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Direct-drive motor and nonlinear actuator boost productivity of electric injection unit: the Industrial Group of Moog Inc. has developed an injection system for all-electric molding machines. The system is made up of a specially designed drive, actuator, and process control that reportedly make it faster, more powerful, and more accurate than conventional injection systems.

Article Excerpt
Key components of the "High Power, High Speed Injection System" are a high-torque, direct-drive servomotor on the injection axis, a nonlinear, direct-drive actuator connected to the plasticizing unit, and a software-based process control that's embedded in the drive for fast, accurate adjustments to injection pressure and actuator velocity.

The result, says Burkhard Erne, business manager at Moog ProControl and developer of the system, is an extremely precise, energy-efficient unit that is equally effective at molding thinwall and thickwall parts, and can be scaled up for use on an injection machine of any size.

ProControl, a Swiss company acquired by Moog in 2005, specializes in motion-control technology for plastics-processing machines. ProControl's achievements include the first European all-electric injection machine (1992), the first all-electric blow-molding machine (1996), and the first all-electric optical-disc-molding machine (2002).

Direct-drive electric motors are not unique to Moog. What Moog claims is different about its motor is that it's been designed for plastics processing. "We've added more specific performance features for plastics," says Sunil Murthy, Americas marketing manager at Moog.

Leveraging the Levers

The system's performance stems in part from the nonlinear, direct-drive actuator, which is powered by a...