Beckhoff revolutionizes Motion Control

Beckhoff’s new XTS mechatronic drive system offers totally new capabilities to machinery manufacturers, who can count on an unprecedented freedom of action in mechanical design.

Recently developed by Beckhoff, XTS - eXtended Transport System combines the advantages of two tested drive mechanisms, which is to say rotary and linear systems. The result is a system of completely new conception that transcends the principle guiding the use of linear motors until now: in fact, the motor is completely integrated with power electronics and a motion sensor; one or more wireless movers move dynamically along a free and flexible pathway configuration, at speeds up to 4 m/s. This represents an epochal change for motion control: in a constructive and compact form, XTS enables designing totally new machinery concepts.

All in one mechatronic. XTS is a mechatronic system that “contains” everything necessary for functioning:
• a modular linear motor, completely integrated with power electronics and a motion sensor in a single device;
• one or more movers;
• a mechanical guide;
• an industrial PC with TwinCAT control software
The desired geometries, lengths and ranges are determined by the number and type of components selected. Moreover, the system makes obsolete complex wiring operations and cable-bearing chains, in part because the displacement measurement system is fully integrated. The shape of the machine is taken into consideration for maximum benefit, so that forward and reverse motion can be used, but also curves for the active transport of material, in such a way saving not just on hardware, but also on the costly surfaces destined for production and enabling speeds up to 4 m/s with maximum positioning precision.

No limits on uses. The possibilities of use for the XTS know no limits: the movers (wireless mobile transport modules) can accelerate, slow down, position themselves and synchronize, but also set themselves in reciprocally absolute and relative positions; they can aggregate and accumulate; generate track force while in motion, navigate turns and straight tracks, recover energy through regenerative braking and employ back and forth trajectories for transport.
All XTS components have been developed by Beckhoff in Germany, as well as the AX5000 series and the AM8000 series servomotors. And so, along with the automation software TwinCAT and PC-based motion control, Beckhoff offers a complete drive solution.