Product category:
Loadcells, Force Sensors and Torque Sensors
News Release from: Variohm Eurosensor | Subject: Motion control
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 13 April 2000
Motion control used on two major stage
productions
Variohm supplied equipment used on two major stage productions The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and The Winter's Tale.
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and The Winter's Tale are major stage shows that rely on equipment supplied by Towcester based Variohm Components Limited In both productions, large pieces of scenery are moved automatically by a combination of motion control components which include; a PTS3, three-axis servo controller by Quin Systems; a Tirak manufactured electric hoist with Telemechanique Altrivar 16 inverter drive and a Celesco PT 9510-0600-111-4110 draw-wire encoder
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 30 Jun 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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During The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe show, two pieces of the set have to be moved several times.
The first is the witch's throne which has three positions, one of which is a storage position.
Later, the throne leaves its storage position off set and assumes two other stationary, visible, 'on-stage' positions some 7m apart.
The second moveable piece is a moveable stone table, oval in shape some five metres long by three metres wide.
The table goes through a complex series of movements which includes changing position no less than five times before cracking in two following the Lions sacrifice.
In The Winters Tale production, a small truck covered in straw bales moves almost the full depth of the stage and forms the backdrop to the sheep shearing scene.
In both shows, the moving elements (or trucks) are connected to draw-wire encoders.
The advantage of the servo control system coupled with the accuracy of the draw-wire encoder is that it operators can move the trucks even when they are out of sight behind other scenery.
This allows the artistic team the flexibility of setting the trucks out of sight of the audience before their next use, and enables the crew to move them easily and repeatably to the correct position.
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