Motor efficiency is the ratio between power output, which is mechanical, and power input, which is electrical.  Losses exist in all motors due to friction, heat, and materials, to name a few factors, so minimizing these losses is critical for applications that run off a battery.  The higher the efficiency of the motor, the longer the battery life during operation which results in longer time between charging.

Make in India Fosters Economic Growth

The Make in India initiative was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September of 2014. The mission of Make in India is to establish India as a manufacturing hub and to put it on the global map by removing outdated processes and policies and by replacing them with the promise of a transparent, user-friendly system. The Prime Minister’s own website states that the campaign was launched to “facilitate investment, foster innovation, enhance skill development, protect intellectual property & build best in class manufacturing infrastructure.” This initiative has indeed inspired both manufacturing and infrastructure investment as well as enhanced other facets of economic growth.

We are excited to announce that the European Portescap team has moved to a new location. Our old office served us well and we made great memories there but we couldn't be more excited about our new space!

Spring has officially – finally – arrived. Birds are hatching, flowers are blooming, and Portescap is engineering. (Ok, we’re always engineering...) We’ve just hatched the latest addition to our award-winning* Ultra EC product line: the 30ECT. This news is noteworthy because the 30ECT is the largest diameter motor available within this product line.

High-Speed Line Actuators

An in-depth discussion on high-speed linear actuators that use disc magnet motor (DMM) technology, and their uses in low-load applications such as sensor movement, positioning a laser beam, pick-and-place of electronic components, movement of XY tables, and other applications. Quiet operation and lower operating and maintenance costs make electric DMM linear actuators a viable option for these high-speed, low-load applications.

Portescap’s miniature motors are often used by medical tool and device manufacturers and OEMs, in highly demanding end applications. An in-house testing process is sometimes required to further validate and confirm the design process. We’d like to give you a glimpse into Portescap’s motor testing capabilities for brushless slotted DC motors.

Are you an original equipment maker [OEM] looking for a specific motion control solution for your end application? Portescap caters to miniature motor requirements of a wide range of medical, diagnostic and industrial applications. This ranges from medical and surgical tools, lab automation equipment, dental drills and textile yarn guides to humanoid robots, surveillance camera systems, aircraft seat actuation, tattoo machines, and more. We help OEMs select the “right” miniature motor to power their applications. Our solutions include miniature dc and bldc motors, miniature can stack steppers and disc magnet motors as well as linear actuators with gear composite. These are usually customized to varying degrees, to suit requirements of the end application.

Since our motors are exposed to diverse operating conditions, selecting the right motor can be a daunting task. Certain applications need motors that can operate at extreme temperature ranges, whereas in some cases, OEMs are looking for motors with ability to withstand shocks and vibrations. Parameters like “length”, “diameter”, “torque”, “speed”,  “power density” etc  play an important role in motor selection. Thus, we’ve provided our clients and prospects with an online platform - MotionCompass^TM, that helps them select the best-suited motor for their application.

Read: Part I  |  Part II

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The thermal data given in our catalogue may be indicative, and it should always be confirmed whether the heat dissipation in a given application is actually better and stable. As per the speed-torque curve in Portescap’s catalogue, there is a temporary working range in which we can overload the motor for a small time span. However we should always confirm what that time span should be, and it all really depends on motor size and design. There is a definite time span for every motor size, and this limitation comes from the coil temperature and more precisely, how fast the motor coil or winding heats up.

Read: Part I  |  Part III

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Now we shall consider the motor speed against an application. We need a motor such that higher limit of its permissible speed should be higher than the operating point of the application. Maximum permissible limit corresponds to upper limit of operating range diagram. This speed limit can be found in our catalogue.

Read: Part II  |  Part III

Portescap offers miniature motor technologies to solve the motion needs of end markets. Our typical markets can range from motors for medical devices to various industrial applications. We serve our customers through innovative product technologies encompassing brushless miniature DC motors, brush DC & can stack motors, disc magnet motors and stepper linear actuators, to optimize their application performance.

