MOTION CONTROL: Performance Motion Devices Inc. (PMD) continues to enhance its Prodigy® family of motion control cards with new features and peripherals. The added capabilities will benefit both development and production applications by simplifying the programming and connectivity of the Prodigy motion controllers.All Prodigy/CME controllers have been upgraded to include user accessible on-board non-volatile memory (NVRAM). This new memory area allows users to store configuration parameters, program variables, and other data items directly on the card so that they do not need to be loaded as part of the power-up sequence. Information stored in the non-volatile memory area is not lost when power is removed from the card.
To speed development of Prodigy motion control applications, a new Interconnect Module, the IM-600, has been released that simplifies the process of connecting various motion peripherals to the Prodigy card. The IM-600 connects to the Prodigy’s option connector and Pulse & Direction connector providing jack screw “breakout” functionality, making it easy to quickly hand-connect devices to the Prodigy. The IM-600 features a DIN mountable package for easy panel mounting.
The Prodigy Family of Motion Cards provide high performance board-level motion control for scientific, industrial, robotic, and general purpose automation applications. These cards support multiple motor types including dc brush, brushless dc, step and microstepping motors, and are available in one-, two-, three- and four-axis versions. Based on PMD’s industry leading Magellan® Motion Processor, the Prodigy cards provide user-selectable profile modes including S-curve, trapezoidal, velocity contouring, and electronic gearing. Servo loop compensation utilizes a full 32-bit position error, PID with velocity and acceleration feedforward, integration limit and dual biquad filters for sophisticated control of complex loads. Prodigy Motion Cards come with serial, CAN and Ethernet communications options.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
New disc magnet motors fit into the design trend of stepping up to closed loop performance while maintaining the cost advantage of stepper motor technology.
At the Design News webinar on June 27, learn all about aluminum extrusion: designing the right shape so it costs the least, is simplest to manufacture, and best fits the application's structural requirements.
A new battery design, which replaces lithium with abundant and low-cost elemental sulfur, is still in its nascent stages but shows real promise for giving batteries more energy potential.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
2 
