Rotary Servo Coupling

[Justaddaservo]

Hello!

I'm working on a rotary index table for device assembly requiring the individual product carriers to rotate precisely via servo motor and multiple stations. Due to complexity of having a motor attached to each carrier, a coupling solution that can engage/disengage on the fly would be best. This would only require 1 servo motor for each rotating station. The system cannot have any slippage. What are the best methods of achieving this?

I've seen some examples of magnetic couplings. But slippage/accuracy may be a concern. Another idea we had was to use something like a hirth gear coupling but not sure how reliable that would be over time.

Thanks

 

[rather_be_riding]

A sketch of your general arrangement and goal might assist in developing better responses.

 

[Justaddaservo]

Below is a video link that accurately depicts what I'm tryin to do. This one shows magnetic couplings which I don't believe would work well for my application. My rotary index table and the carriers will be driven by separate servo motors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0CNYh-eDBs

This article also describes my issue very well. However i am looking for a simpler/cost effective solution.

https://www.couplingtips.com/featured/a-new-spin-on-rotary-index-applications/?amp=1

 

[BrianPetersen]

The way everyone does it is with a separate servo motor and gearbox for each station, Ethernet through a slip ring and an electrical panel on board the turntable with the servo drives in it. Trying to mechanically couple and decouple a single drive isn't worth the aggravation.

 

[Jboggs]

How many times has someone come to me with a machine design problem and used words like "exact", and "precise", and "no tolerance"? And how many times have I responded with "how exact" or "how precise"? How precisely must your carriages be positioned? Whatever it is, there are ways to achieve it with a remote or disconnecting drive. It might be difficult to have a servo at every station, but you could have an encoder, or some other method of confirming position, at every station. You can't really make any progress until you define your problem a little better than we've seen here.

 

[BrianE22]

Can you use a detent on the de-coupled driven load to keep it in place when the coupling is not engaged? That way a servo with encoder should be able to engage a toothed (Hirth type) coupling.

 

[MintJulep]

Would it be ok if all the carriers rotated together?

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Would it be ok if all the carriers rotated together?

I was thinking a universal geared system, too, if that's where you're heading, MJ...

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[MintJulep]

I was thinking that.

Unless the inactive carriers need to be locked into position. In which case I'm thinking something else.

 

[BrianPetersen]

Factors we don't know that make a difference:
How big
How fast
How many stations
How many require independent motions simultaneously and are the motions coordinated in any way
Is there operator involvement at any station which dictates the safety integrity of the controls and mechanism at that station while others continue to run
And lots more...