Label Applicators, and more.

In this Motion Application:

Performance Motion Devices
Read More
Automation and Robotics, Semiconductor, motion application, Lab Automation, Mobile Robotics, Industrial, Medical Devices

Robotic Wheel Drive

Robotic Wheel Drive means controlling wheels used to propel robotic devices such as warehouse robotics, rovers, agricultural robots, robotic lawn mowers and a wide array of mobile devices. Some such devices have two primary drive wheels but three, four and even higher numbers of drive wheels are possible. The unique motion control application that ties these machines together is the challenge of slip control and navigation over uneven and physically diverse terrain.

In this Motion Application:

Performance Motion Devices
Read More
Automation and Robotics, Semiconductor, motion application, Lab Automation, Mobile Robotics, Industrial, Medical Devices

Robotic Gripper Control

Robotic Gripper Control specifically means control methods associated with getting a robotic 'hand' to grip an object safely - applying neither too much or too little force. Too much and the object may be crushed or damaged, and too little and the object may be dropped during robot arm motion. Looking at this problem more generally though this combined position and torque control problem is relevant to a broad category of applications including screw cap applicators, cobots, press fit equipment, surgical robotics, and more.

In this Motion Application:

Performance Motion Devices
Read More
Automation and Robotics, Semiconductor, motion application, Lab Automation, Industrial

Gantry Control

Gantries are mechanical devices that move orthogonally in three dimensions. They form the basis of a wide variety of systems that process liquids, biological samples, industrial materials, and print, cut, or otherwise operate on materials.  Gantry Control involves the synchronized control of motion functions such as point-to-point transfers, path following, pipette/cuvette management, and pick and place operation.

In this Motion Application:

Performance Motion Devices
Read More
Medical Device Equipment, Automation and Robotics, motion application, Industrial, Medical Devices

Pan & Tilt Pointing

Pan & tilt pointing means motion control of a mechanical system that can ‘pan’ (rotate around a vertical axis) and tilt (rotate around a horizontal axis). There are a large variety of machines that use a pan & tilt pointing mechanism including security cameras, laser pointing systems, fire control systems, film production equipment, radar control systems, and more.

In this Motion Application:

Performance Motion Devices
Read More
Automation and Robotics, Semiconductor, motion application, Lab Automation, Mobile Robotics, Industrial, Medical Devices

CAM Profiling

CAM profiling is a general purpose motion technique utilizing a pre-stored look-up table of desired positions driven by an incoming command encoder datastream. CAMs are especially useful for encoding profiles which don’t follow a standard envelop such as a trapezoidal or parabolic profile. While originally used just to replicate mechanical rotating CAMs, electronic CAM profiling has grown to provide an array of profile generation and position compensation functions.

In this Motion Application:

Performance Motion Devices
Read More
Medical Device Equipment, Automation and Robotics, Semiconductor, motion application, Lab Automation, Mobile Robotics, Industrial

Indexer Control

Indexers, sometimes also called front end loaders, are general purpose devices that operate in the vertical dimension and form the basis of storage and retrieval systems as well devices such as Semiconductor SMIF-pod access systems. The focus of this motion application will be control of the vertical axis motion, but many storage and retrieval systems couple the vertical axis with a robotic arm or actuator to deliver the carried object to its final storage location.

In this Motion Application:

Performance Motion Devices
Read More