Programmable Linear Actuator

Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions has broadened its IDEA line of programmable linear actuators with a RoHS compliant, easy-to-use electronic drive and fully programmable control unit integrated with a linear actuator. The compact, versatile unit is ideally suited for equipment or systems that require a small footprint. The IDEA platform also has added the capability of communication using an RS-485 data protocol for industrial applications. The IDEA devices can communicate over a 330 m network without the need for termination resistors and to reach up to 256 addressable device nodes. An industrial controller can send commands to all the drives at once or control each drive separately when assigned a unique identifier, a number between 0 and 255. Among the hardware features of the IDEA Drive platform are programmable current control, a single supply voltage of 12 to 48 VDC, 2.6Arms (3.68Apeak) max rated current per phase, and 8 opto-isolated general purpose I/O. The inputs are rated for 5 to 24 VDC, 4mA max per input. The outputs are open collector, 5 to 24 VDC, 200mA maximum per output.