How would you like a type of actuator on the market that was easy to install and maintain? What if this hypothetical actuator was also very quiet? As you may have guessed, it’s an electric linear actuator.
Some people might balk at the idea because they prefer all of their gear to be purely pneumatic and based only around the principle of compressed air. However, there’s no reason that you can’t incorporate both compressed air-driven devices and electrical ones into the same manufacturing workflow. The same goes for any other type of industrial or production setting.
In fact, these devices offer some unique advantages that wouldn’t be possible from a simple pneumatic device, so they’ve gained in popularity even among those who might otherwise exclusively stick with one type of equipment design. Since we believe strongly in offering the consumer a fair choice, we stock both types at SMC Pneumatics.
Technicians and small business owners are working to streamline their own production workflows. They can incorporate this kind of technology into their existing supply chains quite easily. Those who might never think of using one of these devices will certainly want to look into it. They can save on energy and increase their system’s efficiency.
Special Features Offered By Electric Linear Actuators
At its core, a linear actuator is an actuator device that creates motion in a straight line. You might be more used to the circular motion of miniaturized can electric motors, but linear ones move opposite to this. That’s made them attractive for those designing machine tools and industrial machinery.
Since pneumatic cylinders are going to inherently produce linear motion, they’ve long been preferred by those who design this kind of gear. Over time, however, other designs have started to enter the fray and these have become almost equally as attractive.
Keep this in mind whenever you’re planning an installation. Theoretically, a well-kept electric linear actuator is capable of relatively inexpensive and energy-efficient operation as a result of its design. In many cases, the device itself is self-contained. This is certainly true of many of the components that are designed to interface with pieces of SMC-branded gear.
On top of this, they offer comparatively smooth operation that’s quite repeatable. At least some of these advantages are offered by some higher-end actuators that are purely pneumatic as well, so you’re always going to want to pay close attention to all of your options when selecting a solution.
Of course, you’ll still want to interface the equipment in question with your pneumatic control system. A number of linear guide double-axis sliders and other similar pieces of equipment make it easy to build and deploy systems that work alongside all of your components, both electrical and pneumatic, to ensure that they’re always functioning correctly.
That should prove to be good news for anyone who has to maintain these systems over the long-term. Any electric linear actuator that’s carried under our brands also comes with the emphasis on standardization that you’ve come to expect from all of our components. For instance, you can expect that these will ship in a series of standardized sizes that permit them to be interchanged with one another if at all necessary.
That helps to greatly reduce the risk that you’ll design an air circuit today that needs a difficult to find the proprietary part at some point in the future. Our engineering and technical teams have even had the opportunity to streamline the manner in which these work to further help you get simple components that feature the bare minimum number of moving parts that are necessary to get the job done.
Just take a look at the internals that you’d find on this kind of gear. Knowing the basic components ensures that you can perform regular maintenance.
The Working Principles Behind Electric Linear Actuators
When engineers sit down to design an electric linear actuator, they normally settle on some form of DC motor that’s attached to a worm gear. This gear is then connected to a screw and nut assembly so that it can convert rotational motion provided by a standard motor to linear motion.
Instead of using an in and out motion to make a circular one, the device is operating in exactly the opposite way. That being said, electric linear actuators are able to provide a surprisingly smooth motion in spite of this. The worm gear and nut assembly are relatively silent, especially compared to some other technologies.
Perhaps most important is the fact that these devices can incorporate a self-lock system. That will help to ensure that the actuator will never move in the wrong direction when an external load is applied to them.
Due to the way that these are designed, they can be installed in almost no time. You won’t have to worry about the constant balancing act that normally comes with installing a linear actuator. Electric actuators are mostly self-contained. Everything will need maintenance and these devices are no different.
Eventually, you’re going to have to perform some level of maintenance to keep everything moving just right. That being said, you might be surprised by how little fuss you have to put into ensuring that they function every bit as well in the future as they did when you first took them out of the box and had set them up.
Find Your Electric Actuators At SMC Pneumatics
Since we believe strongly in offering the consumer a fair choice, we stock both types of actuators at SMC Pneumatics. When you want an ideal motor for your actuator system, our experts have you covered. We know which linear actuator works for individual systems.
Ask more about what kinds of components are currently in stock. All you need to do is contact us online today. A seasoned representative from our organization will be more than happy to help you get the information you need to find the best kind of equipment for the particular type of workflow you’re dealing with on a day-to-day basis.