Bonanza in Baltimore

At its annual Automation Fair in the US last month, Rockwell Automation unveiled a slew of new products and enhancements to existing ranges. Debuts at the Baltimore event included:

• a liquid-cooled AC drive with active converter technology, designed to deliver improve power quality;

• a new version of the RSLogix 5000 programming software, with more than 30 enhancements including user-defined instructions, and integrated drives configuration which could halve drive development times;

• a high-power servo drive and matching asynchronous servo motors, with ratings up to 150kW;

• a multi-axis servo drive for low-power motion control applications from 100W-1.5kW;

• a range of rod-style electromechanical actuators combining motors, ballscrews and high-resolution absolute feedback devices;

• new robot control functions for the ControlLogix family, to provide a single platform for discrete, motion, robot and safety control;

• a programmable automation controller with 16MB of user memory — twice the capacity of Rockwell`s previous most powerful model;

• a high-performance Ethernet/IP module with a higher throughput than earlier products, a USB port, and thumbwheel switches for simple IP address configuration; and

• a safety controller for small applications requiring up to 16 safety-related inputs, eight safety outputs, and a DeviceNet Safety connection.