EDrive Offers Better ESD Drive Control

EDrive – part of our advanced Emerald Series of servo motors and drives – is an innovative software tool that allows users to set-up, tune, and monitor ESD drives. With the ability to simply connect to an ESD drive through a USB or serial cable, EDrive software offers customers the ability to observe and control a wide variety of drive parameters in real time, such as:

• Velocity command and feedback
• Position command and feedback
• Current command and feedback
• Following error
• DC bus voltage
• Faults
• Alarms

Users can also plot these parameters on their scope using up to 4 waveforms that can be generated either in real time or through level triggering, depending on client need. These waveforms can be saved or printed for later use. Precise measurements can also be carried out based on these waveforms. In addition, one can use EDrive to troubleshoot common hardware issues and make certain all products are hooked up correctly, without the use of a multimeter.

The advantage of this tool is that users can tweak their tuning to perfect their motion profiles. And all of these functions can be performed on the fly, creating minimal disruption in the day-to-day operations of these drives.

Contact IIS for more information about this invaluable software technology.

Is Motion Control For You?

Motion control has exploded in the last 20 years, and is now an option for almost any OEM machine undergoing design revision. Though investing in motion control technology can be somewhat costly, the growing need for faster production speeds and accurate, repeatable performance has easily legitimized the added expenditures for most manufacturers. And, due to increased standardization and growing volume, component costs are steadily decreasing, making automation technology even more accessible.

Though the benefits of automation technology are apparent, and almost any OEM machine can be a candidate for motion control, not every opportunity to update your machinery is worthwhile or even cost-justified. To determine if automating your existing machinery is the right move for you, it is important to analyze a few points:

1) First, understand the strengths of motion control – what improved efficiencies do automation technology bring to OEM equipment?

2) Secondly, examine the trouble spots of your existing equipment and decide whether this type of technology will help overcome these weaknesses.

3) Finally, consider if improving your machine functionality will help increase your business’s sales potential.

Once you have looked at all these factors and have decided that applying motion control technology to your OEM machines is right for you, then carefully choose your motion control supplier, and go for it! After all, your customers – as well as your bottom line – will thank you for it.

Hilscher's NetX 50 Chip Supports Toshiba Machine’s X-Series’ Automation Bus

As part of a joint development project between IIS and Toshiba Machine Ltd. of Japan, we are now using Hilscher's netX 50 chips to support the sercos automation bus in Toshiba Machine's X-Series Servo drives. For more than 20 years, Hilscher has been providing leading edge products for industrial communication connectivity, such as interface modules, converters, and gateways. Hilscher’s netX family of network-neutral chips provides customers with complete protocol flexibility.

"It made sense for us to do this development because of our sercos background," explains IIS Design Engineer, James Carter. "Both companies recognized that Ethernet was becoming more and more popular and that we had to have it available on the X-Series Servo drive. Sercos is a popular deterministic Ethernet protocol in the motion industry, so it was an obvious protocol choice."

IIS, who has undertaken the hardware design in North America, chose the Hilscher netX 50 chip for the fact that it incorporates both a processor and dual port interface on one card, making it easy to implement the new hardware. Moreover, this chip can easily plug into the options slot of an X-Series Servo drive. Adds Carter, "The fact that a fast processor is included on the chip means we can carry out Sercos dependent motion calculations on the card itself, rather than delegating them to the processor in the drive, effectively balancing the processing load."

Contact IIS for more information about this innovative Ethernet product.

IIS Presents Our Exclusive Line of Toshiba Machine's X-Series Servomotors and Drivers

Since IIS acquired the Toshiba/Toei servo business from the Toshiba International Corporation back in 1995, we have been the exclusive sales and service provider for Toshiba servo products in North America. This partnership continues with our newest line of Toshiba servo products: the Toshiba Machine X-Series Servos.

The X-Series is composed of a broad range of servo products offered as either a single-axis servo drive, a stand-alone single-axis motion controller, or as part of a multi-axis automation solution. In addition, all products within this series are available in the USA with local stock, support, and service.

Our Toshiba brand servo drives are UL and CE certified, can be manufactured in twelve different sizes, and possess a wide variety of advanced features, including, but not limited to:

• Six modes of operation
• Resolver, serial encoder, ABZ encoder or absolute (with power-off) feedback
• On-board keypad and display or PC tools for set-up and monitoring
• TFC observer servo software
• Separate control and servo bus power inputs

Our Toshiba servo motors can be manufactured as low- to medium-inertia models, and are available in 30W to 55Kw sizes with 1500 to 3000 RPM rated speeds. They also possess high-energy density magnets, offering customers powerful performance despite their small frame size.

The ability to provide high-quality products from top-rated manufacturers has helped establish IIS as a leading supplier of automation technology. For more information about our line of Toshiba products, contact IIS today.

Tune in next week to learn how Hilscher's netX 50 chip is supporting the sercos automation bus in Toshiba Machine's X-Series Servo drives.

How Servo Sheeters Improve Efficiency of Printed Material Output

The following blog serves as the second article in a two-part series focusing on how servo technology has improved web press operations.

In order to find a solution to the obstacles associated with mechanical sheeters, servo technology is now being used to improve sheeter flexibility. Servo driven sheeters do not have to be connected to a lineshaft, allowing a user to easily alter cut lengths or create unusual, custom-cut lengths without having to detach the sheeter from the press and perform manual modifications.

Vits America, Inc. is a leading supplier of variable repeat sheeting systems for the printing, packaging, and converting industries. With their Vits model L.P. or H.P. sheeters, the company uses servo technology to improve sheeter flexibility. "The shaftless sheeter gives you the opportunity to have mobility. You can move the sheeter from one press to another, something that was impossible with a lineshaft-connected machine,” states Robert Morelli, former sales director of Vits America. "And with servo control, make-ready time is dramatically cut. We can change cut lengths in a few minutes.” The servo sheeters also increase cutting accuracy by lowering feed rates. And by replacing the number of parts needed by mechanical sheeters, servo sheeters only cost a few percent more than their predecessors.

To demonstrate the power of this new servo driven technology, Vits America sold their first two servo sheeters to a company in China that possesses ten web presses. Using this new technology, the company is now able to take a roll off the press and cut it off-line, rather than buying individual sheeters for each press. Servo sheeters have met with such extreme customer satisfaction, Robert Morelli firmly believes that the digital sheeter will likely supplant its mechanical ancestor in the near future.

Contact Vits America to learn more about their line of servo driven sheeters.