Significant Improvements in Servomotor and Motor Drive Technology Widen its Scope of Application

LONDON, September 15 -- The substantial development in servomotor and motor drive technology, both in industry and academia, can greatly enhance the quality of control across a wide range of applications. Improvements in control techniques and algorithms, backed by greater processing power in motor drives are increasing the functionality, capability and appeal of servo-based control systems.

The development and availability of greater functionality, especially at attractive costs, provides important potential benefits for application developers of servo systems technology.

"Integration at lower levels within the controller itself increases the number of features and functions that can be integrated into a single chip," says Frost & Sullivan (http://industrialautomation.frost.com) Research Analyst Rahul Nayar. "In some controllers, this can occur to a considerable degree, absorbing many of the functions of the servo drive into a single microchip."

Such integration has a huge impact at the application level. It enables designers building servo applications around the controller to add and develop more features in the applications.

Enhanced and greater numbers of features enable technology developers to differentiate their applications, giving them a significant advantage in a competitive market. This practice has also increasingly solved problems at the motor level, resulting in better control of drives.

The features and functionalities have been improved to such an extent that this technology is now being considered in areas where its use was once restricted.

Linear motors, in particular, are seeing increasing application in fields once dominated by traditional and low-cost technologies. The latter are increasingly yielding to drive technology, due to its natural advantages in important operating parameters.

Some enhancements in drive technology include improvements in some of the core technologies around which developers build drives, greater digital processing power, performance and resolution.

In Europe, there has been focused research on three major technologies - a high force density linear motor, a nanoposition controller and a high-speed torque motor. A liquid metal plasma (LMP) linear motor, supposedly having the highest force density in the industry, was designed for both high efficiency and cold interface.

"Meanwhile, Siemens Automation and Drives has developed a drive-based solution for motion control consisting of two closed-loop control modules," observes Nayar. "European companies have also developed a new, intelligent servo motor, integrated standard servomotor components with controllers and drives into a compact package that runs on a software system, enabling flexible control."

Apart from these advancements, another crucial factor that drives adoption of servo technologies is the cheaper costs of processing power. This has helped servo technologies match rising demands from end-user industries and applications such as packaging.

"Servo technology, which found application only in high-cost, advanced, fly-by-wire systems in military aircraft, now replaces hydraulics and pneumatics in applications as commonplace as automobile power steering," notes Nayar. "For a technology that has been labelled an expensive control technology, this is a significant step."

The rapid advancement of this technology has outpaced the awareness campaigns about the significance of new research among engineers and other personnel. Moreover, the engineers' original training in digital technology would have been limited to theory due to the expense and limited availability of hardware.

Some industry participants prefer to stick to 'tried and tested' techniques and technologies such as proportional-integral controllers, which are considered reliable, stable and 'safe'.

Providing better training and conducting awareness programs to keep engineers informed about the latest technologies and their potential advantages in application can correct this trend.

Advances in Servomotor and Motor Drive Technology is part of the Industrial Automation vertical subscription service. It presents technology and applications viewpoints, examines technologies such as electric servomotors, classified variously as rotary and linear, brushed and brushless; permanent magnet and induction motors as well as drive technology and its components including digital signal controllers. The research enables companies to align their positioning strategies to benefit from the emerging technologies. Executive summaries and analyst interviews are available to the press.

If you are interested in an analysis providing manufacturers, end users and other industry participants with an overview, summary, challenges and latest coverage of Advances in Servomotor and Motor Drive Technology, send an e-mail to Magdalena Oberland, Corporate Communications, at magdalena.oberland@frost.com. Please include the following information: your full name, company name, title, contact telephone number, contact fax number, e-mail address and source of information. Upon receipt of the above information, an overview will be e-mailed to you.

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Title: Advances in Servomotor and Motor Drive Technology

Code: D350

    
    Media Contacts:

    Magdalena Oberland
    Corporate Communications - Europe
    P: +44-(0)-20-7915-7876
    F: +44-(0)-20-7730-3343
    E: magdalena.oberland@frost.com

    Tori Foster
    Corporate Communications - North America
    P: +1-210-477-8448
    F: +1-210-348-1003
    E: tori.foster@frost.com

    Pramila Gurtoo
    Corporate Communications - Asia Pacific
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    Gen: +603-6204-5800
    Fax: +603-6201-7402
    E: pgurtoo@frost.com

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Keywords in this press release: servomotor, motor drive, algorithms, electric servomotors, rotary, linear, brushed, brushless, permanent magnet, induction motors, digital signal controllers, linear motors, fly-by-wire systems, hydraulics, pneumatics, automobile power steering, liquid metal plasma, LMP, high force density linear motor, nanoposition controller, high-speed torque motor, closed-loop control modules

List of Key Industry Participants: GE-Fanuc, Texas Instruments, Siemens Automation, Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Schneider Electric, Rockwell Automation, ABB, Danaher Motion, Yaskawa Electric, Baldor Electric, Lenze/ AC Tech, Alcatel Dunkermotoren, Galil Motion Control, Copley Motion Control, Control Techniques

Magdalena Oberland, Corporate Communications - Europe, P: +44-(0)-20-7915-7876, F: +44-(0)-20-7730-3343, E: magdalena.oberland@frost.com; Tori Foster, Corporate Communications - North America, P: +1-210-477-8448, F: +1-210-348-1003, E: tori.foster@frost.com; Pramila Gurtoo, Corporate Communications - Asia Pacific, DID: +603-6204-5811, Gen: +603-6204-5800, Fax: +603-6201-7402, E: pgurtoo@frost.com