OSM Safety Unit Monitors Motor-Rotation Speed

Omron Scientific Technologies has introduced the G9SX-LM Low-speed Safety Monitoring Unit. Consisting of two proximity sensors and a G9SX safety controller with fault diagnostics, the G9SX-LM is a Category 3 (EN954-1), SIL 3 (IEC/EN 62061) certified redundant safety system that monitors and confirms motor-rotation speed to facilitate safe machine maintenance.

The system can also provide standstill monitoring. The G9SX-LM allows an operator to access the machine for maintenance work while the machine is running at a safe, maximum set operating threshold of 10Hz. Should the motor speed exceed the preset speed, the G9SX-LM will stop the machine immediately. An optional A4EG Enabling Grip Switch provides an additional layer of safety protection that, if pressed or released, will also immediately stop the machine.

The G9SX-LM is certified to all relevant North American and International safety standards and is engineered to deliver reliable standstill and low-speed monitoring operation for machine tools, printing presses and other applications. The system is suitable for use with servomotors. The G9SX-LM is rated for 24V DC operation and is available with spring-cage or screw terminal blocks.

It has eight semiconductor outputs: two instantaneous safety outputs, two safety slow-speed/stopping detection outputs and four auxiliary outputs. Detailed LED indicators provide easy-to-read and understand diagnostics.

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Stepper-Motor Controller Mounts 42mm Flange Motor

The TMCM-110-42 is an intelligent stepper-motor controller and driver module designed to be mounted directly on a 42mm flange motor. The module converts the motor into a compact mechatronic device with bus-oriented or standalone control. The motor, switches, power and multi-purpose I/Os can be connected with small plug-in connectors. The module comes with the PC-based software-development environment TMCL-IDE for the Trinamic Motion Control Language (TMCL).

Using predefined TMCL high-level commands, a rapid development of motion-control applications is guaranteed. There are two inputs for reference, stop switches, one general-purpose digital or analogue input and one output. The TMCM-110-42 can be controlled via an RS-232, RS-485, IC or CAN interface and communication traffic is kept very low as all time-critical operations are performed onboard.

The programme can be stored in the onboard EEPROM for standalone operation and the firmware of the module can be updated via the serial interface. With the Stallguard feature it is possible to detect motor overload or motor stall without an encoder. The main features include up to 16 times microstepping, memory for 2,048 TMCL commands, automatic ramp generation in hardware and on-the-fly alteration of motion parameters.

There is a Stallguard option for sensorless motor-stall detection, full step frequencies up to 20kHz, dynamic-current control and, due to Trinamic driver technology, no heatsink is required. The module is available on its own or together with a 42mm motor (NEMA 17) as mechatronic solution - PANdrive PD-110-42. The motor-supply voltage is 7 to 34V and up to 1.1A coil-current RMS (1.5A peak). Three motor sizes are available.

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