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Flexible planetary gearheads: Quiet, extremely robust

FAULHABER GPT gearheads for miniature and micro motors deliver high power density, exceptional flexibility, and excellent cost efficiency. Designed for seamless integration with diverse motors and encoders, these compact planetary drives feature hardened stainless steel components that reliably withstand extreme torques and abrupt load changes. Offered in standard, low-noise, and high-torque variants, they ensure precise, durable performance across wide operating temperature ranges.
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What is a low-waving linear motion guide?

If you are having a problem with your linear guides not always staying perfectly straight during use, it may be due to a phenomenon called waving -- a problem that is particularly critical in high-precision markets such as semiconductor and LCD equipment-related applications or machine tools. Thankfully, THK has an answer.
Read the full article.

NORD serves up sweet energy and cost savings for industrial bakeries

NORD DRIVE-SYSTEMS offers robust, highly configurable drive solutions designed to optimize efficiency, ensure hygiene, and reduce the TCO for automated bakery systems. From industrial-scale mixing and portioning to baking, cooling, and packaging, NORD's modular product portfolio delivers precise, reliable performance across every stage of production.
Read the full article. You may learn something even if you are not in the baking industry.

Key considerations for battery-powered motors

Battery-powered motor applications require careful design considerations to pair motor performance and power consumption profiles in concert with the correct battery type. This Power Electric article covers power requirements, performance considerations, and battery choices to assist you in selecting an efficient motor and a battery with the appropriate capacity. Good technical info.
Read the Power Electric technical article.

Driving next-gen pump and fan applications: Sinamics G210X

The Sinamics G210X is a new frequency converter for advanced pump, fan, and compressor applications, combining easy engineering with robust design. Integrated functions, seamless TIA Portal integration, and a web server reduce PLC effort to speed up commissioning, operation, and diagnostics. IP55 protection, 3C3 coating, and S2 system redundancy ensure reliable operation in demanding environments.
Learn more.

New Exlar food-grade actuator

Curtiss-Wright's Actuation Division has expanded its Exlar line with hygienic electric actuators using FDA-approved materials and finishes. Designed for food, beverage, packaging, and pharmaceutical automation, the new GTF unit enables economical USDA, 3-A, BISSC, and EHEDG certification. Its IP69K washdown option, inverted roller screw, and compact servo-driven design deliver reliable, high-performance motion for hygienic machinery.
Learn more.

New Texas conveyor system is 42 miles long!

SEW-EURODRIVE is helping power one of the most ambitious bulk material handling projects in North America through its contribution to the Dune Express conveyor system, a record-setting 42-mile single-flight conveyor across the Permian Basin.
Read the full article.

Compact servo drives for harsh environs

Built on Copley's proven NanoPlus platform, the compact, 1.2-oz R-Series Nano servo drives withstand extreme temperatures, vibration, shock, and humidity. Available in R47 (CANopen) and R48 (EtherCAT) models, they suit space-constrained, harsh environments such as mil/aero robotics and gimbals. This commercial off-the-shelf series provides a hardened option without defense-specific development lead times.
Learn more from Copley Controls.

Hybrid actuator with force up to 14,726 lb

Kyntronics' new all-electric HyCore hybrid actuator is a compact, low-cost alternative to traditional hydraulic, pneumatic, and electro-mechanical systems. Engineered for OEMs, it delivers up to 14,726 lb of force. The self-contained design eliminates leaks and wear, providing precise control, shock-load tolerance, and high efficiency. It simplifies integration and lowers operating costs for mobile equipment, packaging, assembly automation, and more.
Learn more.

SDP/SI motion products: Best sellers

SDP/SI's best sellers aren't just popular -- they're proven. These are the motion components their customers return to time and again for precision, reliability, and unbeatable value. From belts and pulleys to gears, bearings, and couplings, each product has earned its place through consistent performance in real-world applications.
Learn more and see the full products list.

Automated part grinding and finishing in one unit!

Grinding large fabrications is a classic dull, dirty, and dangerous task perfectly suited for automation, yet traditional setups require multiple costly robots. At Automate 2026, Güdel debuted a single-robot solution that utilizes two extra degrees of freedom to finish massive surfaces without complex part repositioning.
Read the full article.

Rockford RBS ball screws and nuts now available

Automation-Direct now offers US-manufactured RBS ball screws and nuts for precise linear motion in OEM and maintenance applications. Achieving over 90% efficiency, they feature low friction, high accuracy, and minimal wear. Available in various diameters, lengths, and leads, these precision-matched components handle axial loads with minimal backlash, providing a dependable solution that reduces maintenance and extends operational life. Great prices too.
Learn more.

