Solar Power, Mechatronics and Economics

At the recent Semicon show the big buzz was about the emerging Solar Energy industry. Lots of “new” products, lots of buzz. The big semiconductor machinery manufacturers who view crystalline solar cells as a stimulus to the demand for machinery and silicon have put in a lot of effort. The main goal? Get the cost of the solar cells down to where electricity produced with silicon is comparable to the cost of electricity generated by fossil fuel.

And, in fact, the industry is getting there. The current estimates are that solar power is costing about the same as peak demand consumer power, $.23/kWh.  And with the current wave of investment and scale up, something which the semiconductor industry has always done well, there is serious forecasting that the cost of solar electricity will continue to fall. Read more

Electric Linear Actuators–The Mechatronic Choice

If you’ve not looked at electric linear actuators lately, you may be missing out.  Today’s electric linear actuators exemplify mechatronic principles as well as offer more power than earlier versions, with advances in other features including force and load capabilities, and control.

By Randy Bowman, Market Manager –
TECHLINE™ Div., Linak
Crystal McGrew, Marketing Communications

Rapid technological advances and changes in environmental, safety and ergonomic requirements have increased the options and capabilities available in motion control systems.  Despite these
advances, though, the temptation to stay with previous choices can be strong.  In some industries, there are biases toward certain motion systems, either because of limited knowledge about alternatives or because of precedent.  For example, hydraulic powered motion is traditionally the standard in the agriculture industry, pneumatics in certain process industries, and highprecision stepper motors and linear guides in automation. However, motion industry advances have made it necessary for companies and engineers to re-evaluate current choices and biases, and make an educated decision as to what may be the best overall option for the application.

The LINAK® LA36 actuator suits industrial, agricultural and marine environments. It offers a maximum force of 2200 lbs and maximum speeds of 6.3 ips.  It operates with either a 12 V, 24 V, or 36 Vdc motor with protection class IP66/IP69K, mechanical overload protection, integrated brake with high self-lock ability, and built in end stop switches.
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Commerce and Creativity

Everybody knows the story of the electric light. Thomas Edison in the shop with his workers trying to come up with the solution for a filament that would last more than a few minutes under load. The first patent issued for an electric light went to Woodward and Evans in Canada. Many other people demonstrated electric lights, but none were commercially viable. Short life and high cost. But Edison concentrated his creativity on a version that would be more cost effective. Read more

Motors, R&D and Politics

The “Green Revolution” is under way. Regardless of how you rationalize it, there is a lot of activity around reducing the amount of energy being consumed in almost every aspect of American life. For the most part, its well intentioned. As good stewards of the resources we have, we should use them responsibly.

Energy conservation has been an active part of the mechatronics world for some time. The variable frequency drive, now a $1B+/year product is marketed and sold because of its ability to reduce electrical consumption in about 1/3 of all applications. So we who are part of the drives and controls community have been in the vanguard of energy conservation for many years. An often overlooked fact. We’ve been “Green” for decades. Read more

What is Mechatronics?

It seems as if one of the “new” buzzwords in the industrial controls arena is mechatronics. What was for years, motion control, was reinvented as mechatronics for a variety of reasons. In part, the motion control term didn’t communicate the mechanical nature of the problem. And that is a very important distinction to consider. Good motion control solutions come from good mechanical design. It is almost impossible to fix a mechanical design with high performance motion control hardware. But an elegant mechanical solution with good motion control technology is a beautiful thing indeed. Read more

Energy and Politics

Yeah, we’re going to get into the “Green” technology issue. But I want to consider the public policy side of energy conservation. This is at least as big a topic and will require several installments, but for today, we’ll talk in terms of motors and controls.

My clothes washer quite recently. The centrifugal switch on the dual winding ac motor got clogged and the motor burned out. It would cost about half the price of a new machine to replace the motor if I did the repair. And we would still have a 12 year old washing machine that had some problems. Read more