ABB Robotics, a supplier of industrial robots, is introducing standardized packages of its well-proven motor and gear units to allow integrators to easily and economically create custom external axis systems.  Already an integral component of ABB's range of positioners and robots, the motor and gear units are now available in comprehensive packages complete with cablings, serial measurement board (SMB) box, optimization software and safety options.  The packages will optimize performance and cost-efficiency, and simplify the design, integration and operation of additional robot axes such as   workpiece positioners, robot carriers, track motions, servo guns and indexing conveyors.

"The packages are completely pre-engineered, providing the means for our integrators to easily spec and build external axis systems with ABB motors, gears and cables, and to simplify their integration with our robots and controllers," said Joe Campbell, vice president of the ABB Robot Products Group in the United States. "They are delivered with predefined CAD models and configuration files, providing a huge benefit to all phases of a project."

The motor units now come in four sizes, including a new extra-large motor (MU400) suitable for high-power applications such as turntables. The gear units are being offered in the same seven versions that are currently built into ABB's high-quality positioners, including both MTD (for positioning) and MID (for interchange) units. These standard motor and gear units are designed to work perfectly with other ABB equipment and are easily available as spare parts.

The packages also include flexible cables to simplify integration and prolong life expectancy. In addition, ABB is offering serial measurement boards, push buttons for brake release and axis selectors for greater safety and control. To ensure that integrators building customized positioners can tune both motor and gear unit parameters to achieve improved motion performance in less time, ABB is also introducing TuneMaster, a new RobotWare software tool.

As an additional feature the ABB Remote Service option can monitor error messages from the motor and gear units to guarantee the best possible uptime of ABB robots systems, and provide immediate response in case of any unplanned stoppages.