Parker’s Electromechanical Automation Division is pleased to announce that its Compax3 digital servo drives have been enabled with ETHERNET Powerlink (EPL) motionbus technology. With all 12 power levels of the Compax3 drives now EPL enabled, system performance is increased while overall system cost and installation time have been decreased.

ETHERNET Powerlink is a high-speed, digital motionbus solution connecting a motion controller to multiple drives and I/O points using standard Ethernet networking hardware. This centralized, real-time communication system for automation and motion control makes Ethernet deterministic for real-time industrial applications. ETHERNET Powerlink systems combine the high performance of centralized motion control with the lower costs of decentralized machine architectures. System design and machine installation times are greatly reduced due to the simplified, inexpensive and readily available Ethernet cables that replace traditional, expensive analog control and feedback cables. The Compax3 family joins three power levels of the Aries EPL servo drives as well as the ACR9030 and ACR9040 multi-axis EPL controllers in Parker’s expanding line of EPL products.

Jay Schultz, a product manager for Parker’s Electromechanical Automation Division, said that the industrial packaging markets will especially benefit from this drive expansion. He noted that because the Compax3 EPL-enabled servo drives come in 12 power levels, ranging from .5kW to 100kW, the family gives packagers more options for high-axis-count machines. The Compax3 servo drives also includes Category 3 Safety – another feature of interest for industrial markets.