September 2019

TECHNOLOGY n 21 www.drivesncontrols.com September 2019 THE ISRAELI servodrive manufacturer Elmo Motion Control has launched an extreme power-density servodrive which delivers up to 16kW of “qualitative” power and continuous currents of 270A at 60V DC or 100A at 200V DC, making it one of the highest power-density drives available. The Gold Triple Bee drive, unveiled at a the Defence & Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition in London earlier this month, measures 80 x 55 x 33mm. It is aimed at critical, harsh- environment applications requiring high power in a limited space. With a power conversion efficiency of around 99%, it is suitable for DC supply or battery-operated applications. The new drive is an evolution of Elmo’s 4kW Gold Bee miniature servodrive and is part of its ExtrIQ line of products for extreme environments. It can operate in temperatures from –40°C to 70°C, and can withstand mechanical shocks of up to 20g and vibrations of up to 14.6G rms (2kHz). The servodrive complies with strict safety, EMC, electrical and environmental standards, and Elmo claims that it is the smallest servodrive to have STO (SIL3/Ple) certification. www.elmomc.com RESEARCHERS IN the US are working on motor materials and designs that could reduce electric motor sizes by more than two thirds, while transforming the same amount of power. Existing motors, usually made using silicon steels, are designed to operate at speeds where energy losses in the form of heat are barely tolerable. It’s not possible to make them smaller or spin them faster to convert more electrical energy into power because their materials would heat up to the point where the motor could be damaged. Professor Mike McHenry and his colleagues at the Carnegie Mellon University are developing “soft”magnetic materials that generate much less heat. Using these materials, it is possible to build motors that spin faster, increasing the power output by a factor of three or four compared to motors based on traditional silicon steels. Alternatively, motor sizes could be reduced by the same factor while converting the same amount of power. “The faster you can switch the magnetic material, the faster you can spin the motor, the more power you get out of it,” explains McHenry, a professor of materials science and engineering at the university. “So, if I can spin the motor at higher and higher speeds, I get more and more power. That means I can use a smaller motor for the same job.” The researchers are also designing novel motor topologies, including axial designs. The smaller, more powerful motors are potentially attractive for use in robot arms, which could become more agile by having less mass to move. McHenry and his team are developing a small motor that could soon be ready for use in robots. They also want to work with industry partners to scale up the motors for use in larger applications, such as vehicles. Using this technology, any application that needs a motor could see big efficiency, size, and cost savings in the near future. “As a materials scientist, I wanted to use my expertise where it could have the most impact, so I got into the motors space,” says McHenry. “With 50% of the world’s energy going through a motor at some point in time, improving motor efficiency could have huge ramifications.”  According to a recent report from the market analyst Fact.MR, the market for soft magnetic composites for use in motors was worth more than $6bn last year. It says that manufacturers of motors for electric vehicles are shifting from thin laminations to these composite materials to cut eddy current losses. EV motors can run a speeds of up to 14,000 rpm and switch at frequencies above 1.8kHz, resulting in high eddy current losses. p The VDMA OPC Machine Vision Initiative has released Part 1 of its OPC UA MachineVision Companion Specification, which aims to simplify the integration of machine vision systems into controls and IT systems by creating standardised interfaces.The specification supports the exchange of information between different vision systems, andwith PLCs, line controllers, and software in applications such as MES, Scada, ERP and data analytics.Themain use cases for Part 1 are controlling vision systems and handling configuration, recipe and results data. http://b.link/ews30 p B&R has developed a“virtual sensor”for its Acopos P3 servodrives, which determines speeds in accordance with SIL 2 / PL d / Cat 3, cutting the cost of implementing SLS (safely limited speed) by eliminating the need for a safe encoder.The Safe Speed Observer calculates two redundant models of a permanent magnet synchronous motor to achieve a high level of safety for the calculated speed.The virtual sensor can be used for linear or rotarymotors. www.br-automation.com p The Japanesemanufacturer Oki Electric Cable has announced a series of differential transmission cables designed to be used for digital interfaces in industrial applications at speeds of up to 5 Gbit/s – exceeding the 1.923 Gb/s theoretical maximum speed for LVDS (low- voltage differential signalling).To achieve this, Oki identified themost suitable cable structures.The dual-shielded cables will be available with 2-8 pairs of conductors. www.oki.com p The European Commission is funding a project that will bring big data, high- performance computing, and the cloud together in a testbed aimed at increasing the ability to extract value from large, demanding datasets.The Evolve project is being run by 19 organisations from11 European countries. Its testbedwill be demonstrated through pilots in seven industrial sectors. www.evolve-h2020.eu p Arrow Electronics has joined forces with Adlink and Microsoft to launch an IoT condition-monitoring system that helps to cut unplanned production shutdowns.The system integrates data collection, vibration analysis, computing and network connections in an Adlink MCM-100 compact edge device. It is said to be fast and simple to set up and configure.To build the system, ArrowworkedwithMicrosoft’s Azure IoT Central – an app platform that simplifies the operation, management, security and scaling of IoT systems.The systemwill allow users to deploy conditionmonitoring without needing cloud expertise or having tomanage infrastructures. www.fiveyearsout.com p igus has developed a newplastic material as an alternative to oil-impregnated sintered bearings for continuous, high-speed applications such as fans andmotors. It says that the iglidur L350material offers higher resilience against impacts and edge pressure than sintered bearings, and a three-fold reduction in wear at speeds of 1.5m/s.While sintered bearings reach their limits at higher speeds, the coefficients of friction andwear for the newbearings remain low. www.igus.co.uk/iglidur 16kWservodrive is smaller than a playing card ‘Soft’ magnetic materials could lead to lighter and faster motors A 3D-printed mock-up of soft magnetic motor showing the rotor and stator design. Image: Carnegie Mellon College of Engineering