Maxon Motors Updates EC Motor

Maxon Motors has equipped its EC 90 flat motor with a MILE encoder—Maxon’s Inductive Little Encoder. According to the company, MILE is the world’s smallest inductive rotary encoder.

The encoder operates by detecting high-frequency inductivity that generates an eddy current (also known as a Foucault current) in an electrically conductive target. Eddy currents occur when a conductor is exposed to a changing magnetic field. The advantage of a high-frequency inductive method of measurement includes high speeds, elevated resistance to dust or oil vapor and insensitivity to interference pulses such as pulse-width modulation controllers or motor magnets.

The EC 90 flat MILE is purported to be extremely precise, with resolutions of up to 3,200 impulses per turn and a high nominal torque of 517 milli-Newton-meters. The motor possesses older features that have been in use for years such as its flange pattern, fixation, and pin assignment.

Maxon Motors is based in Sachseln, Switzerland. Some of the applications for the company’s EC motors are handheld devices for surgery and dentistry, robotics, and semiconductor equipment.