Integrated servo for the masses

Thursday, January 11, 2001

SM2315 is a true brushless dc servomotor with built-in controller, amplifier, and encoder. It does nearly everything its predecessors do, for one-third of the original SmartMotor cost, according to Animatics President Robert Bigler."That's $499 quantity one," he says, "and less than $400 in quantity."

A machine-wound stator and molded magnet rotor allow economical volume manufacturing, as does the die-cast aluminum housing assembly with the electronics mounted on top of the motor instead of on the back. Instead of a more expensive DSP, a dedicated microprocessor helps reduce costs and handles all processing functions including PID, trajectory, program execution, I/O, and communications. Delivering up to 30 inch-oz of continuous torque and driving as fast as 10,000 rpm, it includes a sub network for linking peripherals such as LCD displays, OPTO-22 I/O, and digital joysticks.

"Its low cost allows it to compete with steppers," explains Bigler, "so engineers can increase throughput and get closed-loop reliability."

For more information visit http://www.animatics.com/whatsnew.shtml.