FESTO claims to have developed a "new class" of electric actuators with high-performance linear motors, which can accelerate up to four times faster than other electric and pneumatic axes.
Festo has unveiled the actuators at the 2009 Hannover Messe. The company says they can accelerate at up to 140m per second, making them three times faster than electrical axes with spindle or belt drives.
The new actuator range consists of three models, the DNCE-LAS, the DFME-LAS and the ELGL-LAS.
The DNCE-LAS actuator is a maintenance-free linear drive, which can carry out short-stroke positioning operations in less than 20 milliseconds. The DFME-LAS actuator is a guided version of the DNCE-LAS.
Both these units, Festo says, have the same interfaces as its pneumatic axes, allowing them to be used together in multi-axis installations.
According to Festo, the ELGL-LAS actuator is a precision linear motor axis with an air bearing that uses permanent magnets to create an attraction between the carriage and the base. Compressed air fed between the carriage and the base creates an air cushion that lifts the carriage and prevents friction.
Festo says all three linear actuators can operate vertically or horizontally and are driven by a synchronous linear motor formed by windings in the carriage. The windings also react with magnets in the base. The magnets act as a brake when the air bearing is switched off.
Up to three carriages can run on the same bed and be controlled independently using digital position feedback from built-in transducers. The air bearing also makes lubrication and routine maintenance unnecessary.
The actuators can produce continuous forces of 349Nm and a peak force of 463Nm.