Next-gen conveyor transports 3,000-kg payloads

Building on its established portfolio of twin-strand conveyors that are currently used in a variety of industry verticals, Bosch Rexroth is introducing the TS 7plus transfer system, which is the world's first freely configurable, fully electric conveyance solution to workpieces weighing up to 3,000 kg. TS 7plus transports material via conveyor rollers on freely configurable modular sections with lift/transverse, rotary, and positioning units, as well as stop gates. Great for automotive, battery, aerospace/defense, and more.
Learn more.

Next-generation air bearing linear slide

The A-123 noncontact nanoposi-tioning stage integrates a brushless motor, air bearings, and a 1-nm encoder, supporting 40-kg payloads over 750-mm travel. Its pressurized air film eliminates the friction, wear, and vibration of mechanical stages, ensuring zero particle generation. Customizable with options such as granite bases and isolation systems, it is ideal for semiconductor metrology, inspection, photonics, and more.
Learn more.

How to implement redundancy in stepper motors

Some of the recent research activities in the area of electric motor drives for safety-critical applications (such as aerospace and nuclear power plants) are focused on looking at various fault-tolerant motor and drive topologies. After discussing different solutions, this article focuses on a miniature permanent magnet (PM) stepper motor design that provides increased redundancy.
Read this informative FAULHABER article.

Ditch the magnets: Tabletop motor with electrostatic drive developed at UW-Madison

A prototype electric motor that uses a new principle for transforming electricity into rotary force is being developed at C-Motive Technologies, a company co-founded by UW-Madison assistant professor Dan Ludois. [Photo: Dan Ludois]

 

 

 

 

By David Tenenbaum, UW-Madison

A tabletop motor using an entirely new driving principle is under development at the headquarters of C-Motive Technologies, a startup business that is commercializing technology from the College of Engineering at UW-Madison.

"We have proven the concept of a new motor that uses electric fields rather than magnetic fields to transform electricity into a rotary force," says company co-founder Dan Ludois, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the UW. The distinction may sound minor, but it could solve a number of practical problems while saving money, he explains.

Actually, the concept is not entirely new: Benjamin Franklin and others described and built motors based on electrostatic forces back in the 18th and 19th centuries, but none achieved practical operation. Since the widespread adoption of electric motors a century ago, magnetism has been the only practical source of rotation. Magnetism is easier to exploit than electrostatic fields due to the properties of naturally occurring materials and simple engineering techniques. However, new advances in materials, mechanical engineering, and advanced manufacturing may enable electrostatic motors.

In 2011, while Ludois was finishing a Ph.D. thesis at UW-Madison, he realized that instead of relying on magnetic fields, he could achieve a similar result by manipulating electric fields to create a motor based on electrostatic attraction. The new technique, he realized, could deliver major advantages in weight, material cost, operating efficiency, and maintenance requirements.

In the motor on display, nested stationary and rotating plates are held hairs-width apart by a unique air-cushioning strategy. An electric voltage delivered to the fixed plates creates an electrostatic field that attracts the rotating plates in a way that forces them to spin.

"A charge builds up on the surfaces of the plates, and if you can manipulate the charge, you can convert electricity into rotary motion or transfer electric power from one set of plates to the other," says Ludois.

This type of coupling can be used "to power things that move without touching," Ludois adds.

The breakthrough relies on electronics that precisely control a high-voltage, high-frequency electric field and fluid mechanics to keep the surfaces close without touching. "Nothing is touching, because you are using electric fields to couple the stationary and rotating parts," Ludois says. "There is no contact, and no maintenance.

"Rather than magnetism, we are using the force that holds your clothes together when you take them out of the drier: electrostatic force. This technique can power anything that needs to move, and that you don't want to touch while it's moving."

Because motors and generators are essentially mirror images of each other, the invention may first meet the market in the form of a generator for wind turbines, an application for which C-Motive Technologies received a Small Business Innovation Research grant for development and research from the National Science Foundation in 2014.

By saving weight and materials, and boosting efficiency, the new design should give the company a bottom-line advantage. The new design avoids the use of precious "rare earth" metals and substitutes aluminum for the more expensive copper found in magnet windings of conventional motors and generators.

When C-Motive was founded, Ludois and co-founders Justin Reed and Micah Erickson were all Ph.D. students. "It's really hard to beat the world, especially when you start out as three graduate students," Ludois says.

C-Motive has had its share of help from UW-Madison. Two years ago, the idea won two awards in the G. Steven Burrill Business Plan Competition, run through the Wisconsin School of Business. C-Motive has also received $100,000 in seed funding from the Weinert Applied Ventures in Entrepreneurship course, another School of Business resource.

In 2011, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation supported Ludois and his colleagues for patent protection on the discovery, giving them the leverage to pursue additional funding. After six months in the Metro Innovation Center on East Washington Avenue, C-Motive is now housed in an office/lab space near Stoughton Road in Madison to house its five full-time employees, including two of the three founders.

Published September 2014

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