Celera Motion Introduces Compact Denali Servo Drives

Celera Motion Control this week announced the Denali Series, which it claimed are "the world's smallest servo drives." The compact, fast drives are suitable for service robots, surgical robots, industrial grippers, and laboratory automation applications, said the Bedford, Mass.-based company.

“Robotics is a very competitive market, evolving rapidly and requiring best-in-class servo drive technology,” said Marc Vila, business director for servo drives at Celera Motion. “Application-focused servo drives like Denali, where we have included features specifically required for the advanced robotic market segment, dramatically help engineers to accelerate their designs, be more competitive, and keep the focus on their core business.”

Celera Motion said it offers precision encoders, motors, and customized mechatronic subsystems to help customers solve challenging motion-control problems. It is a unit of Novanta Inc., which serves OEMs in the medical and advanced industrial technology markets.

Also based in Bedford, Mass., Novanta said it has deep proprietary expertise in photonics, vision, and precision motion technologies.

Denali joins Ingenia servo drive line

Denali is the latest addition to Celera Motion's Ingenia line of premium-performance servo drives. Others include the Capitan Series and the Everest S Series.

Denali offers an enhanced hardware architecture as well as optimized power management, with a minimum standby power consumption down to 1.2 W, Celera Motion said. The servo drives work in the 250 W power range and are designed for surgical robotics, end effectors, haptic devices, small joints, and other compact robotics applications.

The series features two versions:

• The Denali XCR, a miniature, ready-to-use version, enabling quick installation and system commissioning
• The Denali NET, an ultra-compact, high-power density version. This pluggable design is optimal for a carrier board, with single or multi-axis integration, said Celera.

Both versions are available with EtherCAT and CANopen communication protocols, specially optimized for demanding multi-axis applications, according to the company.

Denali supports EtherCAT with a bus latency down to 1 cycle. This can improve the cost-efficiency of embedding multiple axes into a single PCB, said Celera Motion.

Denali joins the Ingenia line of servo drives for robotics applications. Source: Celera Motion

Celera Motion lists key features

Celera Motion also listed the following features of the Denali servo drives:

• Compact and miniature; the world’s smallest servo drives, weighing only 8g
• Dual loop support for unparalleled precision
• Extremely fast servo loops for smooth operation
• PWM frequency up to 150 kHz for low inductance motors
• High efficiency and low standby power consumption (up to 99% efficiency)
• Cost-optimized (single PCB) for distributed-centralized multi-axis configurations.
• The Denali series offers versions that support multiple safety features for high-performance robotic applications where safety is paramount.

More information about the Denali Series is available at the company's website.