A jet engine manufacturer is building a test facility for making operational measurements on a jet engine. The throttle and three other fuel flow controls need to be set remotely. While the application only calls for a rotary resolution of 1 degree (1/360 rev.), the smoothness and stiffness of a microstepping system is required.

Motor speeds are to be low and the inertias of the valves connected to the motors are insignificant. The main torque requirement is to overcome value friction.

Machine Objectives:

• Low wear
• Remote operation
• High reliability

Motion Control Requirements:

• Motor Velocity is low
• High stiffness at standstill
• Slow-speed smoothness
• Four axes of control
• Homing function

Application Solution:

Each valve is measured with a torque wrench. Two valves measure at 60 oz-in while the other two measure 200 oz-in. Two high-power and two low-power microstepping motor/drives systems are selected. These choices provide approximately 100% torque margin and result in a conservative design.

The operator would like to specify each valve position as an angle between 0 degree and 350 degree.

Home position switches are mounted on the test rig and connected to each indexer to allow for power-on home reference using the indexer's homing feature.

Product Solutions:

• Indexer - AT6400
• Drive - ZETA4
• Motor - OS22B