Four-Axis Controller Tackles Stepper Motors in Lab EquipmentFour-Axis Controller Tackles Stepper Motors in Lab Equipment

While every manufacturing industry has programmable machine controller needs, laboratories have particularly specialized ones. The controllers need to be quiet, tolerant of temperature changes, and often small in profile, since labs are often restricted in space and dealing with increasing number of applications.

Advanced Control Systems Corp., based in Pembroke, Mass., designs and manufactures stepper motor drivers, servo motor amplifiers, integrated driver/controllers, and standalone programmable controllers specifically for scientific applications. Its MCR series of driver/controllers are offered in both four- and eight-axis models.

Last month, ACS introduced its new MCR-4 rack mount four-axis stepper motor controller that drives and controls four two-phase motors with phase currents from 0.25 to 3.0 A per phase simultaneously from a single board. The MCR-4 performs indexing functions with or without a host computer depending on the user's needs, with internal non-volatile memory storing and executing programmed instruction sets.