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DURApulse GS30 AC Drives from AutomationDirect

Automation-Direct has added new high-performance DURApulse GS30 drives that support several control modes including sensorless vector control, closed-loop flux vector control, and torque control in a compact package. The GS30 series expands the DURApulse family by adding internal tension control loop expanded parameter sets for greater versatility, as well as optional EtherCAT and single- or dual-port EtherNet/IP communication cards. GS30 drives support up to four independent induction motor parameter sets or control of a single AC permanent magnet motor. Sizes up to 3 hp for a 230-VAC single-phase input, 50 hp for a 230-VAC three-phase input, and 100 hp for a 460-VAC three-phase input. This series offers PID control, built-in PLC functionality, and STO capability typically found with more expensive high-performance AC drives.
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Power steering systems for warehouse and autonomous vehicles

Allied Motion has introduced the electric power steering (EPS) series for steer-by-wire warehouse vehicles, autonomous AGVs, and similar material transport vehicles. This compact system includes a fully integrated motor, gearbox, controller, and optional output pinion. It is available in three frame sizes and 16 models to cover virtually any electric steering requirement in applications from small pallet lifters to AGVs/AGCs to multi-ton reach trucks. An optional, patent-pending feature, Turning Wheel Absolute Position Control, allows the controller to know the turning wheel position without external sensors.
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New brushless motors maximize power density

Allied Motion Technologies has introduced the KinetiMax 95 High Power Drive (HPD), an outer-rotor brushless motor. This frameless motor is designed to maximize power density for its volume with a nominal output torque of 2 Nm at 2,300 RPM, resulting in 480 W of continuous output power. At only 37 mm axial length, this compact stator-rotor set is an ideal solution for applications such as material handling systems, AGVs, mobile robots, handheld power tools, and more.
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Compact rod motors: Effective linear thrust generation

RDM-A Series rod motors from Akribis Systems are great for space-constrained applications requiring high motor forces and smooth linear motion. These compact motors feature a tubular design to distribute magnetic flux evenly along the circumference of the stator. They achieve continuous forces from 2.1 to 137.8 N and peak forces from 6.2 to 413.4 N. An air gap between the coil and magnet track enables non-contact axial linear movement and steady force production over the length of the stroke, and ironless construction ensures cog-free motion.
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NORD's heavy-duty drive systems tackle tough industrial applications

Industrial gear units from NORD DRIVE-SYSTEMS are used for a variety of heavy-duty applications, providing high output torques and long service life with minimal maintenance. Combining high-efficiency motors and dynamic VFDs, users get high performance and smooth operation. Learn which drive systems are used for which real-world applications in industries including grain, cranes and hoists, wastewater, food and beverage, and bulk material handling. Good info here.
Read the full article.

XYZ nanopositioning stage for scanning and positioning in photonics and microscopy

PI's P-616 XYZ Piezo Nanoposition-ing Stage, based on a parallel-kinematic design, features a single, lightweight moving platform for all three axes. It offers high precision (sub-nanometer resolution) and dynamics in a compact package. Known as the NanoCube^®, it is the smallest and lightest system with capacitive feedback, providing a 100-µm linear travel range in three degrees of freedom.
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Robot with longer reach handles heavier payloads

The new RV-35/50/80FR robot series from Mitsubishi Electric Automation is ideal for handling large workpieces and heavy objects. This series has a max reach of almost 83 in. (2,100 mm) and a max payload over 175 lb (80 kg), so it's a great solution for palletizing and machine tending. These robots have a wide range of safety functions, including position and speed monitoring, and simplified installation and programming when paired with Mitsubishi Electric's MELFA Smart Plus card.
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Linear servo press solutions from Tolomatic

Improve your pressing systems with electric linear actuators from Tolomatic. While hydraulic presses are a traditional choice in many manufacturing applications, a new generation of high-force Linear Servo Press technologies is now replacing high-maintenance hydraulics. They offer significant advantages in precision, programmability, energy efficiency, reliability, and flexibility.
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Tech Tip: What is a stepper motor linear actuator?

