How to Apply Direct-Drive Linear Servomotors
Machine Design, May 2008
There’s a growing demand for smaller linear motors. Manufacturers have developed new direct-drive linear servos in response. Among the first steps in selecting a motor is the definition of a speed profile representing various load movements.

Grow Up, Get Down, Get Green
Control, May 2008
By Jim Montague
Increasingly capable drives and motor controls are moving into more diverse, smaller-ticket applications, as well as helping users gain the operating efficiencies to meet green initiatives

Motors Move Toward More Efficiency
Machine Design, April 2008
By Leland Teschler
The next generation of motor-powered appliances and industrial machines will be energy misers thanks to new electronics and speed controls.

Making The Most Of Motors And Drives
Robotics Online
By Jack Browne
Electric motors and drives improve year after year more as an evolutionary process than by revolutionary developments. Sorting through the choices in electric motors can be challenging, considering the many different types of commercially available standard motor types and hundreds of manufacturers for those motors and related drive electronics.

Troubleshooting AC Drives
IEN, April 2008
By Ted Stearns, Applied Industrial Technologies
Typically, drive problems can be traced to improper setup or startup. Although specific error codes and the manner of transmitting them may differ for individual drives, all ac drives share common operating principles. Here’s how to interpret diagnostic codes and troubleshoot the problem for safe, reliable operation.

Browse these and more articles and white papers on the Motion Control, Motors & Drives portal.

Omron STI's 2007/2008 Machine Safety Engineering Guide
Omron STI's new 1500+ page 2007-2008 Engineering Guide to Machine and Process Safeguarding is now available. This two-volume set details Omron STI's complete family of machine and process safety solutions, and contains more than 225 pages of educational resource material.

Bosch Rexroth releases MTpro Planning Software
MTpro integrates CAD and layout tools to save planning time in any assembly or packaging application with Rexroth products.

PLCopen publishes Logic, Motion and Safety paper
Document provides examples and guidance for the combination of the different technologies, making it easier for a user to integrate safety in a motion and logic application.

Rexroth publishes Motion Resource Kit CD
CD includes product animations, handbook, white papers and catalogs covering the structural design, operating principles and characteristics of linear motion technology components.

Gearmotor Sizing Guide
By Bison Gear
One would think that sizing is simply a matter of examining the torques and output speeds listed for gearmotors and selecting those whose ratings fall within your requirements. But that’s simply where you begin. After making the “first cut” from the formulas provided here, it is prudent to test a sample under actual operating conditions.

Browse these and more resources and literature on the Motion Control, Motors & Drives portal.

Moeller Electric punches lollipop sticks
Process & Control Today, May 2008
ks for the best ice lollipops are still made from wood. Karl Otto Knauf, chose PLCs, motor drives and the SmartWire panel wiring system from Moeller Electric to control its latest stick-punching machine.

Saving Energy at the Swimming Pool with VFDs
Control, May 2008
By Paul Miller
The Veterans Memorial Pool in South Windsor, CT, uses ABB VFDs to control four large pumps. They got a dramatic reduction in energy costs and the pumps produce far less noise.

Ken Mills ups recycling efficiency
Control Engineering Europe, May 2008
Nordic Recycling installed Ken Mills processing machinery at its materials recovery facility (MRF) in Tilbury, UK. 50 gearboxes from Nord Drivesystems power the materials handling system. Helical bevel gears, claimed to provide efficiency in excess of 95 per cent, were selected for the application.

Performance Demands Spur Motor Advances
Control Design, May 2008
By Don Talend
Examples from plastic extruder and industrial compressor builders demonstrate how recent changes in motor design and their enclosures are meeting the demand for ever-higher efficiency.

Kiln of the Castle
Control Engineering Europe, May 2008
Castle Cement in the UK brought ‘Kiln 4’ at its Padeswood works in North Wales, into operation with speed control from ABB industrial drives. ABB installed two 300 kW drives in master-follower arrangement.

Browse these and more application stories on the Motion Control, Motors & Drives portal.

IDC Technologies releases iQuokka e-learning software
iQuokka software permits live interaction, collaboration, video, talking and eLearning via the web with instructors presenting as they would do in a normal face-to-face session.

Misumi holds seminars in Indianapolis, Chicago and New York
“Designing a better machine faster with the configurable component" help engineers overcome the time and performance pressures typically associated with custom machine builds.

