Baldor Smart Ethernet Drives for Advanced Motion Control System Building

Baldor Electric launched a new generation of smart drives. Offering economic and space-saving solutions for many common single-axis automation requirements, the drives also feature an Ethernet interface compatible with the deterministic Ethernet-compatible motion control standard, Powerlink.

The new programming capability - Mint Lite - is now being fitted without charge on all of Baldor's MicroFlex e100 and MotiFlex e100 single- and three-phase drive ranges. These drives are available in a broad choice of power ratings up to 33.5 A - with higher ratings coming soon. The versatile drives may be used to control rotary and linear servo motors, linear motors, closed-loop vector motors, and in V/Hz control modes.

The embedded Mint Lite capability supports a range of basic motion programming requirements including performing relative and absolute moves, S-ramp profiles, jog and homing movements.

More flexible PLC interfacing is another application for the new drives. Every drive manufacturer offers a defined process data exchange interface with PLCs, or a ‘drive profile’ utility. The drives' TCP/IP-compatible Ethernet interface also makes it simple to link into Ethernet factory networks for changing product recipes, reporting production metrics, etc.

All of Baldor's MicroFlex e100 and MotiFlex e100 drives come with built-in I/O as standard - including fast latch inputs for registration applications - plus CANopen manager capability to support distributed I/O expansion and HMI interfacing. MotiFlex e100 drives offer card slots for further local I/O expansion and fieldbus connectivity. The fieldbus modules extend connectivity options to external PLCs, supporting interfaces such as Ethernet/IP, Profinet-IO, Profibus and DeviceNet.