Nippon Pulse Says Second Generation Box Controllers Are Faster to Deploy

Nippon Pulse America Inc. last week announced its new generation of CMD-4EX box-level motion controllers. The controllers contain a Nippon Pulse Commander core module, or CMD-4CR, which provides new features for Nippon Pulse box controllers, as well as improvements to features of the first-generation PMX box controllers.

Radford, Va.-based Nippon Pulse America Inc. is a subsidiary of Nippon Pulse Motor Co. Tokyo-based Nippon Pulse is a global manufacturer and Tier 1 supplier of precision motion-control products for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The company provides systems to meet the needs of the automotive and automation industries, including stepper motors, its linear shaft motor, controllers, and drivers.

Nippon Pulse updates CMD interface, drivers

The biggest improvement to the new CMD box controller is the switch in USB interface from a custom application programming interface (API) to a Windows HID API, said Nippon Pulse America. This enables users to get the device up and running much faster, without the need to source and install additional software, it claimed.

The new controller also improves on its predecessor with a new feature – helical interpolation on the X-Y-Z axes, according to Nippon Pulse. This allows for circular and arc interpolation between any two axes, not just X and Y.

In addition, the CMD-4EX has a built-in four-axis driver with a to be determined (TBD) option, a pulser (MPG output), and an extra axis of buffer in comparison with the PMX. The CMD box has more homing modes, high-speed inputs and outputs, and general purpose I/O, and a 32-bit Arm microprocessor, said Nippon Pulse.

The company said the changes to its second-generation box controller free up bandwidth, provide more flexibility in control, and get new applications operating more readily.