从严苛环境到全自动仓储——管状直线电机优势显著

直线驱动，更卓越，更高效，从严苛环境到全自动仓储——管状直线电机优势显著

Energy can come in many forms, either as stored energy or as kinetic energy, or motion. Electric motors convert stored energy into kinetic energy. Like everything else, the way motion is produced is constantly evolving. As a relatively new actuation method, tubular linear motion is becoming increasingly popular in a variety of applications, including machine tool manufacturing, factory automation, packaging, printing, and material handling.

由于在精度，速度，效率等各方面优势显著，管状直线电机在制造业，物流和其他领域大受欢迎，本文将对这种电机和其他三种最常见的驱动方式展开比较与研究。对于许多企业而言，能耗和员工安全都是重中之重，任何可以提高生产效率和员工安全的方法都值得考虑。

ANCA Motion is an Australian developer and manufacturer of motion control systems, hardware and software, and also provides services to its sister company ANCA CNC machine tools. Since 2014, ANCA has equipped its world-renowned tool and cutter grinders with LinX® tubular linear motors, and applied them in the FX Linear and MX Linear tool grinders.

In the precision tool manufacturing industry, micron-level accuracy and production efficiency are very important. Equipment equipped with LinX® tubular linear motors not only reduces operating costs, but also achieves better surface finish, higher efficiency and reliability, which is why it is deeply loved by customers.

Left: Surface finish of tools processed by a grinder equipped with LinX®

Right: Surface finish of the tool machined by the ball screw grinder

cylinder

Pneumatic cylinders date back to around World War II. Today, they are an important part of factory use, enabling fast (and noisy) movement between two points. They are a major consumer of electricity in factories. It is estimated that using compressed air to perform movement directly requires ten times more energy than using electricity, due to the large amount of heat generated during operation. Despite their inefficiency, pneumatics are well known and widely used.

Depending on the size, a plant may need several air compressors and/or a complex air system to deliver compressed air to the required locations. In such air systems, the losses due to gas leakage are very high. The main problem with such systems is that they lack flexibility. Recalibrating the air pressure for different production processes sometimes takes several hours.

Unlike pneumatic cylinders, ANCA Motion's LinX® tubular linear motors use servo-based closed-loop control, which allows for quick and easy changes in motion position, meaning it can minimize adjustment time between different production processes. They also have an integrated position sensor with a resolution of 10um, eliminating the need for an external encoder, which not only simplifies system integration, but also meets higher quality and output requirements.

In this way, the energy cost savings can quickly offset the initial investment costs. Compared with pneumatic technology, the payback period is generally 18 months.

Ball Screw

Ball screws have been around longer than pneumatics, with more than a century of development. They are still around today, and are used in a variety of applications, such as power steering and robotic arm movement. They are an indirect drive that converts rotary motion into linear motion via a nut and thread. Ball screw motion has its practicality, as its history shows, but it also has its drawbacks.

It cannot accelerate or decelerate quickly. The contact between the moving parts creates friction and wear, so lubricants are needed. Lubricants have the potential to become a source of contamination. Over time, wear also leads to increased maintenance costs and reduced performance. Because there is clearance between the threads and the nut, this can also cause another problem, which is backlash.

In contrast, LinX® tubular linear motors are more flexible. Due to their direct drive characteristics, they have no backlash and no friction between the mover (motor coils with copper windings) and the magnet (sealed stainless steel tube with permanent magnets). No friction means less wear, longer life and better quality products for machining tools or other applications.

LinX® motors can also achieve speeds of up to 10 m/s, significantly improving production efficiency.

Flat Linear Motor

A flat linear motor (often shortened to a linear motor) is often described as an expanded version of a rotary motor, where the rotor (containing the permanent magnets) of the rotary motor is the fixed part of the flat linear motor, and the stator (containing the coils) of the rotary motor is the moving part of the flat linear motor.

In non-factory environments, examples of this principle are maglev trains and rail guns. In industrial environments, flat linear motors that use this principle can be used in material handling and machine tools with their high precision, high acceleration and deceleration, and high thrust.

Compared with ball screws, the advantage of flat linear motors is that there is no backlash.

The disadvantage of this motor is that it cannot be used in harsh environments. In addition, due to the attraction between the motor coil and the magnet block, mechanical stress and heat are generated. This may require the use of a separate cooling system, which in turn increases the overall cost of the machine. In addition, the strong downward force will cause the linear guide to wear faster, requiring frequent replacement.

In order to solve the above problems, the design of tubular linear motor can make full use of magnetic flux. There is no contact between the motor coil and the magnetic rod, which can achieve better thermal stability and extend the service life of the equipment. At the same time, LinX® motor adopts a symmetrical design and there is no downforce. These characteristics make it competent for work tasks in harsh environments. Therefore, the manufacturer's equipment can achieve better accuracy at a lower cost.

Australia’s engineering heritage is renowned around the world

ANCA Motion’s tubular linear motors were originally designed to give ANCA CNC machine tools an edge over international competition. ANCA is a global leader in CNC tool grinding technology, having achieved a series of world records since 1974, with almost all of its products produced in Melbourne exported overseas.

LinX® series motors not only have a long history of application in tool manufacturing, but also have an increasing number of customers around the world, playing a wide range of roles in different industries and applications. These include pick and place, labeling, pressing, sorting, stacking, conveying, production line distribution and many other processing applications in automated warehousing. In addition to LinX®, ANCA also offers a series of servo drives, human machine interfaces and control systems. ANCA Motion has decades of experience in developing motion control solutions and can also work with customers to develop customized solutions. It is fully supported by a local team of experts in engineering, sales and service.

In addition to custom motors, ANCA Motion offers two series of standard LinX® tubular linear motors: the M series (80 N to 287 N continuous force, 1200 N peak force), IP 66 protection, and the S series (335 N to 630 N continuous force, 4270 N peak force), IP 67 protection.

Follow ANCA Motion

ANCA Motion is a wholly owned subsidiary of the ANCA Group, designing and manufacturing flexible control systems, especially high-precision CNC equipment. ANCA Motion customizes hardware and software according to the special requirements of OEM customers. ANCA Motion can provide a complete set of solutions, from turnkey automation control packages to individual products, such as digital servo drives, motion controllers, soft PLC, CNC, IO modules, motors, cables and electrical cabinets.