The MagneMover DB 1.0–series track system from MagneMotion (Acton, MA, U.S.) is designed for assembly and manufacturing process applications that require accurate, high-volume handling of materials and work-in-process (WIP). Designed to rival conventional conveyor systems, the modular track system uses 600-mm vehicles and electromagnetic switching to provide a flexible material transport platform for smaller loads.

The system is based on the company’s QuickStick LSM technology, which uses modular linear motor “sticks” that are mounted using two bolts in a T-slot to a track or guideway system. The motors provide propulsion power to control the movement of vehicles (or pallets) that move along the track above the motor modules.

According to Joe Meagher, QuickStick product manager, the system lowers the total cost of ownership by eliminating third-party sensors and hardware, reducing input and output by a large percentage, improving reliability due to fewer moving parts, and increasing WIP visibility and control. “With integrated sensors and controls built right into the QuickStick motors, we eliminate the need for pneumatic plumbing, hard stops, associated controllers, compressors, chain, sprockets, pulleys, belts, rollers, or additional sensing devices and their connectors, power, wiring, ID systems, etc.,” he explains.

“Conventional linear motors are limited to short-stroke applications by the length of their cable chain, which supplies power and control signals to the moving frame,” Meagher continues. “MagneMotion has literally and figuratively flipped this design-imposed limitation on its head by putting all the active motor elements in the track. By layering on top of this new configuration a highly innovative control system and utilizing passive
vehicles that contain only an array of permanent magnets, the company now offers transport systems where many vehicles operate independently on complex track networks in a wide range of applications.”

The system is said to offer several benefits over conventional conveyor systems. “Conveyor systems typically operate in an all-or-nothing mode,” Meagher says. “By comparison, MagneMotion’s MagneMover system control loads individually, so loads are transported only as needed and directly to their desired destination. Think of it as a fleet of taxis for product movement rather than a 100-car freight train.”

Typical transport times can also be cut by more than half, as the system can move a large number of loads on individual autonomous pallets as needed, asynchronously, at speeds of up to 5 meters per second.

“Because the LSMs are synchronous motors, the built-in position-sensing and control system needs to know the exact position of all vehicles at all times in order to function properly. Therefore, the high-level control system will report to the host manufacturing or warehouse management system the exact position (plus or minus 0.5 mm) of all vehicles at all times, which allows for significant process improvement,” Meagher explains.

With the company’s LSM system, Meagher says, every vehicle has an ID and is controlled independently and, therefore, can be routed independently, providing the flexibility needed to fill any order, or to produce product in any variation down to one piece. “With high accelerations and speeds of up to 490 ft/min (QS 100, QS 500) or 780 ft/min (QS 500 HT), both flexibility and high throughput can be realized,” he says.