In the 80’s, Portescap was mainly involved in the watch industry providing small stepper motors to be used in watches and clocks. Using rare earth magnets, we then designed the first micro motor with a multipolar structure. Such a design avoids additional pole shoes on the rotor to create fewer steps per revolution. Later, Portescap expanded its expertise to include bigger motors for industrial applications [< 100 W].

Miniature Motors for Biopsy Systems and Radiation Treatment

Precision electric motors are spinning the way to improved developments in cancer management.

“Oncology” is the field of study and treatment of tumors. By advancing treatments in biopsy, imaging, and radiation, miniature electric motors are helping to improve the detection and treatment of cancer. As oncology techniques continue to become less invasive, more accurate and effective, the use of miniature electric motors by medical OEMs will remain a driving force in evolution of cancer management.

An expansion valve is a flow-restricting device present in a refrigeration system that causes a pressure drop of the working fluid. The valve needle remains open during steady-state of operation. The size of the opening or the position of the needle is related to pressure and temperature of the evaporator. When set and controlled properly, an expansion valve will keep the evaporator active throughout its operation.  There are two types of electric expansion valve technologies popular in the market place - pulse width modulated valves, and stepper motor driven valves.

Health care safety is now a top priority and concern among health care practitioners and consumers. In today’s medical devices marketplace, the demand for reliable and safe medical devices and equipment comes not only from the clinical end user, but also from informed patient consumers.

For those involved in the development and manufacture of medical devices and equipment, the demand for safety and quality brings with it new and exciting challenges. How does one build equipment and devices that meet the hundreds of stringent needs of the clinical end user and health care consumer? How does one decide with whom to partner in this far-reaching world of device and equipment manufacturing?

Care givers constantly need products that assist them in achieving the best possible clinical outcomes for their patients. Where do we get motion control solutions, i.e. motors for medical OEMs capable of navigating the demands of the health care industry?

Portescap has recently introduced the P532 Series Disc Magnet Step Motor with encoder to deliver best-in-class motor acceleration and power rate and thus outperform the standard Brushless DC motor in a wide range of applications.

Stepper motors typically run at 2,000 RPM or less in an open loop, while brushless motors that can run at much higher speeds are typically used in closed loop applications. In the last few years, trend is to use a stepper motor in closed loop with a torque higher than a brushless motor system, because of its higher pole count. What we are typically looking at is the middle range of revolutions per minute [RPM] as a sweet spot for disc magnet motors. The sweet spot opens up in applications in the few thousand RPM range, where a closed loop disc magnet motor system can be more cost-effective than a brushless solution.

The medical sector today mandates mechanical ventilation in cases where a patient's spontaneous ventilation is inadequate to maintain life. This is done to prevent an imminent collapse of other physiological functions, or ineffective gas exchange in the lungs. Mechanical ventilation therapies in hospitals and in the field have contributed to dramatic improvement in life expectancy of patients during and after surgeries, or patients suffering from accidental disruption of lungs, or even patients suffering from acute chronic pulmonary diseases. More recently, home care applications previously considered as luxury or comfort therapies are showing an interest in race to extend people’s life. For instance, low end mechanical ventilators devices known as CPAP are used at night to treat sleep apnea, a disorder once considered to be a simple discomfort and which is now recognized as a source of major medical complications such as increased blood pressure, diabetes, etc.

What is a “linear actuator”? It is actually a simple stepper motor with a built-in leadscrew to directly convert rotary motion in form of discrete steps, into linear motion. Achieving linear motion internal to the motor eliminates the cost of designing a separate transmission mechanism in the system.

The technology world is rapidly adapting to miniaturization, with terms like “Micro”, “Nano” and even “Pico” increasingly in vogue. This has created an immense need for anything that can provide packaged products in smallest possible sizes, and miniature motor solutions play a critical role in addressing this need. With a growing number of applications, these motors now need a wide range of capabilities, from working in a simple office to functioning in extremely hazardous environments. An application demand from Aerospace & Defense (A & D) industry falls in the latter category. Stepper motors play an important role for any A&D application need that requires some precise positioning.