Understanding Motion Control Systems - AIT Training Course MCS110
3-Day Course - This practical course introduces engineering concepts of motors and drives that can be easily understood by both engineers and technicians unfamiliar with the technology and not accustomed to complex theory and mathematics.

Basic Electrical Circuits and Controls - AIT Training Course ECM110
This 4-day course covers the basics needed to understand, troubleshoot, and maintain most machine components and control circuits that exist in today’s complex industrial automation systems.

OPC Training Seminars
The OPC Foundation and its sponsoring members will host a series of eight one-day training seminars. These free seminars are tailored for end-users, systems integrators and OEMs, and are designed to cover the fundamentals of OPC including Servers, Clients, OPC Data Access, OPC Unified Architecture, Best Practices and Compliance.

Browse these and more training and seminar opportunities on the Motion Control, Motors & Drives portal.

• Portescap enhances h3 stepper motors
• ACS enhances ADK motion control software to support IEC61131-3
• AME releases Amlok RLN pneumatic rod locks
• PI releases P-653 piezo motor linear slide
• Phidgets announces $75.00 stepper controller
• Serapid adds safety option to TBHS die clamp
• Technosoft releases MCK28335 Motor Control Kits
• Danfoss expands VLT Series Variable Frequency Drives
• SKF introduces Jaeger ID8A/B linear actuators

Browse these and more Product Announcements on the Motion Control, Motors & Drives portal.

Search all Products by keyword, category, manufacturer or release date.

National Instruments reports Q1 Revenue of $193 Million
Net income for Q1 2008 was $17.6 million with diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.22.

Manfred Wittenstein elected President of VDMA
Wittenstein had been Vice President of the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) since 2004 and a member of the Main Board for eight years.

Siemens and ROY-G-BIV combine machine tool controls
Partnership combines Siemens Motion Control Information System (MCIS) software with ROY-G-BIV's XMC machine connectivity software.

SERCOS releases CIP Safety Specification
The CIP Safety on SERCOS specification is being released as a function-specific profile (FSP Safety) for Industrial Ethernet-based SERCOS III.

ABB first quarter net income up 87%
ABB's first-quarter net income reached $1 billion, an increase of 87 percent compared to the same quarter in 2007.

Browse these and more company and organizational news on the Motion Control, Motors & Drives portal.

B&R supplies control technology to COMAU Robotics
B&R will supply modular servo drives, industrial PCs, and POWERLINK interfaces for COMAU's articulated arm robots.

ABB to supply controls for cement plant project in Arizona
ABB to supply 800xA Extended Automation System, motors, drives, MCCs, analyzers, CEMS, switchgear, and instrumentation.

HEIDENHAIN encoders help position telescope
The largest optical telescope in the northern hemisphere, the Gran Telescopio Canarias (Grantecan) on La Palma, Spain, uses HEIDENHAIN model ERA 780C angle encoders.

GE Fanuc supplies PLCs and HMI to Macawber Beekay
Equipment includes PLC-based control panels, Proficy HMI/SCADA, CIMPLICITY, and VersaMax I/O to control ash material handling at Macawber Beekay's plant in New Delhi, India

ABB provides Gearless Mill Drives to U.S. molybdenum project
ABB was awarded a $13 million contract to provide GMD systems and related equipment for General Moly's new Mount Hope pure molybdenum development project, in Central Nevada, USA.

Automatica 2008
June 10-13, 2008 Munich, Germany
Displays the latest in robots, assembly and handling technology, machine vision and associated technologies in five trade fair halls.

2008 Siemens Automation Summit
July 23 -25, 2008 Chicago, IL
The 2008 Siemens Automation Summit has presentations from industry experts and analysts, and customer case histories which detail the benefits of Siemens products.

International Manufacturing Technology Show
September 8-13, 2008 Chicago, IL
The largest and longest running manufacturing technology trade show in the United States, IMTS is ranked among the largest trade shows in the world.. IMTS attracts over 90,000 visitors from every level of industry and over 40 countries.

ISA Expo
October 14-16, 2008 Houston, Texas
Organized around six core automation and control themes, ISA EXPO 2007 provides attendees a content-rich environment that offers unlimited opportunity for exploration of key technologies, professional growth, and interaction with like minded professionals.

Browse more industry events on the Motion Control, Motors & Drives portal.

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I hope you enjoyed this Motion Control, Motors & Drives update. If you have any comments or suggestions regarding the content in this e-newsletter or on Automation.com, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Rick Zabel
Vice President, Publisher
Automation.com

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