The modular drive system from ebm-papst enables you to create the right system solu­tion by combining different modules. In addi­tion to the elec­tron­i­cally commu­tated motor, the system also includes control elec­tronics with different commu­ni­ca­tions inter­faces, various trans­mis­sion vari­ants, brakes, encoders, etc. Several hundred vari­ants are possible in all, with defined preferred types ready to ship within 48 hours.

Modular drive system

The “heart” of all config­u­ra­tions is a brush­less, elec­tron­i­cally commu­tated ECI internal servo rotor motor. The focus is on drives in safety extra-low voltage, currently in the power range between 10 and 750 watts. The modular ECI drive system from ebm-papst is ideal for decen­tral­ized appli­ca­tions in produc­tion and assembly automa­tion, handling systems and indus­trial robots. Thanks to the drive’s inte­grated intel­li­gence, it can be freely programmed like a PLC.

ebm-papst already inte­grates a variety of hard­ware and soft­ware directly into its drive systems. Func­tions such as recording the rotor posi­tion, actu­ating a brake and control­ling and regu­lating the motor are already inte­grated directly into the motor housing.

Thanks to its modular design, the ECI motors from ebm-papst can be combined with various modules. (Photo | ebm-papst)

Internal or external rotor?

Drive tech­nology at ebm-papst is based on two types of motor that differ funda­men­tally in terms of design: One type is the brush­less external rotor motors of the VDC series, the other is the internal rotor motors of the ECI and BCI series.

With internal rotor motors, a distinc­tion is made between brush­less or brushed motors. For the brush­less motor, the magnets are posi­tioned directly on the shaft together with the magnetic yoke. The stator lami­na­tion stack located in the housing allows the winding to be well cooled. The rotor posi­tion is recorded by magnetic sensors in the main field or in the field of a control magnet. Due to the lower moment of inertia, it is possible to imple­ment more dynamic drive tasks here, as the small internal rotor allows fast changes in speed and direc­tion of rota­tion. The inte­grated elec­tronics in motors from ebm-papst enable not only speed control, posi­tioning and commu­ni­ca­tion with higher-level systems, but also many appli­ca­tion-specific features.

The external rotor is the motor with which the rotor moves around the motor winding exter­nally. Compared to the internal rotor motor, the magnets are attached to a larger diam­eter, which, on the one hand, enables a greater magnetic volume and, on the other hand, results in a flow concen­tra­tion to the internal stator. The rotor posi­tion is recorded by the rotor posi­tion sensor (Hall ICs) in the main field. It is the motor concept that is more commonly used in venti­lation and air condi­tioning.

Control elec­tronics make drives smart

The powerful control elec­tronics can be inte­grated into various external or internal rotor EC motors. The compact EC drives from ebm-papst owe their intel­li­gence to their inte­grated K4 control elec­tronics, which include a compact power output stage and can run the motor down to stand­still using a field-oriented closed-loop control module. Thanks to the K4 control elec­tronics, the drive can be tailored to the require­ments of the appli­ca­tion. There are three main oper­ating modes: the motor oper­ates in speed, torque or posi­tioning mode. The fully inte­grated control elec­tronics also provide several analog and digital inputs and outputs, which can be config­ured via an RS-485-inter­face. The drive’s func­tion­ality during oper­a­tion can also be moni­tored via various moni­toring func­tions such as voltage, current, temper­a­ture, etc.

The K5 control elec­tronics also offer a CANopen inter­face, which opens up further commu­ni­ca­tion options. K5 drives can also be used as a CAN master, for example. The external control elec­tronics enable brush­less DC motors to be actu­ated. Vari­ants for speed-controlled oper­a­tion with an analog set value require­ment can also be imple­mented. The DriveS­TUDIO soft­ware and epTools from ebm-papst are used for commis­sioning.

In crown gear­heads, the invo­lute drive pinion builds in cylin­drical form and the contact between the pinion and the output gear is a roller contact; hardly any fric­tion losses occur. (Photo | ebm-papst)

DriveS­TUDIO

Drives can be config­ured easily, quickly and, above all, intu­itively using the DriveS­TUDIO soft­ware from ebm-papst. The factory preset stan­dard para­me­ter­i­za­tion such as speed, path to be covered, soft start etc. can be changed using the soft­ware. This enables the preferred types or drives to be tested promptly in the appli­ca­tion in small quan­ti­ties. In series orders, the desired para­me­ter­i­za­tion is already loaded at the factory. The various modes (demo, para­me­ter­i­za­tion) make the soft­ware suit­able for appli­ca­tion engi­neers and for users with little program­ming knowl­edge alike. It is connected via a USB inter­face adapter. The PC must have Windows as the oper­ating system.

Crown gear­heads in crown gear tech­nology

When it comes to crown gear­heads, ebm-papst impresses with its inno­v­a­tive crown gear­head tech­nology. (Photo | ebm-papst)

To round out the drive system, ebm-papst offers various trans­mis­sion series for a wide range of require­ments, such as angular and plan­e­tary gears. ebm-papst relies on inno­v­a­tive crown gear tech­nology in the area of crown gear­heads. This enables powerful, compact and highly effi­cient trans­mis­sion solu­tions. The output shafts of all crown gear­heads are made of ground, case-hard­ened steel and are thus espe­cially robust. Torque is trans­mitted via a keyway connec­tion as stan­dard.

As well as their high effi­ciency levels, typical reasons for using crown gear­heads include their high trans­mis­sible torque and their no self-locking design. In the case of barriers and access moni­toring systems, for example, the trans­mis­sions can be turned back manu­ally even in the event of a high reduc­tion without the need for compo­nents for decou­pling to protect the drive against damage. Due to the offset-free design, the motor-trans­mis­sion combi­na­tion can also be inte­grated easily into door profiles.

Plan­e­tary gears

Wher­ever a high power density is required, plan­e­tary gears from ebm-papst provide the ideal solu­tion. They impress with their extremely smooth oper­a­tion, which is achieved thanks to extremely robust, some­times straight and some­times helical plan­e­tary gears made of high-strength plastic or steel. Perfor­max­Plus plan­e­tary gears are perfect, for example, for users who are looking for smooth, robust trans­mis­sion solu­tions for high torques. The trans­mis­sion design makes the best possible use of the avail­able instal­la­tion space: By using a radial screw connec­tion for the indi­vidual housing compo­nents, a maximum effec­tive diam­eter is avail­able for the ring gear toothing.

Today, many indus­trial automa­tion appli­ca­tions, as well as intral­o­gis­tics appli­ca­tions, call for compact, powerful and simul­ta­ne­ously robust trans­mis­sions. Typical exam­ples include shuttle vehi­cles or cross­belt conveyors. The Optimax plan­e­tary gears avail­able in two sizes (42 and 63 mm) score points here. The larger variant, for example, offers peak torques of up to 150 Nm with an instal­la­tion edge dimen­sion of 63 mm and a length of just 102 mm in the two-stage version.