Smart drive improves its intelligence
A
Baldor product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Jun 17, 2002
Baldor has upgraded its intelligent servo motor drive for industrial positioning applications, Flex+Drive II.
Baldor has upgraded its intelligent servo motor drive for industrial positioning applications, Flex+Drive II.
Now featuring an integrated motion controller compatible with the Mint language, the 'one-box' control solution has the real-time performance to execute much more complex movements like software gearing, sequenced moves and on-the-fly adjustments - as well as PLC-style machine control functions.
Among the upgraded features of Flex+Drive II's motion control electronics are expansion interfaces which accept low-cost modular plugins to configure it for users' preferred fieldbus communications and position feedback technology.
This effectively provides machinery OEMs with a customised automation solution at an off-the-shelf price.
At the heart of the single-axis brushless servo drive is a new fast DSP-based controller providing users with a high degree of motion programmability.
Compatible with Baldor's renowned Mint motion software, which provides high-level Basic-style keywords for motion tasks - as well as PLC-style I/O handling - control programs can be written and tested in minutes.
Flex+Drive II servo drives will run these programs autonomously, providing a complete standalone solution for machinery and automation - optionally controlling further I/O including man machine interfaces using fieldbus communications.
Alternatively, the drive will function as a slave to a PC, for users who want to build automation equipment with sophisticated Windows-based operator interfaces, using Baldor's free Mint ActiveX controls.
Users can choose from a comprehensive range of Flex+Drive II drives, in single- or three-phase versions for power ratings up to 20kW.
All may be software configured to drive linear or rotary motors.
Each drive includes a 14bit analog input and 11 digital I/O lines - enough to handle the associated I/O requirements for many simple automation applications.
Two of the digital inputs can capture data within a microsecond.
This provides the performance required for high-speed adjustments such as those required in registration applications.
This upgrade is designed to give automation engineers and OEMs great flexibility, via three forms of plugin module configurability.
Onboard I/O may be expanded with a further 15 digital I/Os.
Feedback technology is user-selectable from resolver, encoder or 'Endat' options - the latter providing state of the art absolute encoder data which eliminates the need to perform homing routines at power-up.
The drive additionally accepts a plug-on fieldbus interface, with a choice of CANopen, DeviceNet or Profibus-DP communications.
This option provides the means to expand the system very economically - linking to further I/O or drives distributed around the machine for example - as well as providing a communications mechanism to connect with factory equipment such as supervisory computers.
Baldor's new intelligent drive has a wide range of uses in packaging, conveying, loading, assembly and other areas of manufacturing.
For some applications - labelling for instance - its single axis capability is enough and the product can provide a compact and economic solution.
For larger automation requirements, the drive may be used an element of a distributed multi-axis motion system - communicating using industry-standard protocols.
Drives may be used with brushless AC servo motors or linear motors.
'Matched performance' speed-torque curves are available for Baldor's own motor brands, minimising the need to undertake detailed evaluations - or to incorporate costly performance margins in the design.
A wide range of other controllers sharing the same Mint motion language API are additionally available - providing automation engineers and OEMs with the means to select optimised solutions for every axis in the machine, and safeguard their development investment.
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Contact Baldor
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