FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Contents

RDD-SERIES DIRECT DRIVE ROTARY MOTORS

General Questions

What are direct drive motors?

What type of applications will benefit from direct drive technology?

Commercial Questions

What direct drivebenefits are customers likely to value?

How will the direct drivesmotors reduce system cost?

Willdirect drive motors reduce panel space?

How doesdirect drive technologyimprove sustainability?

Where should I look for opportunities to promote the direct drive systems?

What industries should I target when selling these motors?

Who are the competitors, and how do our solutions compare?

When will these changes take place?

Who do I contact for sales support?

What direct drive training is available?......

Technical Questions

What mechanical configurations exist for rotary direct drive motors and where should they be applied? 4

What special considerations are necessary when designing for direct drive motors?.5

What are some examples of direct drive opportunities to pursue?...... 5

What are some examples of direct drive opportunities to avoid?...... 5

General Questions

What are direct drive Motors?

A “Direct Drive Motor” is any motor (linear or rotary)whose design is specifically intended to allow for direct-coupling to the load, thus improving system performance and efficiency by eliminating the need for additional mechanical transmission components. “

What type of applications will benefit from direct drive technology?

Applications involving large inertia loads requiring very high performance motion, or smaller loads with very high dynamic motion will benefit the most from direct drive technology. Example applications include:

  • Print heads (linear) and rolls (rotary)
  • Unwind / rewind stands
  • Nip rolls (sheet feeders, stamping press feeders, etc.)
  • Indexing tables

How are the new RDD-Series Rotary Direct Drive Motors different than the linear direct drive motors Rockwell Automation introduced earlier in the year?

As their name implies, linear direct drive motors produce linear force using a moving coil and a stationary magnet track and come in two different configurations: Iron core and ironless core.

Rotary direct drive motors, on the other hand, produce rotary torque and will eventually come in three different configurations: Frameless, bearingless and fully housed.

Commercial Questions

What direct drive benefits are customers likely to value?

Eliminating the need for power transmission devices (such as a gearbox or timing belt / pulley) reduces system compliance and backlash, allowing:

  • Higher gain settings which leads to faster settling times and better overall dynamic system performance
  • Significant increase in system accuracy
  • Improved operating efficiency
  • Reduced machine maintenance and down-time

How will the direct drivemotors reduce system cost?

Eliminating mechanical power transmission components not only eliminates the cost of these items from the bill of materials, it also reduces backlash and compliance. This allows for higher tuning gains and improved system efficiency, often allowing a smaller motor / drive to be specified. Elimination of mechanical transmission components also significantly reduces downtime due to maintenance.

Will direct drivemotors reduce panel space?

Yes, improving system efficiency reduces the amount of power required, thus reducing the size of drive required.

How doesdirect drive technology improve sustainability?

Better control of the load helps reduce unnecessary scrap and improves the machine’s overall throughput. A reduction in power wasted through heat, friction and noise, often allows for use of a smaller motor and drive that require less current, leading to much more efficient machine operation and significant energy savings.

Where should I look for opportunities to promote the direct drivesystems?

Look for larger OEM customers with motion-savvy engineers having applications that are pushing the limits of “traditional” servo systems. Also look for applications with very tight space constraints.

What industries should I target when selling these motors?

  • Converting
  • Print
  • Web Handling
  • Stamping
  • Tire Building
  • Automotive

Who are the competitors, and how do our solutions compare?

RDB (Rotary Direct Drive Bearingless) Configuration – Danaher Motion is the only competitor offering this unique mechanical configuration. The Rockwell Automation bearingless solution will offer multiple speed options with windings optimized for use with the new “peak enhanced” Kinetix 6000 servo drives. They will incorporate rotatable DIN connectors that accept the new DIN cables and will feature Heidenhain high resolution absolute encoders with 2048 sin/cos cycles per motor revolution.

RDH (Rotary Direct Drive Housed) Configuration – Danaher Motion, Yaskawa, Siemens, Baumueller, IDAM, AMK and Etel all have some form of fully housed rotary direct drive motor offering. The significant benefit of the Rockwell Automation solution is inclusion within the Integrated Architecture and all the benefits associated with a fully integrated motion solution.

When will these motors be available?

RDB (largest 3 frame sizes) – launching October, 2009

RDB (smallest 2 frame sizes) – launching Q1, CY2010

RDH – launching Q2, FY2010

Who do I contact for sales support?

Contact the product manager, David Hansen (), for additional assistance.

What direct drivetraining is available?

A Motion HOTT training module is under development. Contact David Hansen, Global Product Manager – Kinetix Motion Control, for additional information on available training materials and demo equipment. (952) 942-3757

Is any type of demo available?

One set of demo equipment is available in the North America, EMEA and AP regions. A set of demo equipment consists of a small frame motor and mounting stand, a large frame motor and mounting stand and the necessary tools and instructions to practice mounting and removing the motors. (There are significant differences in how the small and large frame motors are mounted and removed.)

Technical Questions

What mechanical configurations exist for rotary direct drive motors and where should they be applied?

“Bearingless” Configuration – Similar to the “housed” configuration,RDB “bearingless” motors consist of a housed rotor / stator, feedback device, connectors and customer mounting / interface provisions to attach to machine and driven load. As the name implies, however, this configuration does not include rotor bearings.

