George Ellis, senior scientist at Kollmorgen.

Direct-drive rotary motors streamline machine design

When electric motors are used in low-speed rotary applications, a transmission is often installed to gear down motor speed for higher output torque. This reduces cost because gearing allows small high-speed motors to produce high torque at low-speeds. However, in high-accuracy applications, such as film-coating lines and integrated circuit test machines, designers avoid gearing because it...