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Overhung load adaptors provide load support and contamination protection

Overhung load adaptors (OHLA) provide both overhung radial and axial load support to protect electrified mobile equipment motors from heavy application loads, extending the lifetime of the motor and alleviating the cost of downtime both from maintenance costs and loss of production. They seal out dirt, grime, and other contaminants too. Zero-Max OHLAs are available in an extensive offering of standard models (including Extra-Duty options) for typical applications or customized designs.
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Why choose electric for linear actuators?

Tolomatic has been delivering a new type of linear motion technology that is giving hydraulics a run for its money. Learn the benefits of electric linear motion systems, the iceberg principle showing total cost of ownership, critical parameters of sizing, and conversion tips.
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New AC hypoid inverter-duty gearmotors

Bodine Electric Company introduces 12 new AC inverter-duty hypoid hollow shaft gearmotors. These type 42R-25H2 and 42R-30H3 drives combine an all-new AC inverter-duty, 230/460-VAC motor with two hypoid gearheads. When used with an AC inverter (VFD) control, these units deliver maintenance-free and reliable high-torque output. They are ideal for conveyors, gates, packaging, and other industrial automation equipment that demands both high torque and low power consumption from the driving gearmotor.
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Next-gen warehouse automation: Siemens, Universal Robots, and Zivid partner up

Universal Robots, Siemens, and Zivid have created a new solution combining UR's cobot arms with Siemens' SIMATIC Robot Pick AI software and Zivid's 3D sensors to create a deep-learning picking solution for warehouse automation and intra-logistics fulfillment. It works regardless of object shape, size, opacity, or transparency and is a significant leap in solving the complex challenges faced by the logistics and e-commerce sectors.
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Innovative DuoDrive gear and motor unit is UL/CSA certified

The DuoDrive integrated gear unit and motor from NORD DRIVE-SYSTEMS is a compact, high-efficiency solution engineered for users in the fields of intralogistics, pharmaceutical, and the food and beverage industries. This drive combines a IE5+ synchronous motor and single-stage helical gear unit into one compact housing with a smooth, easy-to-clean surface. It has a system efficiency up to 92% and is available in two case sizes with a power range of 0.5 to 4.0 hp.
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BLDC flat motor with high output torque and speed reduction

Portescap's 60ECF brushless DC slotted flat motor is the newest frame size to join its flat motor portfolio. This 60-mm BLDC motor features a 38.2-mm body length and an outer-rotor slotted configuration with an open-body design, allowing it to deliver improved heat management in a compact package. Combined with Portescap gearheads, it delivers extremely high output torque and speed reduction. Available in both sensored and sensorless options. A great choice for applications such as electric grippers and exoskeletons, eVTOLs, and surgical robots.
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Application story: Complete gearbox and coupling assembly for actuator system

Learn how GAM engineers not only sized and selected the appropriate gear reducers and couplings required to drive two ball screws in unison using a single motor, but how they also designed the mounting adapters necessary to complete the system. One-stop shopping eliminated unnecessary components and resulted in a 15% reduction in system cost.
Read this informative GAM blog.

Next-gen motor for pump and fan applications

The next evolution of the award-winning Aircore EC motor from Infinitum is a high-efficiency system designed to power commercial and industrial applications such as HVAC fans, pumps, and data centers with less energy consumption, reduced emissions, and reduced waste. It features an integrated variable frequency drive and delivers upward of 93% system efficiency, as well as class-leading power and torque density in a low-footprint package that is 20% lighter than the previous version. Four sizes available.
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Telescoping linear actuators for space-constrained applications

Rollon's new TLS telescoping linear actuators enable long stroke lengths with minimal closed lengths, which is especially good for applications with minimal vertical clearance. These actuators integrate seamlessly into multi-axis systems and are available in two- or three-stage versions. Equipped with a built-in automated lubrication system, the TLS Series features a synchronized drive system, requiring only a single motor to achieve motion. Four sizes (100, 230, 280, and 360) with up to 3,000-mm stroke length.
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Competitively priced long-stroke parallel gripper

