halstrup-walcher supplies complex mechanical, electronic and software solutions to customers all over the world. These include positioning systems for automatic format changeovers in machines and pressure measurement technology for air-conditioning and OEM applications and clean rooms. To round off its wide-ranging portfolio, the company also offers development services for mechatronic drives and calibrations. halstrup-walcher is now at LIGNA 2019 to showcase the latest addition to its range of positioning systems - the very first direct drives for format changeovers to also include the option of using an IO-Link interface for control purposes.

Not only do the direct drives in the PSD series feature a stepper motor, they also come with all the relevant subsystems - e.g. controls, bus interfaces and an incremental or absolute measurement system - already integrated. This means guide rails, tools and even inspection cameras can be moved into the right position automatically when reconfiguring a machine for a new format, thus significantly reducing the changeover time. These drives also boast an exceptionally compact design (Nema 17 and 23). Their ability to achieve speeds of up to 1,500 RPM makes them the perfect choice wherever machine axes need frequent adjustment to handle small batches. Thanks to the groundbreaking introduction of an IO-Link control interface, these drives now offer a whole host of new advantages. Not only can they be controlled through run commands, the interface also makes it possible to read out large quantities of feedback data from the drives (condition monitoring) and use this information for predictive machine maintenance - along with data from other IO-Link sensors. What's more, the connection concept is both economical and flexible. The drives are connected using a single unshielded 3-core cable with IO-Link master and can then be implemented on any customer-specific fieldbuses.