Product category:
Industrial Drives/Controls
News Release from: Parker Hannifin - SSD | Subject: 631 servo drive modules
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 16 January 2001
Drives power global action in the Living
Theatre
Latest technology high performance brushless servo drives have come together with a living theatre of the world's plantlife and people at the amazing Eden Project
Latest technology high performance brushless servo drives have come together with a living theatre of the world's plantlife and people at the Eden Project, one of the most amazing constructions the UK has ever seen A showcase for plantlife the world over, the Eden Project is effectively the world's largest greenhouse, telling the story of the relationship between plants, people and resources, with the aim of offering us all guidance for ensuring a sustainable future
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 1 Mar 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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With its vast botanic domes - or biomes as they have come to be known - and its exceptionally well provisioned visitor centre, the Eden Project effectively combines science with theatre to provide a highly worthwhile and entertaining experience.
Deep in the heart of Cornwall, the Eden Project is built on the site of a clay pit - a 14 hectare, south facing bowl.
This 60m deep crater will become home to thousands of important and beautiful plants.
Three of the world's climate zones have been chosen for interpretation: the Humid Tropics Biome houses plants of the rainforests and oceanic islands; the Warm Temperature Biome covers the Mediterranean, South Africa and California; and the Outdoor Biome plays host to plants that will thrive in the temperature conditions of Cornwall, with a range of plants from Himalayas, Chile and Australasia rubbing shoulders with the native flora of South West England.
While the biomes themselves won't open until next year, the Eden Project visitor centre is already open for business and is already attracting visitor numbers that have exceeded expectations.
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The visitor centre introduces the story of Eden, and includes a range of interactive exhibits helping to provide an insight into the relationship between plants and people, in an entertaining format.
One of these exhibits is the Eden Project Globe, developed by international kinetic consultant Will Jackson.
The Globe is an interactive exhibit which tells the story of the spread of bananas, wheat farming, and other crops and farming technologies across the world.
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The Globe rotates left and right on the X axis, while a suspended pointer pivots on the Y axis, to highlight different locations on the Globe and to show directions of travel.
The movement of each is synchronised to audio presentations.
Users don a pair of headphones, key in the crop or plant of interest into the presentation console, and listen to the narrative while whilst watching the associated visual story on the Globe.
Actuation of the exhibit is provided by two Eurotherm Drives 631 servo drive modules, each powering a 3.2Nm servo motor - one for the Globe and one for the pointer.
The software was developed by Will Jackson.
The 631 is a highly functional, yet cost-effective micro servo with in-built motion controller, enabling the drive to be used in speed or positioning applications without additional hardware.
The complete package - which includes an internal power supply - in only 72mm wide, minimising on panel space requirements.
The fully featured, built in motion controller provides the functionality to tackle the most complex of motion control applications.
Functions include point to point positioning, electronic gearbox and CAM profiling.
Up to 1500 steps of sequential motion control can be programmed, via a powerful but easy to use BASIC style language.
The drive can be controlled via traditional analogue and digital inputs/outputs, or via the in-built CANbus and RS232 interfaces.
"When we looked for an appropriate drive for this application, the 631 was brand new on the market.
It gave us all the features we needed for this application, plus an assurance of reliability." Open since March this year, the visitor centre is attracting some five to six thousand visitors per day, with many of these using the interactive Globe.
"It's a very popular exhibit," says Jackson, "and in operation it has proved extremely reliable.
While the headphone sets need replacing every few days because they wear out with the extended use, we haven't had a single problem with the Globe itself, which bears testament to the quality of the Eurotherm Drives servo systems.".
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