Olsen Actuators - New partnership with ANCA Motion!

We are delighted to have agreed a partnership with the Australian based ANCA Motion to become a distribution partner for their range of LinX® Tubular Linear Motors.

ANCA Motion is a leading supplier of flexible control systems specialising in high precision solutions. AM has partnered with customers to create customised hardware and software to meet their bespoke requirements, excelling in high speed and precision automation solutions. Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, ANCA Motion are specialists in Tubular Linear Motors and have been serving customers worldwide through direct and indirect representation. AM solutions are widely used in tool grinders, laser & plasma cutters, cylindrical grinders, water jet cutters, factory automation and bespoke controls. ANCA Motion’s new LinX® M-Series Linear Motor is an alternative to pneumatic, ballscrew, linear flatbed options.

The LinX® M-Series tubular linear motors are designed to improve on and replace inefficient, leaky and bulky pneumatics, ballscrew, linear flatbed options. ANCA Motion’s highly dynamic tubular linear motors are perfectly suited to industries like Food & Beverage and Packaging.

Key features:

• Velocities up to 10m/s
• Continuous force range of 80N to 287N
• Peak force up to 1200N
• Integrated Position Feedback
• Pneumatics retrofit friendly
• Modular heatsink
• Servo controlled
• 30 micrometre repeatability

Blowing away Pneumatics…

Air leaks can be expensive. According to a leading compressor technology company, one leak in one unit costing 8 pence/kW/hr to operate will represent well over £1,000 a year to a power bill. Maintaining pressure is also a challenge. When multiple actuators movements synchronise in a system, pressure drops occur. With a single point of failure - for example, air leakage at one location - the air pressure of the whole plant will drop, and operations will be affected.

The noise reduction when switching to electric automation is also a relief for operators.

“If you are working in or visiting a factory, you will usually hear a lot of noise,” explains Heng Luo, Product Manager, ANCA Motion.

“And that’s one big advantage servo-controlled linear motors have against pneumatics.”

Pneumatics can move quickly and forcefully from one point to another but with little positional control along the stroke. The LinX® M-series linear motor features an integrated position sensor with 10um of resolution, eliminating the need for an external encoder, thus simplifying the system design and reducing overall cost. The modular design, reduced footprint, and flexible mounting options enable flexibility in system integration. The M-series motors are compatible with standard Pneumatics making it easier & more straightforward to be retrofitted.

The series is designed to deliver superior performance for high dynamic applications: velocity up to 10m/s and maximum acceleration of higher than 30G.

Compared with a pneumatic system, the LinX® motor reduces operating costs due to reduced energy consumption and maintenance. An estimated payback period versus pneumatic cylinders -- which, with their form factor and mounting design, the M-Series is a neat substitute for -- is only 18 months.

There is no denying a marginally higher up-front cost than their fluid counterparts. Still, the short payback period makes a compelling economic case, in addition to the long-term environmental benefits. With such a highly engineered design, you wouldn’t expect the price to match simpler pneumatics. Still, you can be reassured that your investment in greater accuracy, cheaper operating costs, and the ease of flexibility will more than pay for itself.

Another area of obvious advantage over pneumatics is the ease of reprogramming between jobs. A recent application for a customer’s forming machine substituted LinX® motors for pneumatics to move a cutting bed. Changes for different workpiece lengths could take six to eight hours for the painstaking recalibration of air pressure. Such adjustments now are a quick change in servo drive parameters - a matter of seconds. The improved positional control has boosted throughput by 50%, with the massively improved precision allowing the process to be confidently sped up.

M-Series is very flexible with more than 37 different shaft lengths from 330mm to 2.1m, five variants of Forcer, and different cooling mechanisms such as surface cooled, Fan-forced cooling and water-cooled.

The LinX-M® range is built on the success of the previous offering LinX® S-Series. This was initially developed for ANCA Motion's sister organisation - ANCA Machine Tools to replace the existing Ball screws & Linear motors in their market-leading five-axis grinding machines.

This is an exciting new product line, complementary to our existing linear actuator range, for lower load/faster applications.

Discover even more about the ANCA Motion LinX® range here!