Australian linear motors offer a sharp edge

Friday, 09 October, 2015 | Supplied by: ANCA Motion

Australian linear motors offer a sharp edge

ANCA Machine Tools (AMT) celebrated its 40th anniversary of operation at the end of 2014. Founded by Pat Boland and Pat McCluskey 40 years ago in Melbourne, AMT has grown into a global organisation with manufacturing sites and branch offices all around the world. Today, AMT is a market leader in quality CNC grinding machines.

AMT’s success is a result of its continuous development of cutting-edge technology and a focus on innovation. Continuing in that tradition, AMT has launched a number of new machines, including the FX Linear and MX Linear machines. Both machines are powered by the LinX linear motor developed by ANCA Motion, a sister company of AMT.

Prior to FX Linear and MX Linear machines, AMT had been a silent observer of linear motor technology for many years. “AMT was aware of the benefits that can be brought by linear motors. Over time the ball screws can wear even on the best machines, and you have to consider backlash and the loss of preload,” said Simon Richardson, AMT MX platform product manager.

“When installing and aligning a ball screw on a machine, tighter tolerances are required over the entire length of the ball screw when compared to fitment of linear motors.”

However, AMT has resisted using linear motors for quite a long time. Philip Wysocki, electrical systems engineer at AMT, said: “The traditional linear motor is flat in construction, which creates a lot of issues when implementing these motors on machines.”

Machines with flatbed linear motors typically require a separate chiller for thermal stability, and the attractive force between coil and magnet bed creates tremendous downforces on the bearings, making everything wear faster and hence decreasing efficiency. In addition, flatbed-style linear motors used in grinding machines typically have a back-iron in their magnetic circuit which further increases the downforces and creates cogging.

With the arrival of ANCA Motion’s cylindrical LinX linear motor, believes it has found technology which it can confidently adopt into its tool-grinding machines. The LinX linear motor overcomes all the problems related to flatbed linear motors and delivers superior performance due to its cylindrical design.

ANCA Motion’s LinX motor consists of a shaft containing magnets and a forcer containing wound copper coils. The symmetric design results in zero attractive forces between the forcer and shaft, greatly reducing the loading requirement on support bearings. The thermal barrier design separates and removes heat from the motor, eradicating thermal growth for the machine. “Thanks to its excellent stand-alone thermal stability, AMT’s machines don’t require a dedicated chiller for the LinX linear motor. This is a huge advantage over competitors’ flatbed motor-based machines, significantly reducing the power usage and space occupation,” said Richardson.

With LinX’s simple construction, non-critical air gap and lack of physical contact between shaft and forcer, machine manufacturers can greatly simplify installation, reduce maintenance and extend machine life. The LinX’s design allows it to easily replace ball screws in existing machines and makes the machine design a lot easier.

“Due to its simple construction, only one or two supports are required at the shaft ends, depending on its orientation. Not only has the axis installation time been significantly reduced by more than 200% when compared to ball screws, but the installation of LinX motors is much safer than flatbed linear motors,” Wysocki continued.

The ironless design of ANCA Motion’s LinX linear motor and its even force over the entire stroke bring out unprecedented motion performance. Because of its direct-drive nature, the motor can track motion commands more accurately and repetitively to achieve better surface finish.

Richardson added: “With the LinX linear motor, we don’t need to worry about cogging, backlash or reversal error. The tool’s surface finish, ground by a LinX-powered machine, is significantly better than the result from a best-performance ball screw machine. You can see the tangible difference easily. This is just unbelievable when you are talking about microns.” In addition to the improved surface finish, the LinX motor also enhances the cycle time due to its higher acceleration and faster traverse speed.

Since the launch of FX Linear and MX Linear machines, LinX-powered machines have been installed in various regions all around the world — and AMT customers are very satisfied with the performance of these machines.

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