Applied Motion Products introduced a new series of stepper drives at PACK EXPO International. The drives support a range of industrial Ethernet and Fieldbus network protocols, including EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP, CANopen, Modbus, Ethernet and RS-485, as well as a proprietary Serial Command Language (SCL) for efficient network communications over Ethernet (UDP or TCP) and RS-485.
By accepting high-level commands via a network connection, STF Stepper Drives provide system designers and machine builders the flexibility to control step motors using the network protocol of their choice. These advanced stepper drives simplify the programming by consolidating motion control functions into the application software of the primary logic or machine controller, rather than in individual axes.
These DC-powered microstepping drives also run stored programs created with Applied Motion Products’ Q Programming language. Q Programming provides a range of motion profiles, multitasking, math functions, conditional processing, data register manipulation and more in a robust yet simple, text-based programming language. Operators can configure drives and create Q programs using STF Configurator software available as a free download from Applied Motion’s website.
Designed to work with a range of two-phase step motors, STF Stepper Drives offer advanced current control with an anti-resonance algorithm that electronically dampens motor and system resonances to improve motor smoothness and maximize torque over a wide speed range. Torque ripple smoothing decreases motor noise and vibrations. With STF Stepper Drives, step motors perform faster, quieter, smoother,and more accurately for today’s high-speed machine and process applications.
Applied Motion Products offers the STF Stepper Drives in three power ratings:
• STF03: 12 to 48 VDC input, up to 3.0 A/phase (peak-of-sine) current output. Lowest power of the series; ideal for smaller motors starting at NEMA 8 frame size.
• STF06: 12 to 48 VDC input, up to a 6.0A/phase (peak-of-sine) current output. Mid-range power within the series.
• STF10: 24 to 70 VDC input power, up to a 10.0 A/phase (peak-of-sine) current output. Highest power for largest step motors including high torque NEMA 34 frame size.
All STF Stepper Drives feature two communication ports (dual-port) for daisy-chain connections of multiple drives to the central processor, HMI or PLC.
