Servo Drives And Motors Team With EtherCAT Technology

For building scalable, distributed motion control systems, the latest AKD servo drives and AKM servo motors simplify setup and configuration for deploying custom motion applications to any NI real-time controller supporting NI EtherCAT technology including CompactRIO, PXI real-time controllers, and industrial controllers. Additionally, National Instruments offers the LabVIEW 2010 SoftMotion Module that provides support for NI EtherCAT drives. AKM brushless servo motors are available in four frame sizes and feature high torque, high density, and speed ranges. They employ low-inertia rotors and feature a low-cog, low-harmonic-distortion magnetic design. AKD Servo Drives feature a simple setup and configuration through EtherCAT technology and integration with the LabVIEW project, a feature in LabVIEW software that groups together LabVIEW and third-party files, creates build specs for executables, and deploys or downloads files to hardware targets. The drives deliver torque loop updates in 0.67 μs and velocity and position loops at 62.5 μs and 125 μs, respectively. Prices start at $425. NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS, Austin, TX. (888) 280-7645.