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What’s best? Integrated linear actuators or traditional.
When you’re faced with designing a new piece of automation equipment, you have a lot on your mind. Concerns like performance requirements. How to design flexibility into the machine. How to keep costs down. How to pack the performance needed into a compact package.
You can rely to electric linear actuators to address these issues. They have inherent flexibility and long-term cost-efficiency. Once you choose electric linear motion, you can select either an integrated linear actuator or a traditional design. Both options have pluses and minuses that we’ll review here.
Innovate with linear motion: Online resource for integrating electric actuators into machine designs
For every application a machine designer tackles, they have to consider a unique set of requirements. Evaluating a variety of linear motion attributes is key to determining the optimal solution.
Stop Motion or High Definition?
It was a rough week for the whole team working on a new customer’s new machine design. Finally, it’s Friday night and you sit down on the couch to relax with your friends. You made some popcorn and just popped in a DVD recommended by your parents. They told you it’s a classic and might be a bit slow but it has a good story. The movie starts and after 30 seconds, your friends are giving you confused looks. The movie is very difficult to watch because it is filmed in stop motion. The images on the screen are frozen and jump from one to the next. Sometimes it is half a second between shifts and sometimes it can be several seconds. You can see the evening disintegrating and quickly move to switch out the movie to ‘The Fast and the Furious’ for some non-stop action.
Avoid the pitfalls, gain all the benefits of replacing hydraulics with electric actuators
Electric actuators continue to find new and exciting places within automation processes from the mundane to some of the most extreme operating environments on the planet. Everyday machine designers seek alternative electric solutions to hydraulic cylinders for the very first time. However, there are many common pitfalls to properly sizing an electric equivalent. When sized correctly, replacement with high-force electric linear actuators can provide tremendous benefit in processes, quality and reducing your total cost of ownership.
Failure not an option? How to avoid premature linear screw actuator failure
Some components are more mission-critical than others. A main worry of machine design engineers is making equipment that will last and avoiding need for field service calls to diagnose issues and replace failing components. At their core, electric linear screw actuators deploy mechanical technology such as ball bearings, ball screws and roller screws that have a finite life. These components do not last forever, even though that is the expectation of some customers. When asked “How long will this actuator last?” we provide our customers with a way to calculate, estimate and size the electric linear screw actuator to achieve the desired life for their applications.
Overcoming hydraulic headaches by converting to electric linear motion solutions
Just 20 years ago, users of hydraulic systems struggled to find alternative technologies that could achieve the high force capabilities of hydraulic cylinders. Since then, motion control and automation technologies have rapidly evolved and electric linear actuator technology has emerged with capability to achieve the high forces (up to 100,000 lbf/445 kN) that were once the sole dominion of hydraulics. Even with these advancements, many manufacturers are either unaware -- or still in the process of discovering -- that viable electric options exist to address many of the challenges they face with hydraulic systems in high force applications.
Electric high-force linear actuators improve powertrain assembly process and part quality
In automotive and heavy equipment industries machine designers and engineers know part quality and reliability are critical. That is why they often evaluate multiple linear motion technologies (hydraulics, pneumatic, electric) to determine the optimal solution for their component assembly or joining processes. It is imperative for their machines to produce quality parts that stand up to even the most demanding environments in harsh powertrain applications. Luckily, electric linear actuators offer engineers a solution for improving machine flexibility, precision, and reliability where legacy fluid power technologies (pneumatic and hydraulics) often fall short.
For an overview of how electric high-force linear actuators compare to hydraulic cylinders, see our white paper, Electric rod actuators versus hydraulic cylinders: a comparison of the pros and cons of each technology.
Converting From Hydraulic to Electric High-Force Linear Actuators with Force Feedback
Got a high-force linear motion application? If you do, chances are the first product solution to come to mind is hydraulic cylinders. After all, they’re relatively inexpensive (if you already have a hydraulic power unit – HPU – in place), compact (if the HPU’s somewhere else) and power-dense.
But what about the disadvantages of hydraulic cylinders? Leaks, operation and maintenance costs, and more? Now that there are electric high-force linear actuators, machine designers have a choice. It’s possible to convert an application from hydraulic to electric linear motion easily. Our guide, How to convert hydraulic cylinders to an electric actuator alternative, gives you a step-by-step explanation of the process.
The case for electric rod actuators in food processing applications
Producing food that’s delicious, affordable and safe requires a lot from manufacturers. Process automation makes affordability possible and ensures consistently top-quality food. Safe food products and beverages are free of contamination, so the equipment used in food processing has to meet crucial requirements for cleanliness. That includes linear actuators.
Selecting a linear actuator for a food processing application requires careful consideration. A machine designer may look at hydraulic cylinders, pneumatic cylinders, rodless electromechanical actuators and electric rod actuators.
Achieve better quality welds with electric servo actuators
Car buyers demand top quality and durability in their vehicles. Automobile manufacturers strive to meet and even exceed these demands. The welds that hold a car’s body together are fundamental to the vehicle’s quality, so it’s essential that weld quality is the best.
Robots are often used in auto body welding because they’re fast and consistent. When it comes to controlling the weld gun, an automobile manufacturer has a choice: use a pneumatic actuator or an electric integrated servo linear actuator. An electric servo actuator will provide better weld quality, consistently.