The ACR9000 family of motion controllers from Micromech has been enhanced by the addition of two new models featuring Ethernet PowerLink communication.
The new controllers are designed to increase system productivity while decreasing overall costs and installation time, therough the use of inexpensive and readily available Ethernet cabling for the interface between servo drive and motion controller.

The compact ACR9040 is capable of controlling 16 axes of servo drive via the Ethernet PowerLink network and has interpolation of up to eight axes in any combination. The other model ACR9030 offers the addition of up to eight axes of conventional command interfacing for the control of transitional servo and stepper axes. Both controllers generate position set-points which are sent to the servo drives via the Ethernet network providing tightly synchronised and co-ordinated multi-axis control that maximises system productivity.

The ACR9000 platform features advanced motion control functionality including high-speed registration, segmented cams, electronic gearing and a wide range of interpolation modes including linear, circular, sinusoidal, helical, elliptical, spline/NURBS and 3D arcs. Capable of multi-tasking up to 24 simultaneous programs, these new controllers can act both as an Ethernet Master and as an Ethernet Gateway for maximum flexibility.

Onboard CANopen ports enhance the capability of these controllers further permitting integration with HMI panels and remote I/O expansion modules, while ACR-View front-end software provides easy to use tuning, configuration and diagnostic tools for fast and simple set up.

Ethernet PowerLink is high-speed digital motion-bus network enabling the easy interconnection of PLC's, motion controllers, drives and I/O products from a variety of automation vendors. Utilising standard, well proven industrial Ethernet network hardware, the system combines a mix of polling and time-slicing mechanisms to provide a real-time, deterministic communications channel via a reliable, low cost and easy to install hardware platform.

If you wish to find out more about these new products the contact Stirling Morley on 01376 333333 or email Stirling@micromech.co.uk

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