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Linear Motion Tips

Covering Linear Motion Systems, Components and Linear Motion Resources

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Controls for linear axes

Choosing linear and angle encoders for semiconductor machinery

April 7, 2022 By Lisa Eitel Leave a Comment

The manufacture and testing of semiconductors involves the competing requirements of nanometer positioning and high throughput. Here, the right encoder can help motion designs deliver on both counts. By HEIDENHAIN CORPORATION staff engineers Semiconductor manufacturing and testing equipment can have the best motion-control bandwidth, artificial intelligence capabilities, and optics in the world, but none of […]

Filed Under: Applications, Controls for linear axes, Encoders + sensors (linear) + I/O Tagged With: heidenhain

What is torque ripple and how does it affect linear motion applications?

February 11, 2022 By Danielle Collins Leave a Comment

cogging torque and torque ripple

  Motors produce torque and rotation through the interaction of magnetic fields in the rotor and the stator. In an ideal motor — with mechanical components that are perfectly machined and assembled and electrical fields that build and decay instantaneously — torque output would be perfectly smooth, with no variations. But in the real world, there […]

Filed Under: Applications, Controls for linear axes, FAQs + basics, Featured

What does bandwidth refer to in the context of servo systems?

February 4, 2022 By Danielle Collins Leave a Comment

Bode Plot

Most people are familiar with bandwidth as it relates to networking and WiFi service — for example, the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands on which WiFi signals are transmitted. But bandwidth also plays an important role in servo control and tuning. The bandwidth of a servo control system indicates how quickly the system […]

Filed Under: Controls for linear axes, FAQs + basics, Featured

When does open-loop stepper control still make sense?

April 7, 2021 By Danielle Collins Leave a Comment

open-loop vs closed-loop control

Stepper motors are inherently open-loop devices, able to make precise moves without feedback regarding motor position. But one of the drawbacks of using stepper motors in some applications is that if steps are lost (or gained), the system has no way to detect this. The resulting discrepancy between the actual position of the motor and […]

Filed Under: Controls for linear axes, FAQs + basics, Featured

Ride the wave of electrification: Off-highway designs with linear actuators

February 23, 2021 By Lisa Eitel Leave a Comment

The transition of mobile machinery and off-highway equipment away from fossil fuels may be a long-term goal, but electrification is already delivering real benefits in the sector. By Tarek Bugaighis • Ewellix Is the era of the internal combustion engine coming to end? Under pressure to reduce harmful emissions, the automotive industry is already gearing […]

Filed Under: Applications, Controls for linear axes, Featured, Integrated Linear Systems, Linear actuators (all), Linear drives (all) Tagged With: ewellix

What is stepper motor resonance and how can it be avoided?

November 12, 2020 By Danielle Collins 3 Comments

stepper motor resonance

The discrete, step-by-step movements that give a stepper motor its accurate positioning capability can also lead to some undesirable performance characteristics — namely, vibration and audible noise due to resonance. Stepper motors naturally exhibit small vibrations with each step, due to the inertia of the moving rotor, which causes the motor to slightly overshoot (or, […]

Filed Under: Controls for linear axes, FAQs + basics, Featured

Nanopositioning controller for piezo stages boasts 270-W peak power, nanometer-level precision

November 5, 2020 By Miles Budimir Leave a Comment

controller

A high-power version of PI’s (Physik Instrumente) E-727 family of multi-axis piezo nanopositioning controllers provides 270 W of peak power – close to 10X of the standard version. The enhanced performance is useful for dynamic, nanometer-level precision motion and positioning applications, such as FSM (fast steering mirrors) in free space optical communication and laser material […]

Filed Under: Controls for linear axes, Featured, Integrated Linear Systems Tagged With: physikinstrumente

Linear servo brush-type amplifiers for voice-coil actuators

July 7, 2020 By Miles Budimir Leave a Comment

amplifier

H2W’s new dc linear brush-type servo amplifier, the LCAM 5/15, is suited to drive the company’s line of voice coil linear actuators. Linear amplifiers provide continuous current flow to the motor which prevents any dead-band issues that occur in many PWM type amplifiers. Additionally, linear amplifiers have low EMI, and no audible noise that also […]

Filed Under: Controls for linear axes

Industrial Ethernet basics for mechanical engineers

May 14, 2020 By Danielle Collins Leave a Comment

Industrial Ethernet

Ethernet networks are ubiquitous in our daily lives — allowing computers in office, school, and commercial environments to connect to the internet, share files, and access printers and other hardware connected to the network. And there’s a reason Ethernet is so popular — it’s a simple, flexible network protocol that facilitates high-speed data transmission. But despite […]

Filed Under: Applications, Controls for linear axes, FAQs + basics, Featured

Stepper motor torque and speed characteristics explained

December 18, 2019 By Danielle Collins Leave a Comment

stepper motor torque

Stepper motors have different torque-speed characteristics depending on whether the motor is starting/stopping or already running. These characteristics are depicted in two curves on the motor’s torque-speed chart, and it’s important to understand the differences between these curves and what each one means for the motor’s operation. But a stepper motor can also produce torque […]

Filed Under: Applications, Controls for linear axes, FAQs + basics, Featured

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