What is a stepper motor linear actuator (SMLA), what types are available, and what can they do for your linear motion designs? Find out in this informative Thomson video. Learn how precision lead screws can be combined with a stepper motor in a number of ways, and discover which type can benefit your linear motion applications.
View the video.

Brakes for high-speed SCARA robots and more

Precise positioning of semi-conductor wafers during SCARA assembly operations requires instantaneous braking and holding power while minimizing heat in the system. The latest compact and slender Miki Pulley BXR-LE brake models provide the needed, perfectly controlled braking in a confined area of the system using minimal power. The braking response and holding power of this power-off engaged brake makes it ideal for this and other high-speed applications. The BXR-LE brake uses 24 VDC for a split second to overcome compression spring inertia to open the brake, then consumes only 7 VDC by utilizing the BEM power control module.
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Automated piece-picking solution

The MI.RA/ OnePicker is a new and fully automated intelligent piece-picking solution from Comau. The easy-to-use, AI-backed, and collaborative solution reduces upstream process times, saving time, energy, and resources for warehouse, e-commerce, and other applications while increasing overall productivity and cost efficiency. Designed to autonomously pick miscellaneous objects from the same bin, it's a smart way to eliminate unsustainable sorting activities. Comes with Comau's Racer5 six-axis cobot.
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Unlock cost savings: Revolutionary GAM GPL Gearbox

The GPL planetary gearbox, when paired with your preferred servo motor, delivers a solution that can match the fit and performance of direct drive motors while offering significant cost savings. With <6 arcsec backlash, GAM says this gearbox outperforms all other zero-backlash gearboxes on the market, making it the ideal choice for your applications. Discover how one company realized significant savings by replacing multiple direct drive motors with the GPL gearbox in a modular housing.
Read the GAM application story.

Bosch Rexroth new linear motor modules

Fast, compact, and precise. These properties characterize the new linear motor modules (LMM) with integrated screw-free direct drive from Bosch Rexroth. The axes are available in sizes 140, 180, and 220 mm and feature a zero-backlash direct drive. They complement the existing linear motion technology portfolio as a ready-to-install solution offering excellent value for money. The linear motor modules are available in all sizes with iron-core linear motors. Standard strokes are up to 1,540 mm and forces up to 2,400 N.
Learn all the specs and options.

OnRobot doubles payload capacity of its grippers

OnRobot's new 2FG14 and 3FG25 electrical grippers for heavy-duty, collaborative applications are now launching along with the new machine tending solution AutoPilot powered by D:PLOY, developed in collaboration with Ellison Technologies. The new three-fingered 3FG25 gripper provides users with 25 kg (55.1 lb) of payload power in a compact, all-electric, lightweight form, unlocking the potential of the latest cobots. Ideal for CNC machine tending, the 2FG14 is a lightweight parallel-finger gripper with a payload of 14 kg (30.8 lb). It doubles the payload and gripping force of OnRobot's popular 2FG7 gripper while also providing 30% more total stroke.
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Linear guide system corrects misalignments

Bishop-Wisecarver's UtiliTrak^® linear guide system includes vee rails for precision and open rails for misalignment float to provide smooth and accurate motion on inaccurate structures. Because precise parallelism is difficult to achieve, it is not uncommon for mounting surfaces to be slightly out of parallel. UtiliTrak's design compensates for mounting errors and does not require absolute parallelism for accurate operation. Genius.
Learn more.

DIY medical devices and protective gear fuel battle against COVID-19

Georgia Tech is helping meet the need for face shields for healthcare workers.

 

 

By John Toon, Georgia Tech University

It's a race against time that some participants liken to Apollo 13, the stricken NASA spacecraft for which engineers improvised an air purification system from available parts to get three astronauts back from the moon.

In this case, however, the race is to improvise ventilators, face shields, respirators, surgical gowns, disinfectant wipes, and other healthcare gear to help the hundreds of thousands of people expected to swamp hospitals with waves of critical COVID-19 illness over the next several weeks. The demand for ventilators alone could be four times more than already overwhelmed hospitals can provide.