The DHPL from Festo is a new generation of pneumatic long-stroke grippers that offers a host of advantages for high-load and high-torque applications. It is interchangeable with competitive long-stroke grippers and provides the added benefits of lighter weight, higher precision, and no maintenance. It is ideal for gripping larger items, including stacking boxes, gripping shaped parts, and keeping bags open. It has high repetition accuracy due to three rugged guide rods and a rack-and-pinion design.
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Extend your range of motion: Controllers for mini motors

FAULHABER has added another extremely compact Motion Controller without housing to its product range. The new MC3603 controller is ideal for integration in equipment manufacturing and medical tech applications. With 36 V and 3 A (peak current 9 A), it covers the power range up to 100 W and is suitable for DC motors with encoder, brushless drives, or linear motors.
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When is a frameless brushless DC motor the right choice?

Frameless BLDC motors fit easily into small, compact machines that require high precision, high torque, and high efficiency, such as robotic applications where a mix of low weight and inertia is critical. Learn from the experts at SDP/SI how these motors can replace heavier, less efficient hydraulic components by decreasing operating and maintenance costs. These motors are also more environmentally friendly than others.
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Tiny and smart: Step motor with closed-loop control

Nanotec's new PD1-C step motor features an integrated controller and absolute encoder with closed-loop control. With a flange size of merely 28 mm (NEMA 11), this compact motor reaches a max holding torque of 18 Ncm and a peak current of 3 A. Three motor versions are available: IP20 protection, IP65 protection, and a motor with open housing that can be modified with custom connectors. Ideal for applications with space constraints, effectively reducing both wiring complexity and installation costs.
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Closed loop steppers drive new motion control applications

According to the motion experts at Performance Motion Devices, when it comes to step motors, the drive technique called closed loop stepper is making everything old new again and driving a burst of interest in the use of two-phase step motors. It's "winning back machine designers who may have relegated step motors to the category of low cost but low performance."
Read this informative Performance Motion Devices article.

Intelligent compact drives with extended fieldbus options

The intelligent PD6 compact drives from Nanotec are now available with Profinet and EtherNet/IP. They combine motor, controller, and encoder in a space-saving package. With its 80-mm flange and a rated power of 942 W, the PD6-EB is the most powerful brushless DC motor of this product family. The stepper motor version has an 86-mm flange (NEMA 34) and a holding torque up to 10 Nm. Features include acceleration feed forward and jerk-limited ramps. Reduced installation time and wiring make the PD6 series a highly profitable choice for machine tools, packaging machines, or conveyor belts.
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Preparing for future battlefields: Army lays out must-have capabilities for its Next Generation Combat Vehicle

An M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle crew changes position on the range during gunnery training at the Doña Ana Range Complex, N.M., Aug. 3, 2018. The Army is developing a new Next Generation Combat Vehicle as part of a concerted modernization strategy. [Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Winifred Brown]

 

 

 

 

By Bob Purtiman, U.S. Army NGCV Cross-Functional Team

While our current combat fleet is composed of very capable vehicles, these vehicles have been in the inventory for decades and their ability to overmatch peer capabilities in close combat is starting to wane. As the Army prepares for future combat operations, it needs new platforms, with future growth margins, to maintain our ability to dominate the battlefield.

This is a challenge for the Next Generation Combat Vehicle Cross-Functional Team, or NGCV CFT, to solve. The NGCV CFT was established as part of the Army's modernization strategy and is currently led by Brig. Gen. Ross Coffman. The team consists of hand-selected military and civilian personnel, who are charged with narrowing or closing Cross Domain Maneuver capability gaps.

The team is well supported by Program Executive Office-Ground Combat Systems and Research, Development and Engineering Command leaders, and representatives. The CFT serves as the primary Army integrator for Under Secretary of the Army/Vice Chief of Staff of the Army and Army Requirements Oversight Council decision for all supporting analysis, modeling, simulation, and technical demonstrations. The NGCV CFT director, on behalf of the USA/VCSA, synchronizes the capability development process, and then rapidly transitions the requirement to a leader-approved capability into the Army Acquisition System.

"The Army must maintain combat vehicle overmatch in close combat against current threats while taking actions necessary to ensure overmatch through 2050 and beyond," said Coffman. "The changing character of warfare and the acceleration of technology development drives changes in how the Army develops, delivers, employs, and sustains mounted close combat capabilities."

