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Servodrives incorporate motion programming language

29 March, 2010

Baldor Electric has launched a new generation of single-axis servodrives with built-in motion control programming facilities that can be used to perform tasks such as: cutting or feeding to length; indexing axes; supervising simple pick-and-place systems; and making machine adjustments such as changing guides or backstops to reconfigure machinery for new batches.

The Mint Lite programming language embedded in the MicroFlex e100 and MotiFlex e100 single- and three-phase drives supports functions such as: relative and absolute moves; S-ramp profiles; jog and homing movements; changing target positions on the fly; registration moves; and reacting to real-time trigger events.

The drives are available in ratings up to 33.5A, with more powerful versions in the pipeline. They can be used to control rotary and linear servomotors, linear motors, closed-loop vector motors, and for V/f control.

The drives also offer flexible PLC interfacing. Their programmability means that standard drive profiles for exchanging data with PLCs can be adapted, perhaps to simplify communications or to optimise drive behaviour for specific applications. Built-in TCP/IP-compatible Ethernet interfaces – compatible with the deterministic Powerlink system – make it easy to link into Ethernet factory networks to change product recipes, report production statistics, and perform similar tasks.

The drives include fast latch inputs for registration applications and a CANopen manager capability to support distributed I/O expansion and HMI interfacing. The MotiFlex e100 drives have card slots for further local I/O expansion and fieldbus connections. Fieldbus modules are available for Ethernet/IP, Profinet-IO, Profibus and DeviceNet.

When used in a Powerlink system, the local intelligence adds system-building capabilities. Critical events can be acted on directly, eliminating latencies associated with network and controller scan times. The faster axis responses can translate into higher throughputs.

The local intelligence can also reduce the load on central Powerlink network controllers. This can lead to substantial savings for machine-builders configuring multi-axis systems, according to Baldor.

The Mint WorkBench development environment, supplied with the drives, includes development and configuration tools.




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