Using 3D-printed parts, plastic-lined tablecloths intended for birthday parties, laser-cut gears, and similar substitutions, a research team from universities on two continents is racing to develop "do-it-yourself" healthcare gear that can be assembled where it's needed from components available locally. Team members figure they have about two weeks to get the designs right and share them with anyone who can help with the needs.

"We're trying to figure out how to get these things to scale in the time we have," said Shannon Yee, an associate professor in Georgia Tech's George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering who's working on the ventilator issue with a half-dozen colleagues at Georgia Tech and other universities. "We are looking at producing things very quickly, and this is where having contacts with mature manufacturing sources is going to help."

Georgia Tech has established a Rapid Response website to identify needs for personal protective equipment and potential collaborations.

Supplying face shields to the medical community
The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Emory and Georgia Tech serves as a bridge between healthcare needs and the broad technical know-how at Georgia Tech, and Georgia Tech researchers are talking regularly with hospital systems to discuss their needs. So far, hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, face shields, respirator masks, and ventilators have been identified as critical needs. Using resources of the Flowers Invention Studio -- such as 3D printing -- the group has already produced 1,000 face shields and is preparing to fabricate thousands more in the form of kits that hospitals can assemble.

"With the significant challenges on our supply chain, we need strategies to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare staff," said Dr. Charles Brown, CEO of Physician Enterprise at Piedmont Healthcare. "We have mechanisms in place to develop ideas and are working with Georgia Tech and the Global Center for Medical Innovation (GCMI) to advance them to what we can use."

Georgia Tech faculty members, students, and GCMI worked on multiple face shield designs, talking with clinicians at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory Healthcare, and Piedmont to evaluate and iterate. The result was two different designs intended for specific uses in hospital facilities, where face shields protect clinicians from splashes and help extend the life of soft respirators intended to filter out virus particles.

To scale up fabrication beyond the Georgia Tech campus, the team focused on simple designs that could be shared with and produced by individuals with access to a makerspace -- and major manufacturers with injection molding capabilities. The team plans to make the designs available for anyone with laser cutting or 3D-printing capabilities.

"Initially we were just thinking about meeting the needs of Atlanta, but cities everywhere need them," said Saad Bhamla, an assistant professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering who specializes in "frugal science" -- creating inexpensive lab devices. "We have created great models that can be used to create a pipeline of instructions that others can use. The face shields will set the stage for other device models as they become available."

To help meet the need for personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers, Georgia Tech has designed and is producing face shields. Shown is a laser cutting machine used to create frames for the shields.

 

 

 

 

"The Georgia Tech mechanical engineering team is working to modify open source face shield designs so they can be manufactured in high volumes for the rapid response environment that COVID-19 requires," said Christopher Saldana, an associate professor in the Woodruff School. "Our team has modified these designs using a range of product and process optimization methods, including removing certain features and standardizing tool use. By working on cross-functional and cross-disciplinary teams and directly involving healthcare practitioners and high-volume manufacturers, we will be able to respond to this effort at the scale and speed required."

The supply chain challenge
The team's Rapid Response website will both quantify the needs for face shields and solicit supplies of materials. Because the world's supply chains are unable to ship conventional PPE components, they are looking for alternatives that may not now be part of that production.

The challenge is that everyone is scrambling to find equipment and materials in an international supply chain that has already been depleted by months-long demands from countries that dealt with the virus earlier: China, Italy, and South Korea. As the healthcare demands ramp up in the United States, hospitals will have to be more creative in meeting the needs that their traditional sources may not be able to supply.

"If we can't get them from commercial or government sources, we're going to have to make them ourselves," said Michael O'Toole, Executive Director of Quality Improvement at Piedmont and a Georgia Tech engineering graduate.

VIDEO: Faculty and students at Georgia Tech have designed a quick and easy way to manufacture face shields.

With significant efforts going into design of locally sourced equipment, expertise on medical device prototyping and approval is needed. That is coming from a network of alumni and local companies and GCMI, a Georgia Tech-affiliated organization that works with device manufacturers around the world to translate designs into devices that can be manufactured quickly and cost effectively.

