PC-based controller makes five axes easy

Trident Engineering has a new five-axis DC motor controller that is designed to be extremely simple to set up and allows the user to effect system control almost immediately after installation.

Trident Engineering has a new five-axis DC motor controller that is designed to be extremely simple to set up and allows the user to effect system control almost immediately after installation.

Known as Mace, the system is designed and made in the UK under a joint collaboration between two UK companies, Vision Dynamics and WyeTec.

Mace consists of a single control card, containing five axes of closed loop motor control and PWM drive stages, that is plugged into a standard PC.

Also supplied is a comprehensive, intuitive software development kit that can be used by anyone with a working knowledge of Visual Basic or C++ programming languages.

The system is the most compact PC-based motion control solution on the market.

Most PC based systems have an intelligent control card connected to the motor drive stages and then to the motors themselves but Mace incorporates the motor drives on the main control card thus reducing both system complexity and system cost.

The software development kit is compatible with Windows NT4 and 2000 operating systems and standard ActiveX containers that provide access to the full card functionality.

A visual interface can be used at run time and easy setup of motor parameters is achieved through a set of 'property pages'.

By using the sample code provided the user can get a motion control application running within a few minutes without compromise in terms of performance or functionality.

The system is supplied complete with a cable and connecting box and all information and manuals are supplied on a CD.

Stuart Jones, Technical Manager of Trident Engineering, said: "It is no longer necessary for a system designer to go to a specialist motor control company for a drive solution because Mace allows engineers to design their own system simply and cost-effectively.

At Trident we can now supply the total package of motors, gearheads, power supplies and self-programmable controllers".

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