Tech Papers
Infranor Specialty Servo Motors and Customized Solutions
POSTED 10/04/2024
An Introduction to Our Latest Specialty Motors and Custom Solutions
How do you find the most optimal fit for your niche applications? Our custom and specialty motors answer that question. To help you overcome your most complex challenges, we built upon our high-precision brushless servo motors.
Engineered to meet increased specifications and unique operational requirements, our custom and specialty motors now power some of the world’s most demanding industries, from nuclear applications to oil and gas.
Get to Know Our Custom and Specialty Motors
The Custom Motor: Adjusted to Meet Exact Requirements
Our existing brushless servo motor designs provide the foundation for our custom motors. We can alter a range of features to meet your exact requirements and improve machine performance, including, for instance, the shaft diameter or length, flange mounting pattern, feedback devices, connectorization, pinout, custom windings, and liquid or air cooling.
In certain circumstances, we design a servo motor from the bottom up if one of our standard designs cannot be used. Custom motor options can be ordered in quantities as low as 10-50 units depending on what you require.
The Specialty Motor: Designed for Specific Operations or Environments
Does your operation require motors that can sustain hazardous or flammable conditions, extreme temperatures, water submersion, radiation, or high-pressure fluids? Our specialty motors are designed for your most severe environments. Your needs determine whether we will custom design the motor or base the design on one of our standard brushless servo motor offerings.
Custom and Specialty Motors: The Features
Each of our custom and specialty motors are designed to meet the unique criteria of your applications.
Linear Motors
A linear motor is an electric motor with an "unrolled” stator and rotor. Instead of producing a torque (rotation), it produces a linear force along its length. Our linear motors come as a kit setup and require framing, bearings, and feedback for closed-loop operation.
The Infranor three-phase brushless linear motors are constructed in two ways:
- For short runs, 1,000 mm or less, the winding is used as the track while the magnets function as the forcer (moving part). This design offers zero cogging motion to get the most accurate linear positioning.
- For runs longer than 1,000 mm, a more traditional approach is used. The three-phase windings are the forcer (moving part) while the magnets are located on the track.
Both designs can be customized to fit your applications' requirements. These customizations can include different windings, mounting patterns, and length/width of the track and forcer.
Radiation Tolerant Motors
Radiation tolerant rotary brushless servo motors are designed to withstand a certain exposure and accidental dosage of high-energy Gamma radiation within a radioactive environment. High-energy Gamma radiation will degrade all parts of a device with non-metallic materials breaking down at a faster pace. Our radiation tolerant motors are based on the BL (Slotted) and FP (Slotless) servo motor series. The standard radiation motors can withstand a 40-year accumulated exposure of 1x10^7 rads and an accidental exposure of 1x10^7 rads. Both motor series can be customized to fit your application’s requirements.
Water Cooled Motors
Water cooled motors use a specially designed housing jacket that allows water or fluid to circulate around the motor and extract heat away from the windings. Water cooled motors can produce up to 40-50% more continuous torque than its standard counterpart. This increases motor performance by allowing a smaller frame size and length. Water cooled jackets can be designed for most of our motor families with the FP, N and BL being the most common. The pump system is not included with the motor and will need to be bought and sized separately.
Washdown IP69K Motors
Washdown rotary brushless servo motors are designed to handle high temperatures, water pressure, or cleaning agents for sanitizing and cleaning purposes. Our washdown motors are designed with a stainless steel unibody construction and no sharp edges that would trap debris.
Explosion Proof Motors
Explosion proof motors are designed to contain an internal spark or combustion from the outside flammable or gaseous environment. The N and T brushless servo motor series both come with an ATEX Class 2 explosion proof option. Both motor series can be customized to fit your application’s requirements
The Industries that Leverage Specialty Motors and Custom Solutions
Infranor’s specialty motors and custom solutions are helping some of the world’s most demanding industries operate at peak performance. Designed to handle extreme environments, our customized specialty motors build on our long legacy of application know-how and engineering skills.
Linear Motors
- Pick-and-Place Machines with high throughput: Quick speeds and low settling time increases throughput on gantry-style machines including pick-and-place operations. The light forcer mass construction and high peak force allows for fast acceleration.
- Vision and Metrology (Coordinate Measuring Machines): Zero cogging matched with a high-resolution linear encoder makes for high-precision linear travel in measurement and vision applications.
- CNC Machines: Direct drive capabilities with high force reduces the need for additional linear motion components and, ultimately, maintenance.
Radiation Tolerant Motors
- Radiation Clean Up Sites: Radiation tolerant or hardened motors are instrumental in the efforts to clean up radiation sites. The motors are used on robotic arms, vehicle traction drives, and mechanical grippers and jaws.
- Nuclear Reactors: Motors are used in reactor coolant tanks to perform inspections, repairs, and manipulate coolant flow to the reactors.
- Healthcare Equipment: Motors are used in radiation producing healthcare equipment like X-ray and tomography machines.
- Space: External motors exposed to solar radiation.
Water Cooled Motors
- Constant Duty Applications: high throughput
- High-Speed Trollies: movie industry camera carts, high-speed trains
- High Ambient Temperatures (outdoor tropical environments): non-ventilated machines, factories, low air flow.
Washdown IP69K Motors
- Food and Beverage Industry: specialty machinery, such as mixers, guillotine knives, and food processing, and sorters
- Chemical and Pharmaceutical: granulator machines and mixers
Explosion Proof Motors
- Paper and Wood Mills (sawdust): transport motors and saws
- Gas and Oil Facilities: mixers
- Chemical: mixers
Do you have questions for us? Contact us to learn more.