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Sizing a Battery for an AGV/AMR: Part I
Battery selection is one of the most critical AGV/AMR design choices, with major impact on performance and cost. Most battery selection procedures begin with a fixed energy budget, often determined early on in the overall design process. But because all losses within the drivetrain detract from the AGV/AMR’s available runtime, overcompensating for these losses can drive up battery size, weight and cost.
Reducing Current Ripple in Permanent Magnet Motors: Part 2
In our last blog post, we delved into how pulse width modulation (PWM) causes current ripple in permanent magnet (PM) motors and can lead to increased motor heating. Finishing our blog series, we offer strategies to reduce the magnitude of current ripple.
How Resolution, Accuracy and Repeatability Affect System Performance: Part II
Resolution, accuracy and repeatability play crucial roles in determining the precision of a position sensor and ultimately the performance of the overall system. This is why it’s crucial to understand how resolution, accuracy and repeatability relate in the context of encoders. The previous entry in our blog series reviewed resolution. Now, we finish up by reviewing accuracy and repeatability and how they relate to encoder precision. We will also discuss how calibration can correct for errors caused by eccentricity or poor accuracy.
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Sizing a Battery for an AGV/AMR: Part I
Battery selection is one of the most critical AGV/AMR design choices, with major impact on performance and cost. Most battery selection procedures begin with a fixed energy budget, often determined early on in the overall design process. But because all losses within the drivetrain detract from the AGV/AMR’s available runtime, overcompensating for these losses can drive up battery size, weight and cost.
Reducing Current Ripple in Permanent Magnet Motors: Part 2
In our last blog post, we delved into how pulse width modulation (PWM) causes current ripple in permanent magnet (PM) motors and can lead to increased motor heating. Finishing our blog series, we offer strategies to reduce the magnitude of current ripple.
How Resolution, Accuracy and Repeatability Affect System Performance: Part II
Resolution, accuracy and repeatability play crucial roles in determining the precision of a position sensor and ultimately the performance of the overall system. This is why it’s crucial to understand how resolution, accuracy and repeatability relate in the context of encoders. The previous entry in our blog series reviewed resolution. Now, we finish up by reviewing accuracy and repeatability and how they relate to encoder precision. We will also discuss how calibration can correct for errors caused by eccentricity or poor accuracy.
How Resolution, Accuracy and Repeatability Affect System Performance: Part I
When specifying a position sensor, it’s critical to understand how resolution, accuracy and repeatability impact overall system performance. Precision is affected by the entire motion system and is commonly influenced by mechanical errors like eccentricity, backlash and bearing runout. Eccentricity and backlash are the most significant contributors to mechanical errors and require calibration to correct.
Reducing Current Ripple in Permanent Magnet Motors: Part 1
Robots, automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and other advanced motion control applications require greater power density, efficiency and precision to meet increasing performance demands.
Better Servo Systems — Part III: Shielding and Installation
Finishing our blog series on grounding, terminations and shielding for servo drive and motor installations, we provide an overview of cable shielding, ground loops and installation best practices.