For an excellent overview of what’s new in the field of motion control, a recent article in ASSEMBLY magazine entitled, “Motion Control Gets Smart” features commentary from all the main manufacturers in the field including Emerson. Vibhoosh Gupta (VG) launches the article by explaining, “The advent of edge computing within the last decade is when smart motion control really began. A truly smart motion control system is one that gives the end-user the right level of information at the right time. All of its key components work together and consistently give the company what it needs and when it needs it.”
Emerson offers both smart pneumatics and smart electric motion control, providing its customers with the complementarity of both types of smart products. The company’s RXi2 edge computing platform features built-in device analytics. When combined with the pneumatics smart motion control products, the platform provides data on the health status of equipment in the pneumatic system (e.g., actuator wear level), as well as its energy efficiency level.
The PACMotionTM family includes servo drives and motors, and a controller card that gets directly inserted into the PACSystemsTM RX3i PLC. The products are designed for demanding applications that involve high-speed, high-precision or high-axis-count machines. Each card controls four physical axes and each PLC can handle up to 10 cards, giving users and integrators great flexibility and scalability in smart motion control.
For more interesting insight into the present and future of motion control, check out the article.
And more information on Emerson’s motion control solutions can be found here.