PEABODY, Mass. — Harmonic Drive LLC, the leader in high-precision motion control, has announced new FHA mini actuators with an integrated servo drive. The company said its FHA-C product eliminates the need for an external drive and greatly improves wiring while retaining high positional accuracy and torsional stiffness in a compact housing.

The FHA-C Mini Series is a family of extremely compact actuators that deliver high torque with exceptional accuracy and repeatability, said Harmonic Drive. As part of the FHA-C Mini family, an integrated servo drive version utilizing CANopen communication is now available.

Since it communicates via CANopen, only four wires are needed, said Harmonic Drive. A single-turn 14bit (16384 cpr) gear output sensing encoder has been integrated into the FHA-C, along with a single-turn 15bit (32768 cpr) motor input sensing encoder. The company claimed this provides a true absolute encoder that does not require a battery within 360° of rotation of the output.

Harmonic Drive noted that its engineering team has incorporated new features and capabilities without greatly impacting the size and mass of the actuator.

Key FHA-C features:

• Actuator + integrated servo drive utilizing CANopen communication
• 24VDC nominal +7-28VDC supply voltage range
• Single cable with only four wires needed: CANH, CANL, +24VDC, 0VDC
• Zero backlash
• Dual absolute encoders
• Panel-mount connectors with four exit options
• Output sensing encoder 14bit (16384 cpr) resolution
• Input sensing encoder 15bit (32768 cpr) resolution
• Control modes Including torque, velocity, and position control, CSP, CSV, CST
• Harmonic Drive HDL-IDE 3.0 software

The FHA-C Mini series actuators with an integrated servo drive are among the latest products developed by Harmonic Drive.

About Harmonic Drive

Harmonic Drive LLC engineers and manufactures precision servo actuators, gearheads and gear component sets. It works closely with both small and Fortune 500 companies to understand their application requirements and provide a standard or, in most cases, a custom-engineered solution to enable the success of their design projects.

The majority of Harmonic Drive’s products are proudly made at its manufacturing facility in Peabody, Mass. The Harmonic Drive Group Companies include Harmonic Drive LLC in the U.S., Harmonic Drive Systems Inc. in Japan, and Harmonic Drive AG in Germany. They have shared core values, product designs, and quality standards. The company said its state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities around the world enable it to locally serve the needs of global customers providing both custom-engineered solutions and standard products.

With over 50 years of experience, Harmonic Drive’s expert engineering and production teams develop enabling technologies and products to meet the needs of an evolving motion-control market. The company said its high-precision, zero-backlash Harmonic Drive gears and Harmonic Planetary gears play critical roles in robotics, spaceflight applications, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, factory automation equipment, medical diagnostics and surgical robotics.

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