While not immediately apparent, the RDB configuration offers the best of the three configurations. Integrating and aligning the feedback device and rotor / stator in a housing greatly simplifies installation, while the absence of bearings eliminates alignment issues that can lead to premature bearing failure.

This configuration is well suited for small- to medium- sized OEM’s (with respect to number of motion axis consumed annually) who tend to build configurations of a base design (tailored to individual customer needs) and whose application load is independently supported by its own bearing structure, such as a print roll on a printing press. Target customers understand the benefits of direct drive motor technology and value the installation (labor and time) savings afforded by a housed design.

“Housed” Configuration –RDH “housed” motors are analogous to standard Kinetix servo motors, with the primary differencebeing a flange mount with through-hole vs. traditional male shaft. An RDH consists of a housed rotor / stator, bearings, feedback device, connectors and customer mounting / interface provisions to attach to machine and driven load. Additional differences include short, fat (i.e. “pancake”) housing and high pole count, both of which allow for a significant increase in torque density relative to “traditional” rotary servo motors.

This configuration primarily satisfies the needs of end-users who have a particular application need for direct drive technology (such as a rotary index table) but who lack the internal engineering capabilities necessary to apply alternate direct drive configurations. This style is also characterized by large outboard bearings and high load capacity.

“Frameless” Configuration –Unlike the “housed” configuration, “frameless” motors consist only of a rotor / stator part set. Because there are no bearings, feedback device, connectors or customer mounting / interface provisions, the customer is responsible for designing the machine to accommodate mounting and alignment of not only the rotor / stator, but the feedback device as well. If very tight space constraints exist, or the application requires torque above and beyond what is available in a “traditional” motion solution, a frameless motor may be the only alternative.

This configuration appeals to sophisticated OEM’s building high-volume, standardized products who are looking at maximizing overall machine performance as a means of differentiating themselves from their competitors. These customers tend to have the internal engineering capabilities necessary to apply alternate direct drive configurations. Once a design has been optimized, it will be replicated numerous times over a period of several years or even decades. Frameless motors tend to be custom-designed for the application.

What special considerations are necessary when designing for direct drive motors?

  • There must be a rigid connection between the motor and the load – taking full advantage of the benefits direct drive motors have to offer requires eliminating compliance and backlash from the system. A major source of compliance is the mechanical coupling between motor and load. Direct drive motors feature unique mechanical mounting configurations that allow direct coupling of the load to the motor without compliance.
  • The overall mechanical design of the machine must be highly rigid – resonant frequencies can be induced in non-rigid machine structures, leading to poor machine performance and may result in damage to the machine itself.
  • Size the motor for torque / thrust and speed only – eliminating compliance and backlash from the mechanical design eliminates the need to consider “inertia matching” in sizing a direct drive motion system.

What are some examples of direct drive opportunities to pursue?

  • When performance expectations exceed the capabilities of a traditional solution
  • Anywhere chronic mechanical maintenance issues exist
  • Anywhere a gearbox is used solely for inertia matching
  • When power and performance exceed the capabilities of a traditional solution
  • When very tight space constraints exist

What are some examples of direct drive opportunities to avoid?

  • Anywhere a gearbox is used solely for torque magnification
  • If very high performance is not required
  • If very low cost motion is required
  • Harsh environments (food, caustic, XP, etc.)
  • Retrofits on end-user machines

Which version of Motion Analyzer will support these new motors?

A database update will be available at the end of November, 2009 that will include the three largest frame RDB bearingless motors. Additional database updates will be available as motors are released.

I’ve heard that the RDD-Series Motors are part of the Rockwell Automation mechatronics portfolio. What exactly does that mean?

The RDD-Series Motors are an integral part of the Rockwell Automation Mechatronic Solutions Portfolio launching in November 2009. Mechatronic design is a collaborative venture between mechanical, electrical, and control design engineers – the outcome is a machine design optimized for high performance. The Rockwell Automation mechatronics offering includes: virtual design tools, products and expertise. Mechatronic products like the RDD-Series Motors provide tighter coupling between the control and machine function, and help eliminate backlash, compliance, noise and energy losses. We expect the mechatronic portfolio, including the RDD-Series Motors to be well received as customers realize the benefits mechatronics can offer, including increased machine throughput, decreased energy consumption, reduced time to design, develop and deliver, and mitigation of design risk.

I’ve heard that the only feedback device available on RDD-Series Motors will be a high resolution absolute encoder from Heidenhain. What drive do we use that will support Heidenain’s EnDat feedback?

The Kinetix 6200 and Kinetix 6500 (scheduled to launch in December, 2009) servo drives will incorporate native support for Heidenhain EnDat encoders.

The existing Kinetix 6000 (Series A and Series B) Safe off servo drivessupport Heidenhain EnDat encoders with the addition of the Kinetix EnDat Module, part number: 2090-K6CK-KENDAT. This module plugs into the motor feedback port and can be used for 3rd party motors in addition to the RDD-Series motors.

The existing Kinetix 7000 Safe off servo drives also support Heidenhain EnDat encoders with the addition of the Kinetix EnDat Module, part number: 2090-K7CK-KENDAT. This module plugs into the motor feedback port and can be used for 3rd party motors in addition to the RDD-Series motors.

If desired by the customer, the PowerFlex 700S and the new PowerFlex 755 standard drives support Heidenhain EnDat encoders with the addition of the Universal Feedback Option Kit, part number: 20-750-UFB-1.

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