Direct drive motors simplify machine designs

An Inmoco product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Sep 11, 2003

A new range of direct drive motors aims to optimise the performance of innovative machinery, while at the same time improving OEM competitiveness through reduced component count.

Optimising the performance of innovative machinery, while at the same time improving OEM competitiveness through a reduced component count is what the new Danaher Motion range of direct drive motors from Inmoco is all about.

The drives are coupled directly to machine loads, simplifying machine designs, saving space, eliminating backlash and removing potential failure areas such as couplings, belts and chains.

The Danaher Motion range of rotary and linear direct drives are easily integrated into modern machine designs ensuring the best, most efficient use of the space available.

With their direct coupling method the drives simplify greatly the layout of machines, as a result systems are easier to assemble, costs are reduced and machine performance is considerably enhanced, both in terms of operating speeds and reliability.

The elimination of couplings, belts and other mechanical components in the power transmission chain, also means that a system using Danaher Motion direct drives is considerably stiffer, providing the ideal platform for backlash free power transmission, which is the essential precondition for outstanding control-loop characteristics and high precision positioning.

A system based on direct drives also provides the maximum possible efficiency, delivering optimum torque/inertia and torque/weight or power/weight ratios.

In addition, operating the direct drive motors in conjunction with high resolution sin/cos encoder feedback systems ensures extremely smooth running, even at low speeds where inaccuracies or play in conventional power transmission systems would cause problems.

The Danaher Motion direct drive systems offered by Inmoco include both rotary and linear types.

Direct drive rotary servomotors of the Goldline range are multipole hollow-shaft motors (8-16 pole pairs) with their own bearings and high-resolution encoder system.

Offering peak torques up to 1341Nm, these motors are coupled directly to loads via their hollow shafts, providing highly precise and rigid drive solutions.

The DDR motors are essentially maintenance-free, and run more quietly and with better dynamics than drives employing gears or toothed belts.

Linear direct drive motors in Inmoco's Danaher Motion range are of the Platinum DDL series, which includes both "iron-core" and "ironless" types.

The former units are intended for applications requiring high thrusts, and are available with or without water-cooling.

The latter units are manufactured with coreless windings, a design that ensures no cogging, low primary mass and no attraction of the primary and secondary sections of the unit.

These benefits are particularly relevant in applications requiring very smooth running or high acceleration of low masses.

Both motor types in the Platinum DDL series provide extremely stiff, backlash free drives over maximum track lengths to 1024mm.

Offering peak force up to 7500N (1600N for ironless) they can be used with various feedback devices (Hall effect sensors, or high resolution linear encoders) so that when combined with the Servostar series of digital amplifiers, the result is linear drive systems offering unequalled levels of performance.