Parker Daedal's new BLMA120 material handling actuator integrates linear motor technology into an industrially hardened actuator with strokes up to 6.3 meters for feed to length, pick-place, press feed and other handling applications that require high accelerations, high speeds, instant settling, and precise positioning over long travels.

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The BLMA offers twenty times better positioning precision than the typical belt and pulley actuators (traditionally used for long travel requirements), and with travels over 6 meters it can provide three times the stroke distance normally available with most linear motor tables (and comparable price). The BLMA120 is a modular design allowing multi-axis mounting compatibility with other BLMA modules or HPLA belt driven actuators. Parker actuators can be combined to create cost-effective XY and XYZ gantry robots that save floor space.

The BLMA is a plug-and-play linear motor actuator that houses a powerful linear servo motor (380 pounds of peak thrust) in a high-strength rigid aluminum body to enable high-end performance over long unsupported spans. The BLMA proves particularly effective where travel time must be minimized to improve throughput and productivity. Integral motor, linear encoder and pre-loaded wheel bearings are completely enclosed in the extruded housing and protected by an IP30 strip seal for industrial environments. The BLMA can accelerate a payload to 5Gs and reach speeds of 7 meters per second and position repeatedly within +/- 10.0 microns.

The BLMA features a balanced linear motor that produces highly responsive, high-speed motion with precise positioning, very short settling times, and high inherent stiffness. It avoids the mechanical disadvantages associated with rotary-to-linear drive conversion such as lack of stiffness, lost motion and drive train component wear and is virtually maintenance free with no belt or gearbox adjustments. It is a balanced double-sided linear motor, where the coil windings are located on either side of a single magnet bar, producing balanced magnetic forces perpendicular to the travel direction. This balancing effect relieves the actuator bearings of loading caused by magnetic forces (common to iron core motors), leaving only external loads to be addressed. This design is also much more cost effective than air core linear motors having double magnet rows.

The bearing system is a time-tested and proven bearing design comprised of multiple rows of pre-loaded bearing wheels to provide smooth accurate travel with a low coefficient of friction, high mechanical efficiency, and long service life. Each bearing wheel consists of a lifetime lubricated and sealed radial ball bearing which is enclosed in either a hardened steel outer raceway for heavier loads or a composite raceway for "whisper quiet" operation.

Other convenient features include high flex cabling; cable management with user cable routing, integral linear feedback; fully adjustable limit and home sensors; Compax digital drive option; clean room option; and optional water cooling.