The ongoing efforts of the Next Generation Combat Vehicle Cross-Functional Team will be the focus of a Warrior's Corner presentation on Tuesday, Oct. 9 from 9:30-10:10 a.m. Eastern time as part of the Association of the United States Army annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

The current NGCV CFT portfolio encompasses the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, or AMPV; Mobile Protected Firepower, or MPF; Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle, or OMFV; future robotic combat vehicles, or RCV; and the next generation main battle tank.

The AMPV and MPF are well on their way through the acquisitions process -- the AMPV is in Limited User Tests, and the Joint Requirements Oversight Council has recently approved the MPF's Capabilities Development Document. The team's current focus in on the OMFV, which will replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, while also overseeing the maturation of robotic combat vehicle and main battle tank technologies.

In future close combat formations, units equipped with NGCV must maneuver effectively in unrestricted, restricted, and dense urban terrain. The NGCV-OMFV will be designed to maneuver Soldiers in the future operating environment to a position of advantage to engage in close combat and deliver decisive lethality during the execution of combined arms maneuver. NGCV must exceed current capabilities while overmatching similar threat class systems. It must have the following capabilities:

• Optionally manned. It must have the ability to conduct remotely controlled operations while the crew is off platform.
• Capacity. It should eventually operate with no more than two crewmen and possess sufficient volume under armor to carry at least six Soldiers.
• Transportability. Two OMFVs should be transportable by one C-17 and be ready for combat within 15 minutes.
• Dense urban terrain operations and mobility. Platforms should include the ability to super elevate weapons and simultaneously engage threats using main gun and an independent weapons system.
• Protection. It must possess requisite protection to survive on the contemporary and future battlefield.
• Growth. It will possess sufficient size, weight, architecture, power, and cooling for automotive and electrical purposes to meet all platform needs and allow for pre-planned product improvements.
• Lethality. It should apply immediate, precise, and decisively lethal extended-range medium-caliber, directed-energy, and missile fires in day/night all-weather conditions, while moving and/or stationary against moving and/or stationary targets. The platform should allow for mounted, dismount, and unmanned system target handover.
• Embedded Platform Training. It should have embedded training systems that have interoperability with the Synthetic Training Environment.
• Sustainability. Industry should demonstrate innovations that achieve breakthroughs in power generation and management to achieve increased operational range and fuel efficiency; increased silent watch; part and component reliability; and significantly reduced sustainment burden.

The CFT will ensure the Army operating force is equipped with Next Generation Combat Vehicles that overmatch pacing threats with decisive lethality, survivability, tactical mobility, and reduced logistical burdens. These vehicles, when combined with trained and technology-enabled crews, are essential to the Army's future battlefield success.

"The NGCV effort ties in with the efforts of other CFTs: Soldier Lethality, Network, Assured Positioning, Navigation, and Timing, Future Vertical Lift, and Long-Range Precision Fires," said Col. Warren Sponsler, NGCV CFT deputy director. "The future platform has capabilities which are enabled by assured position, navigation and timing, and resilient networks that will enable future maneuver formations to execute semi-independent operations while conducting cross-domain maneuver against a peer adversary.

"The future operational environment will be increasingly lethal, competitive, complex, and dynamic -- characterized by a high potential for instability and the increased likelihood of close combat in dense urban and congested terrain," Sponsler added. "Our potential adversaries have studied the American way of war and our preference for engaging at extended ranges with greater accuracy. Accordingly, they are developing, and will employ, close combat platforms and weapon systems capable of engaging U.S. formations at equal or greater ranges and with direct fire accuracy equal to our own, coupled with accurate and massive artillery and rocket firepower."

The challenge for the NGCV CFT is to create the requirement that will keep with the junction of instability and disruptive technology that will erode the Army's post-Cold War comparative advantage.

"The end state for the Army is a generation of vehicles that are not only more lethal and survivable than current combat platforms but much smaller, lighter, and more fuel efficient," said Coffman. "The use of critical enabling and potentially disruptive technologies that are identified, developed, and integrated into operationally viable platform subsystems will enable the Army to provide Soldiers the best possible capability for the future."

Published October 2018

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