"The goal right now is to develop solutions that can be sourced locally and that we can produce now," said Tiffany Wilson, GCMI's CEO. "We are working with Georgia Tech and others on how we can suggest modifying the designs to optimize them for the current environment. We are helping make sure designs are clinically validated with an eye toward scalability."

Research on Possible Solutions for Other Shortages
While the face shield is the most mature project the team is developing, researchers are also looking at other needs of the medical community. Among them are ventilators, disinfecting wipes, and respirators.

An example of an Apollo 13 project may be ventilators that are used to help critically ill patients breathe. Traditional equipment makers are working as fast as they can, but that may not be fast enough. To achieve a globally scalable makeshift ventilator will require minimizing the number of parts and thinking about mechanical simplicity, Yee said.

Leon Williams, head of the Center for Competitive Creative Design at Cranfield University, is working with Georgia Tech researchers to create a makeshift ventilator based on the bag-valve-mask (BVM) -- also known as an Ambu bag -- a hand-held mechanical resuscitation device already available at hospitals.

Through a system of laser-cut gears and other components, the preliminary concept would use a simple 3-V motor to compress the bag and push air into the lungs of a critically ill patient. Among the challenges is extending the lifetime of the bags, which are not designed for long-term use.

As with face shields, the group expects to make its plans widely available for other groups to iterate and produce. "There is a lot of activity here that is going to move this forward," said Devesh Ranjan, associate chair for research in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, who is coordinating several of the Georgia Tech Rapid-Response projects on campus.

Another identified need is for disinfecting wipes, which seem like a simple enough product: a nonwoven material and a solution based on either alcohol or bleach. The material and solutions seem to be available; the problem is locating the industrial-sized containers to hold them.

"We've been looking for containers for the wipes commercially," said Graham. "What we are finding is that the issue is the containers, but we are looking at other solutions." He's working with David Sholl, chair of the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, to identify potential suppliers.

Respirators, swabs, and gowns
Protecting healthcare workers from the coronavirus requires a special type of respirator, soft face masks that remove virus particles from the air. Because the virus particles are so small, hundreds of nanometers in diameter, that protection requires high-efficiency filtration materials that, until recently, were mostly manufactured in China.

"The filters are not being produced at the rates that are needed, so we have been thinking about what we can put together that approximates an N95 filter that's needed to protect healthcare workers," said Ryan Lively, an associate professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. "We need to make something that can be produced out of homemade goods, then verify that it can do the filtering needed."

Lively has been experimenting with alternatives, such as high-efficiency filtration materials manufactured for HVAC systems that could be sewn inside a fabric pouch. "There are journal papers out there showing filtration materials that are not as good as N95 are still effective at increasing rejection of the virus particles," he said.

If these work as needed, Lively could produce limited numbers in his lab. "We have estimated that we can produce 700 masks per week using the pilot line that we have for research and repurposing it for cranking out hydrophobic fiber media," he said. "That won't solve the problem, but it will help meet a very critical need."

The swabs used for COVID-19 testing are also in short supply, as are gowns designed to protect healthcare workers. Carson Meredith, director of the Renewable Bioproducts Institute, is tracking down alternative sources from among the many manufacturers who are members of the Georgia Tech interdisciplinary research institute.

"The idea is to take a basic material intended for a different function and transform it into the products that we need," he said. One example is a material manufactured for party tablecloths -- plastic on one side to prevent spills from going through, and paper on the other for festive designs. "We're looking at whether the machinery that produces those can be rapidly turned into making a temporary gown."

The research team meets by phone daily to update each other on what's been done and to share ideas. They follow international Slack channels to know what other similar groups are doing across the U.S. and the world.

They know their prototype production equipment can't meet the world's needs, so they're sharing plans with others who may have capabilities. Ultimately, major manufacturers will catch up, but that could take months -- perhaps too long for the expected COVID-19 infection curve.

"The best thing we can do is share that information broadly to try to come up with solutions that use parts that can be sourced locally," Yee said, referring to the ventilator project. "Simple solutions using motors that people can get anywhere, structures that can be 3D-printed, and materials that can be hand-cut with saws may get us through this."

Published April 2020

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