Portescap in Motion

What to look for in a Miniature Motor When Designing Your Next Robotic Application

Advancements in automation and artificial intelligence are driving innovation in robotics. New developments in vision systems and sensor technologies require inventive applications for robots in the medical, warehousing, security and process automaton fields. These disruptive technologies are are creating new opportunities for miniature motors in the medical, warehousing, security and process automation fields.

Today’s most challenging battery-operated tools require power, speed, and efficiency within the most ergonomic package. Studies have proven that users prefer a smaller and lighter tool with a high level of performance. The ergonomics needs have tremendously increased in the last few years to highlight operator comfort and efficiency while using battery-powered tools.  

There are multiple ways to lighten the tool. For example, we recognize the battery of the tool as one of the heaviest components, therefore the trend is to reduce the battery size. Lowering the battery size will affect the number of cells and thus the voltage: The smaller the battery, the lower voltage.

Industrial power tools support the increase in productivity while remaining versatile. We achieve productivity gains thanks to faster working cycles, so the tool should deliver higher speeds. We derive versatility from an increased torque capacity. 

Our new Ultra EC Brushless Motors video highlights Portescap's Ultra EC three families of motors along with their features and benefits. Watch our latest video to learn more about our Ultra EC Product line. 

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.

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].

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.

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.