Innovative design and materials are at the heart of the new miniaturised motor modules, with advanced polymer and epoxy to minimise weight and inertia
Copley Motion Systems, manufacturer of the ThrustTube range of tubular linear motors, has released its latest and smallest linear module.
Powered by the innovative ThrustTube micro motor the modules can easily be combined to create miniature X-Y platforms that incorporate all the advantages of the larger ThrustTube solutions and more.
Innovative design and materials are at the heart of the new miniaturised ThrustTube Micro motor modules.
The motor block weighs just 70g and is constructed from advanced polymer and epoxy to minimise weight, and therefore inertia.
As a result, accelerations of 30G are achievable while retaining sub-micron positional accuracy.
Using polymers also eliminates eddy currents in the device, making the new motor exceptionally energy efficient and able to achieve speeds of 22m/sec.
The modules are 60mm wide by only 48mm in height and can be anything up to 800mm travel.
Applications already identified for the ThrustTube Micro modules include: precision Z-axis control on placement machinery in electronics manufacturing; component handling; intricate packaging processes; semiconductor wafer handling; photonic stages; smooth scanning operations; and general high speed point-to-point movement for light payloads. Now also incorporated in X-Y stages the motors and modules are bringing significant advantages to the medical world.
Instead of moving the scanning/probing head as in conventional applications the head stays stationary whilst the X-Y platform is used to manipulate the samples below it.
The reduced payload weight and therefore inertia allows the motors to move the samples around at speeds which were previously unobtainable.
Combine this with a micro motor in the Z-axis for probing and you have not only one of the smallest, fastest most efficient machines but also one of the lowest cost.
