New Tech Europe | Jan 2017 | Digital Edition

If lower-cost, closed-loop steppers could achieve the performance targets, the company could use them in place of more-expensive servos, gaining a distinct advantage in the market. The company embarked on a pilot project to replace the servos in one machine with Servotronix stepIM stepper motors. Only the motors would be changed -- motion controllers and communication protocols (CANopen) would stay the same. A significant simplification would be realized as well, since stepIM motors are integrated with the electronics, fewer cables are necessary. Less cabling means faster and less complicated setup time and maintenance. After only a few months, and with exceptional technical support from

Servotronix, the company was able to present its stepper-based machine in a trade show. The project manager was pleased to be able to meet all implementation targets. “We were able to pull out the servos from the target machine and replace them with stepIMs. Although we had some software to write and some preliminary testing to do, we got the whole thing working in a couple of months.” The next step was to determine if the stepper-motor version of the machine could meet precision, acceleration, energy consumption and other key performance indicators. After a month-long trial process, the company concluded that the closed- loop stepper motors allowed the machine to meet all the specification and machine performance requirements while reducing

complexity and cutting costs by over 5% per machine. The company has now started to implement stepIM in 300 new machines. NEW OPPORTUNITIES Closed-loop stepper motors change the performance-cost ratio in motion control for many applications. High accuracy and energy efficiency enable stepIM stepper motors to operate in applications where more expensive servo motors have dominated. stepIM field-oriented, closed-loop steppers are ideal for multiple-axis applications, positioning tasks with load changes and applications that require quiet operation, short settling times and precise positioning. Today, Servotronix stepIMs can be found operating in wood processing, medical, printing, reproduceable energy and textile production.

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