Specifying a servo motion system: The machine designer perspective
04 December 2023
For machines with a motion cycle that’s crucial to optimising productivity and process quality, servo motors are typically required for their speed and accuracy. However, specifying a servo-based system needs a holistic consideration of the machine and motion control requirements as a whole. Trio Motion Technology’s Ed Novak summarises the approach.
Recently, I was contacted to specify a servo-based motion control system for a large, high-axis-count machine. This customer provides machine solutions for the forging, material shaping and industrial manufacturing industries. The specific machine handles, sorts, bundles, and prepares steel rebar reinforcement used in concrete structures. Their particular processing centre needed 66 servo axes working in precise coordination, to provide smooth and accurate rebar positioning.
Specifying a large system like this, we approach it from a top-down focus, starting with the overall outcome that the machine builder wants to achieve. Usually, this objective is a combination of increasing throughput, relating to the machine’s speed, matched with the repeatable quality of the process (based on the precision the machine can achieve).
Combining these general requirements informs an approximate design of the machine’s architecture, including the overall control needs, spanning from the user interface down to the specification of the servo motors and drives.
Read the full article in DPA's December issue
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