Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions has broadened its IDEA™ line of
programmable linear actuators with a RoHS compliant, easy-to-use electronic
drive and fully programmable control unit integrated with a linear actuator.
The compact, versatile unit is ideally suited for equipment or systems that
require a small footprint. The IDEA platform also has added the capability of
communication using an RS-485 data protocol, overcoming the limitations of
other drive communication methods and making the RS-485 IDEA programmable
linear actuator perfect for industrial applications.
The main advantage for using the RS-485 protocol, especially
for industrial equipment such as stepper drives, industrial motor drives, and
servo systems, is the ability for long data transmissions that exhibit
excellent immunity to electrical noise. The RS-485 protocol utilizes
“differential” signal lines for limiting common mode noise coupling and twisted
pair cabling for cancelling out induced noise current. These allow IDEA devices
to communicate over a 1000-foot network without the need for termination
resistors and to reach up to 256 addressable device nodes. An industrial
controller can send commands to all the drives at once or control each drive separately
when assigned a unique identifier, a number between 0 and 255.
Among the hardware features of the IDEA Drive platform are
programmable current control, a single supply voltage of 12 to 48 VDC, 2.6Arms
(3.68Apeak) max rated current per phase, and 8 opto-isolated general purpose
I/O. The inputs are rated for 5 to 24 VDC, 4mA max per input. The outputs are
open collector, 5 to 24 VDC, 200mA maximum per output.