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Background
A revolution in collaborative robots (cobots) guarantees to alter how assistive care is delivered to the aged, how individuals work together with their work surroundings and even how surgeons carry out coronary heart surgical procedure.
RLS d.o.o., a Renishaw affiliate firm, has over a few years cultivated a value-added partnership with the German firm, TQ-RoboDrive, a part of the TQ-Group.
TQ-RoboDrive manufactures a variety of frameless hole shaft stator-rotor kits (ILM sequence) for cobots, with payloads of as much as 20 kg. It additionally manufactures a variety of framed hole shaft and strong shaft servomotors that mix the highly effective motor design of TQ-RoboDrive’s frameless servo kits with a space-optimized housing.
RLS provides TQ-RoboDrive with AksIM™ magnetic absolute off-axis (hole shaft) encoders, in addition to OnAxis™ encoders. Along side Renishaw, it has tailored the AksIM™ encoder to satisfy the brand new difficult kind elements and efficiency necessities of TQ-RoboDrive as they work to make superior cobots a actuality.
“They had been in a position to design a sensor that matches our ILM25 and ILM38 sizes completely, giving us an entire drive resolution for each the hole shaft framed motors and the frameless servo kits. They did a unbelievable job” (TQ-RoboDrive, Germany)
Problem
Trendy cobot designs are typically constructed on a human scale and require compact, light-weight motorized joints with excessive motor torque densities.
When a robotic that’s already holding a load is then required to elevate the load to a better stage, the present drawn by the motor will spike significantly. Such operational duties can result in a torque overload situation (over-torque).
Heavy motors (over 500 g) can take up the surplus warmth produced throughout an overload with out problem, however lighter motors danger burning out. TQ-RoboDrive motors are designed to resist thirty seconds of 3x rated overload, which is an business benchmark.
TQ-RoboDrive motors supply excessive torque at a low weight, which is essential for functions with exoskeletons and cobots. This mix of excessive torque and low weight (excessive torque density) is what differentiates TQ-RoboDrive motor techniques from these of different motor producers.
For its ultra-low weight frameless motors designed for robotics functions, TQ-RoboDrive sought a precision magnetic encoder resolution. This demanded a brand new miniature absolute encoder that wasn’t accessible in the marketplace.
Ulrich Kerber, Head of Industrial Drives at TQ-RoboDrive, explains:
“We had been desirous about what may occur in robotics within the close to future, and one among our conclusions is that the robots need to change into smaller and smaller. We already had the small motor sizes accessible (ILM25 and ILM38), however the seek for the correct accent parts, equivalent to encoders, was proving troublesome. Having discovered nothing that suited our wants, we contacted RLS and Renishaw and instructed them that we wanted an encoder with an outer diameter of not more than 28 mm and a remaining hole shaft of as much as 5 mm.”
Reduce-away of a TQ-RoboDrive hollow-shaft servomotor with an AksIM™ magnetic absolute encoder.
Resolution
TQ-RoboDrive approached RLS and Renishaw to assist with discovering an answer. RLS already provides its AksIM encoders to TQ-RoboDrive for different bigger diameter motors and provided to design and manufacture a brand new variant of this encoder with the required ring diameter.
“RLS and Renishaw acknowledged that it will be difficult — however they had been additionally very eager to take up the problem”, recollects Mr Kerber.
Enhancements in present AksIM expertise had been carried out to satisfy the difficult necessities of the electrical motor equivalent to prolonged temperature vary, increased immunity towards stray magnetic fields and ease of set-up.
TQ-RoboDrive motors include a number of essential parts: the stator and rotor, a security brake, and an encoder — all mounted in a compact motor housing. The encoder sits on the rear of the motor and every part has a special diameter.
The sequence of meeting is essential as there’s a stray magnetic area emanating from the security brake, which requires that the encoder be positioned behind the brake to defend the encoder ring.
“In the long run, they had been in a position to design a sensor that matches our ILM 25 and ILM38 sizes completely, giving us an entire drive resolution for each the hole shaft framed motors and the frameless servo kits. They did a unbelievable job”, concludes Mr Kerber.
Outcomes
The partnership with RLS and Renishaw has allowed TQ-RoboDrive to broaden its product providing to incorporate servomotors with the best torque densities accessible for the robotics market. Clients profit from improved communication between TQ-RoboDrive and its suppliers as this leads to sooner drawback decision, higher technical help and higher customer support.
Ulrich Kerber expands on the significance of collaboration and industrial partnerships in robotics:
“The world of collaborative robotics specifically continues to be comparatively small, however it’s rising dynamically with yearly. Inside this neighborhood, I see the necessity for fixed dialogue amongst suppliers and clients to make sure that we’re all working to gas the most recent tendencies and resolve the most important challenges. It is rather essential to have a dependable encoder associate. The range in the marketplace is big and we wanted the perfect expertise that might match into our motors. One of many advantages of a partnership with RLS and Renishaw is that they’re key gamers in the marketplace with merchandise that everyone is aware of. Bother taking pictures can also be a lot simpler as TQ-RoboDrive can name on RLS and Renishaw for technical help if wanted.”
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