Electronic cams can be swapped on the run

May 2003 PLCs, DCSs & Controllers Products & Solutions

Posital encoders with an integrated electronic camshaft can be used in place of mechanical camshafts. The user can save the costs and the time for the consuming mechanical integrations and the wiring to the control unit. Without any mechanical wear - or adjustment, the encoder controls the timing of the virtual switches with the integrated micro controller.

The micro controller can run eight different camshaft programs with up to eight cams per program. The positions of the 'cams' are easy to change - and the cams may be enabled and disabled online. Being able to switch between the different cam programs during production avoids the need for machine downtimes, increasing productivity. Encoder parameters (direction of rotation, transmission factor and zero shift, cam profile programs) are kept safely in an EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read only memory). This important data will not get lost during a power failure.

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