Posted to News on 19th Jun 2007, 21:01
Electric actuators are direct replacements for pneumatics
SMAC is introducing its new CA range of electric cylinders. Starting with 25mm and 35mm diameter actuators, the range will ultimately consist of cylinders from 8mm diameter up to 100mm diameter with stroke lengths of up to 100mm. They have been designed to accept a wide variety of mounting options that include ISO, DIN, VDMA, CETOP, JFPA and NFPA standards and dimensions. This enables the direct replacement of existing pneumatic cylinders and retro-fitting without any machine modifications being required.
The electric cylinders are manufactured from high-grade stainless steel with a minimum wall thickness of 1.5mm, making them extremely robust against when compared with traditional thin-walled pneumatic cylinders. They also incorporate non-rotating piston rods as standard, and they are sealed to IP54, with IP65 and IP67 available upon request. They also have full CE approval and certification. These features make them suitable for converting conventional pneumatic applications to electric where exceptionally high speed, cycle life, precision and accuracy are critical. Due to the innovative design and construction, the actuators can deliver accelerations of up to 40g, and they are designed to offer a life expectancy of around 100 million cycles as a minimum.
1-5 micron resolution
Based on proprietary SMAC moving coil actuator (MCA) technology, which is covered by multiple patent applications, the actuators are offered with a choice of encoder resolutions from 1-5um to satisfy a variety of industrial, scientific, motion control and QC/measuring applications. As with all SMAC actuators, the cylinders have the ability (which is claimed to be unique) to enable free and independent control of velocity, position and force simultaneously.
In addition, the SMAC patented Softland function is incorporated to allow delicate and controlled force when landing on fragile components. The cylinders also give 100 per cent data feedback of all operations as standard. Due to these features, no external switches or sensors are required to detect cylinder movement or position. This enables a radical reduction of any external wiring and significantly reduces cost. The electric cylinders also have a low power consumption of 1.8A at 24V, making them highly energy efficient, and when compared with pneumatic technology, they are extremely quiet.
The SMAC electric cylinders achieve this highly impressive performance through the use of specially designed internal components and high-performance, in-house designed electronics. This includes the new SMAC LDC (Low Deformation Coil) Technology, which significantly improves performance and reliability. High-quality linear guides are used to deliver exceptionally high life expectancy, precision and accuracy.
The electric cylinders are suitable for very demanding applications such as packaging, bottling, labelling, filling, parts handling, measuring and QC testing - to name but a few.
