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Joseph Ogando

Yaskawa's Next Generation Motion System

Yaskawa Electric America today at the Pack Expo show unveiled a souped-up servo system that offers  improvements in positioning accuracy and speed, a reduction in size, and the addition of new auto-tuning and vibration-suppression capabilities. Called Σ-V, the system is based on new servo motors and amplifiers that cover a range from 0.1 to 15 kW.

Yaskawa technical documents cite a standard positioning accuracy as good as 10 nm and settling times in the 0 to 4 ms range once the system has been auto tuned. Σ-V amps have a frequency response of 1.6  kHz. 

Much of the systems’ performance boost comes down to Yaskawa’s latest auto-tuning and vibration-suppression algorithms. According to Greg Findlay, one of the company’s motion engineers, the auto-tuning has been perfected to the point where it all but eliminates the need for manual tuning. "Turn it on and leave it alone," he says. The Σ-V’s new vibration-suppression algorithm addresses frequencies all the way up to 1 kHz, and Findlay notes that the vibration-suppression function can also work in conjunction with the Σ-V’s torque reference filter to address even higher frequencies. 

As for size, the Σ-V motors and amplifiers are respectively one-third and one-quarter smaller by volume than Yaskawa’s previous servo system. "Even with the size reduction,  the Σ-V provides the same torque at a given power rating," Findlay says.