New QuickStick HT 5700 Inverter from Rockwell Designed for Material Handling
Rockwell Automation recently announced their latest motor inverter for their QuickStick linear motor system, the QuickStick HT 5700 Inverter.
What is the QuckStick System?
Transporting materials across industrial sites is done using several different methods. The most common way to date is the conveyor belt due to its price and simplicity. Some applications require the transportation of individual items with a degree of precision. In these scenarios, the linear motor provides a better solution than conveyor belts.
Linear motors can expand and connect without the need for complex moving parts.
Linear motors provide precision control of carts magnetically attached to the rails, allowing complex features such as acceleration, high-speed, and collision avoidance.
These linear motors can offer flexibility in design and can easily be shaped into tight curves, corners, and junctions.
Video courtesy of Rockwell Automation.
The system has lower energy requirements than traditional conveyor systems due to synchronized motors. The lack of power or communication cables on the cars themselves allows travel rails to be as long as needed.
The QuickStick HT 5700 Inverter
The linear motors are only one half of the equation. Powering and controlling the motors also determines the maximum loads and speeds possible. Continuing advances in linear motor technology, Rockwell Automation debuted its latest inverter, the QuickStick HT 5700 Inverter.
The QuickStick HT 5700 is designed to provide industrial linear motor systems with fast and precise movement. Unlike previous models, the new inverter is specifically designed to allow for heavy loads that can weigh thousands of kilograms. The new inverter design allows for the use of smaller cabinets, thanks to its reduced size.
The new inverter allows cars to accelerate up to 6G, speeds of up to 5m/s, and stator lengths of 1m and 0.5m. For each meter of QuickStick, the new inverter can drive two cars, with each car having a minimum length of 240mm.
The QuickStick HT 5700. Image courtesy of Rockwell Automation.
The inverter can provide thrust forces of up to 2500N for single tracks and 5000N for double tracks. The inverter is used with linear rails with 2 to 8 cycles (238mm to 958mm). This component also integrates multiple safety features, including safe torque (where items are slowed down to a halt instead of a sudden stop), safe stop 1 timed, and SIL3/Ple.
Rockwell QuickStick HT 5700 Applications
The new inverter is suited for the automotive industry, which generally experiences heavy items that require transportation over short distances.
Since linear motors are easily stacked and scaled, automotive plants can create almost any design they see fit for their production line. The lack of power or wires on cars means that remote control is trivialized.
The heavy-duty linear motor inverter is designed for automotive environments, and any industrial process that deals with heavy loads carried across great distances can benefit. The inbuilt collision avoidance makes the system applicable for transporting sensitive and dangerous goods.
The production information page provides details on how the rails it works with (magnetic spacing etc.), suggesting that the new inverter may work with linear systems from other manufacturers.
