Parker Hannifin's Electromechanical Division has launched a range of low-cost stepper drives targeted specifically at the OEM market

The new XL series drives combine latest-generation power switching technology with a 'no frills' approach to packaging, enabling OEMs to construct high performance motion control systems for cost-critical applications. The drives are also expressly designed for durability - Parker's product development process embraces highly accelerated life testing (HALT) to ensure reliability.

This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 19 March 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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XL series drives are housed in an ultra-slim metal case that has a width of just 30mm, with a height of 175mm and a front-to-back measurement of 130mm.

They are designed for panel mounting, using standard connectors and screw terminals for ease of installation, and simply require a 75V DC motor supply and a 24V DC logic supply.

The drives use high-frequency switching techniques for optimum performance, and are available with either 2.5 or 5A output stages to facilitate application matching.
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They are suitable for use with any standard 2-phase stepper motor and offer four user-selectable resolution settings - spanning 400 to 4000 step/rev - to simplify control optimisation.

Standard features include programmable motor current, automatic current reduction at standby, and a current boost facility to improve acceleration performance.

The drives are fully protected against short-circuits across or between motor windings, and are equipped with extensive condition monitoring circuitry to guard against overheating and supply faults.

Parker's XL series drives can be supplied as basic units with step-direction inputs, or as intelligent units incorporating an exceptionally powerful indexer.

The indexer version offers RS232 serial communications as standard, and can be fitted with an optional CANbus interface.

It offers eight user-programmable I/O ports, which are expressly designed for robustness and use 24V levels throughout, ensuring a high degree of noise immunity and compatibility with virtually all PLCs on the market.

Parker has expended considerable effort in making the indexer easy to program, with the result that many programming operations can be carried out very efficiently, using just a few commands.

For example, predefined move profiles can be stored and then executed in response to a single program command or external event, which minimises programming effort and simplifies the implementation of fast-response control systems.

The intelligent drives are shipped complete with Parker's EASI-Tools software, which enables users to fully configure the drive and to create, edit and save motion control programs on a standard PC running Windows 95/98, 2000 or NT4.

XL series drives are CE marked to indicate compliance with the Low Voltage Directive, and are UL recognised.

Parker is only making these products available to OEMs, and there is a minimum order quantity of 25.