Linear Motion Technology in the Printing Industry

Posted on Friday, October 31 2014 @ 14:03 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Automation has become one of the most basic elements of production, with motion control playing central role. The printing industry has benefited a great deal from the robotics related to linear motion and the automation element of their processes. This is an industry that uses a lot of servos and conveyer belts to move their printing material from one section of the factory to the other. The linear motion technologies applied in this industry allow the firms to maximize their benefits in positional accuracy, silent, smooth motions, with added loaded bearing capacities. Applications such as the radial guides in the production lines enhance the element of speed and long lasting functionalities.

Hardware Components in Linear Motion Technology
There are quite a number of hardware components that make up the linear motion technology systems, and some of the most common including the following. Grounded shafting and precision shafting are commonly used together with linear bearings. They are made of hardened steel for strength and durability. Precision rubber rollers are used along with bearings for smooth and quality traction. The precision bearings are crucial, as they provide rectilinear motion in an endless fashion. Servos also play a great role on the motion and correcting errors on the same. At the helm of any automated linear motion controllers is the central processing unit.

CPU Used In Linear Motion Technology
Like most of the automated mechanisms, quality electric linear actuators need for a central processing unit, which receives and produces the instruction sets to the rest of the system. Due to the complexity of the tasks involved in motion control and the amount of data available at any one time for processing, the motion controllers use 64 bit processors. These CPUs not only control elements of motions but also process events in the production lines. The modules can be connected to computers where large data volumes can be accessed easily to control the system.

The CPUs may come in several forms and one of them is as microcontrollers. These are computers with non-volatile memory and come at a low cost. They also come with stored programs. The microcontrollers may be coupled with sensors, switches and amplifiers to work effectively. It is also common for the CPUs to take the form of programmable logical controllers. As the name suggests, the PLC can allow the programmers to create, store and execute commands. They also have input and output capabilities such that they can be connected to peripheral devices to increase functionalities.