Posted to News on 20th Nov 2008, 10:07
New Accelnet servo drive suits extreme environments
Copley Controls is developing a hardened version of the versatile panel-mounting Accelnet servo drive to meet both military and extreme industrial environments. The drive's extended temperature, humidity, vibration and shock ranges provide added security in non-extreme applications. Designated the series R20, the hardened drives provide networking and standalone motion control for brushed and brushless motors, and direct-drive linear motors and actuators. R20 drives deliver up to 3.200kW peak power and are available for operating voltages of 55V, 90V and 180V, and deliver 9A, 18A and 36A peak currents.
R20 drives operate in standalone and networked operating modes. Control modes include indexing, point-to-point, PVT (position, velocity and torque control), as well as electronic camming and gearing. Specific command interfaces include CANopen, DeviceNet, ASC11/Discrete I/O, stepper, +/-10V and PWM.
Copley's CME 2 setup software enables users to automate otherwise time-consuming drive system setup and commissioning functions. The software provides auto-tuning of the amplifier's current loop, and auto-phasing of Hall sensors for rotary and linear motors and actuators. With setup and tuning completed, users store software settings in the drive's non-volatile flash memory.
Motion libraries
Copley has developed extensive libraries of motion control software (Copley Motion Libraries) and software COM objects to make system development fast and simple. The development of low-level code to control a CANopen network of intelligent drives is therefore eliminated. All network housekeeping is automatically managed by a few simple commands linked into the user's Visual Basic, Labview or C++ application program.
R20 drives are housed in shielded enclosures measuring 6.6x3.9x1.2inch. The drives are protected from short circuits between outputs, from output to ground, against over-current, over-temperature and against incorrect operating voltages. In addition, protection circuits guard against loss of signal from either the encoder or the motor's Hall sensors. Built-in computation algorithms monitor the I2.T heating effect of load current enable a motor to run safely at its outer performance envelope.
Hardening the Accelnet R20 drive for COTS military, aviation and marine applications also provides motion control for extreme industrial environments. R20 drives handle the high temperatures of solar energy collection, food manufacturing, oil refinery and steel foundry uses, plus the opposite extremes of Arctic satellite tracking, industrial cold rooms and refrigerated meat packing operations. The R20 model also qualifies for oil rig use, ship-board cargo handling equipment and off-road vehicles, where resistance to shock and vibration are critical.
