Maxon provides motor drives for radiation therapy
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Maxon Motor UK product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Feb 19, 2009
Maxon Motor UK has supplied 120 motor drives, with associated gearheads and encoders, to Varian Medical Systems for its HD 120 MLC computerised radiation machine.
This comes as medical scientists involved in the development of radiation therapy face a constant challenge: to maximise the treatment's impact on tumours while minimising damage to healthy tissue.
The HD120 MLC focuses the radiation where it is needed most and minimises leakage into healthy tissue.
The machine - also known as a 'high-definition multi-leaf collimator' - features 120 individually adjustable tungsten leaves that can be positioned to form an aperture shaped to direct the radiation in a pattern that exactly matches the shape of the tumour.
Varian Medical Systems chose 120 Maxon brushless DC (electronically commutated) motors with diameters of 8mm, 10mm or 13 mm to move the tungsten leaves.
Furthermore, the radiation can be delivered from different angles to match the contours of the tumour.
With this level of control, the radiation intensity can be adjusted to deliver a higher dose to more aggressive areas of the tumour and a lower dose around sensitive healthy tissue.
Each drive is equipped with a compatible Maxon planetary gearhead and encoder, taking the length of the individual drive systems to between 17.0mm and 24.6mm.
This allows all of the motors to fit into an area measuring just 40cm x 40cm.
The motors feature neodymium magnets, which increase their strength, despite their compact design.
The shape of the aperture, formed by the positioning of the leaves, needs to be adjusted quickly and precisely in response to pre-programmed data.
Maxon claims that, as its motors have no magnetic detent, their movements can be controlled with great accuracy.
High torque is needed to overcome friction within the system of synchronously adjusting leaves.
The performance of the Maxon drive systems ranges between 0.5W and 1.5W and the nominal torque goes up to 1.61mNm.
Matching the company's gearheads with reduction ratios from 4:1 to 1024:1 are said to increase their torque to 200mNm.
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Contact Maxon Motor UK
Tel +44 118 973 3337
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