Oriental Motor engineer details motion technologies shown at Pack Expo
In this video shot in Las Vegas, Oriental Motor engineer Sherman Dumars ( / sherman-dumars-5490777a ) explains to Design World executive editor Lisa Eitel about the AlphaStep (aSTEP) hybrid control systems and hybrid stepper motors.
This technology is especially useful in packaging equipment because it combines the benefits of servo systems and stepper-motor-based motion system designs. The latter includes quick snappy movements and the simplicity of open-loop operability … while the AlphaStep system is also capable of closed-loop control with the help of encoder feedback.
At 1:43 in the video: Oriental Motor announced at this tradeshow that it extended these AlphaStep offerings to linear cylinders, rotary actuators, and even some of its robotic grippers. Such functionality is useful in packaging as mentioned … as well as other material handling and manufacturing applications.
Setup of these Oriental Motors motion products is simpler than that for servo setups … especially as design engineers can make use of the component supplier’s MEXE02 support software. It’s downloadable at https://www.orientalmotor.com/downloa.... Engineers can create motion profiles and execute them immediately. There’s also:
• Full system configurability; I/O monitoring
• Waveform capture; drag-and-drop programming capability
• The ability to upload and download programs and parameters
• A built-in terminal function and a linked motion creator
At 2:17 in the video: Also on display at Pack Expo was Oriental Motor’s seven-axis robot demo using the AlphaStep hybrid controls and AlphaStep motors on each axis … with AZ series on most of the axes (https://www.orientalmotor.com/stepper...) and then a larger rotary actuator at the base as well as a gripper actuator at the arm’s end effector. Absolute encoders in all the AZ series motors on this robot have absolute rotary encoders so the design doesn’t need to use limit switches or homing routines for positioning. According to Dumars, this kind of robot (which in some cases might be $10,000 or so to build) can in some cases replace far more expensive collaborative robots of comparable capabilities (running to $30,000 or more) … and provide a simpler more customizable solution as well.
At 3:26 in the video: Dumars details a classic Oriental Motor tradeshow poker demo … having four axes working in unison … and the AZ series motors for open-loop performance and closed-loop reliability.
For more information, visit https://www.motioncontroltips.com/?s=... and https://www.orientalmotor.com.