Closed loop stepper motor in high precision wood cutting machine
A global industrial automation company manufactures and sells hundreds of precision CNC machine tools for the manufacture of wooden window frames every year. This application requires precise synchronization and high torque, requiring approximately 20-30 pneumatic and electronic servo motors per machine. The cost of the servo motor significantly increases the overall cost of the system.
Because of the high cost of servo equipment, the overall cost per machine is significantly increased. In addition, because the single-chassis cabinet mounts the servo encoder requires a large number of additional wiring, it increases installation time and maintenance complexity.
After learning about the Servotronix closed-loop stepper motor stepIM, companies are eager to determine if they are suitable for these woodworking machines.
The head of the development department said: "In order to ensure that our high-end machines are competitive on a global scale, cost has become an important factor. However, we cannot affect performance, accuracy, and reliability under any circumstances."
If lower-cost closed-loop stepper motors are used to achieve performance goals, companies will use them to replace more expensive servo motors, thereby gaining an edge in the marketplace.
The company introduced a pilot project to replace servo motors on one machine with Servotronix' stepIM stepper motors. The settings remain the same except for the motor - the motion controller and the communication protocol (CANopen) are the same.
In addition, because stepIM is integrated with the drive control board, fewer wires are required, and at the same time, significant simplification is achieved. Setup and maintenance are faster and easier with fewer connections.
Only a few months later, with the excellent technical support provided by Servotronix, the company was able to build its own stepper machine with performance similar to standard servo machines.
After achieving the project goals, the project manager was very happy: "We can replace the servo motor on the target machine with the stepIM product. Although we still need to write some software and do some preliminary testing, we have reached expectations in a few months. The goal."
Next, determine if the machine with stepper motor can achieve accuracy, acceleration, energy consumption, and other key performance indicators.
After a month-long trial, the company determined that machines with closed-loop stepper motors not only met all specifications and machine performance requirements, but also reduced the complexity and cutting cost of each machine by more than 5%. The company has now begun adopting stepIM on 300 new machines.
New opportunities
Closed-loop stepper motors have changed the performance-to-cost ratio in many motion control applications. Because of its excellent accuracy and energy efficiency, stepIM stepper motors can be used in areas where more expensive servo motors were used in the past. The stepIM closed-loop servo motor is ideal for multi-axis applications, load-changing positioning tasks, and other applications requiring quiet operation (run quiet), short settling time (short settling time), and precise positioning.
Currently, Servotronix' stepIM closed-loop stepper motors have been used in wood processing, medical, printing, dental grinding, solar, and many other high-standard applications, all of which have previously been the exclusive application areas for servo motors.
