Small servo drive with large functionality

An Inmoco product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Mar 22, 2001

Inmoco launches cost effective small servo forty percent smaller than equivalent servo drives.

Forty percent smaller than equivalent servo drives, but with large drive functionality, the new Pacific Scientific all-digital PC832 series, from Inmoco, has been designed to offer more value, flexibility and performance than any other servo drive in its class.

Available in the UK on a 5-day delivery, the brushless PC832 has a 400Hz velocity-loop bandwidth, which simplifies drive set-up and tuning, and includes multiple command interfaces, including Preset Motion Indexing, at no extra cost.

The PC832 is a compact, cost effective servo drive that has been introduced to enhance OEM competitiveness in packaging, electronic assembly, semiconductor manufacturing, printing and materials handling applications.

In addition to its extensive on-board facilities and speed of set-up, the fact that the PC832 is 40% smaller than equivalent and similarly specified servo drives helps to reduce the cost of enclosures and cabling, and allows more efficient use of production space.

On their own, the size, performance and cost advantages of the PC832 are compelling arguments for specifying it.

However, for the export orientated OEM there are other, additional, reasons.

The servo drive complies with UL, cUL and CE requirements and meets the demands of the CE low voltage directive without requiring additional isolation.

In operation, the PC832 matches the high performance of all Inmoco's Pacific Scientific range of servo drives.

Rated for 2.7ARMS continuous and 5.3A RMS peak output power, it has a 400 Hz velocity-loop bandwidth - the highest in the industry - which simplifies drive set-up and tuning.

This, together with inaudible, high frequency, digital PWM current control, yields a control solution, which provides the smoothest low-speed performance in its class.

The powerful architecture of PC832 enables the drive to accept either step and direction or analogue commands.

Motion profiling is a standard feature and the PC832's internal profile generator allows pre-set index moves.

In addition, with the highest velocity-loop bandwidth in the industry, drive set-up and tuning is simplified even for the most complicated mechanical systems.

The advanced digital tuning facility also means that there are no potentiometers to "tweak" and provides additional benefits such as allowing the system to "settle" quickly.

The task of getting PC832 on line quickly is greatly assisted by the PC830 Tools software suite.

This provides intuitive on-line drive configuration and enables users to make parameter selections or changes with a few clicks of the mouse.

The software also includes a powerful digital oscilloscope function, which streamlines the start-up of any application by enabling the PC832's auto-tuning feature to be combined with the diagnostic graphic representation of the servo's parameters.

The fact that the PC832 includes Quadrature Encoder, Hall/Encoder or Resolver feedback options in the same package, gives OEMs a head start in the motor selection process.

However, the best way of optimising the performance of the PC832 is to combine the drive with Inmoco's rugged and cost effective PMA Brushless servo motors.

The advantage here is that the windings of the PMA motors are matched to the PC832.

This results in improved system performance and also more usable torque, from 0.5 to 48.5 Nm, for a particular application.