Linear Motors and Controls

Linear Motors ABB provides industry with the widest range of linear motors and controls. Being a leader in linear motor design and manufacturing, ABB continually develops advanced products and innovations to meet a variety of linear motion applications. Linear motors provide unique speed and positioning performance advantages with direct-coupled motion that eliminates the need for backlash and wear prone mechanical transmission devices. They offer substantial improvements over applications using ball screws, timing belts, etc. The rugged mechanical design provides accurate motion and precision positioning for hundreds of millions of cycles. ABB linear motors and stages are used in thousands of successful applications worldwide. Linear motors provide the following advantages: High repeatability – resolution to 0.1 microns (0.000004 inch) – this makes sure all parts produced are accurate and identical Highly accurate – to 2.5 micron/300 mm (0.0001 inch/ft) – provides precise machine operation for precision parts No backlash – direct drive has no backlash such as with lead screws, gears, etc. this improves the accuracy of the part or operation Faster acceleration – from 1 to over 10 G’s – this leads to shortened cycle times and improved productivity. Higher velocities – speeds to over 8 meters/sec (300 inches/second) – to position the payload faster Long term reliability – only two parts with only one moving part – this leads to simplicity and improves the applications reliability No wear or maintenance – no contacting parts, thus reducing component friction and wear Ease of installation – linear motors are designed to allow for alignment tolerances. Misalignment produces no degradation of performance Linear motors consist of two parts – a stationary track or “platen” and a moving “forcer”. They can be provided as a stand-alone linear motor assembly or as a complete stage – built with a housing or enclosure with linear bearings, limit switches, cable track/carrier, protective bellows and linear encoder in a wide variety of lengths.

For more information on Linear Motors and Controls talk to ABB Motion Limited