MOTION SYSTEM TRENDS
Motors get
more connected and more efficient
Drones are a trending motor application: CP Aeronautics unmanned aerial systems (UASs) can handle various payloads and data links to ground control stations. Motors in the Orbiter 1, 2, and 3 models include brushless outrunner motors to direct drive the UAS’s fixed-pitch propellers — 28 V for 1 and 2 or 42 V for Orbiter 3.
2020 IS SEEING NEW TRENDS IN THE APPLICATION OF STEPPER MOTORS as well as permanent-magnet synchronous
motors (PMSMs), brushless motors, and direct-drive motors (including torque motors) as well. Perhaps one of the most dramatic trends is increased use of PMSMs or synchronous ac motors. They began seeing more use in the early 2000s, and now such motors (sometimes called brushless ac motors, permanent-magnet ac motors, or PMACs) have become fairly common in a range of applications ... including those for hoists and cranes, conveyors, printing, packaging, and vehicle hub drives such as those in AGVs. Frameless motors are another motor type seeing increased use. Recall that frameless motors are rotor-and-stator
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DESIGN WORLD — MOTION
3 • 2020
subcomponent sets not prefixed in a traditional motor housing. They don't include an output shaft (or shaft-support bearings) either. Instead, it's left to the OEM or design engineer to integrate the frameless motor stator and rotor directly onto the machine axis. Robot builders in particular benefit from frameless motors, as they allow designs that are smaller and more precise. “Our distributors probably have the most information about the applications for our gearing. In many cases, we’ll only know the torque and speed and other hard parameters of a design … and not the ultimate function of the machine into which our gearboxes and the motors they accompany go,” notes Robert Shouppe of CGI Motion. “That said, we're certainly seeing a growing trend towards custom applications employing frameless motors. We supply to
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