Delta’s New Compact, High-Performance ASDA-B3 Series

Delta, a world-class provider of industrial automation solutions, today announced the launch of its new compact and high-efficiency servo system ASDA-B3 Series, which offers a user-friendly operation environment with precise motion control functions, a newly- added safe torque off (STO) function, high responsiveness up to 3.1kHz and high positioning precision with over 16.7 million pulses per revolution to optimize production efficiency and output value in a wide range of applications, such as machine tools, electronics, semiconductors, industrial robots, printing, packaging, textiles, warehousing, and medical. Concurrently we have also launched the new generation motor of ECM-B3 Series, offering improved power density, stability, and stiffness while reducing 40% space requirements. Nevertheless, torque has increased 350% and the maximum speed is now 6000 rpm. With the new ASDASoft GUI, the time of commissioning and troubleshooting is shorter.

“Customers across a broad range of manufacturing and industrial automation applications are going to be really excited about our new generation of servo drives,” said Davide Bagnacani, product manager, Industrial Automation Business Group at Delta Electronics EMEA region. “The ASDA-B3 Series is a big step up in performance and we think this will make it attractive for applications, such as machine tools, electronics, semiconductors, industrial robots, printing, packaging, textiles, and warehousing. Moreover, applications that might not have used a servo drive before will see a noticeable increase in throughput. This drive is going to make the decision to use a servo motor much easier.”

A new level of performance
Among the many performance highlights of the new 230VAC ECM-B3 motor from Delta is an auto tuning feature that ensures optimized operation without the need for manual adjustments.

Responsiveness has been bumped up to 3.1 kHz from the 1 kHz of the preceding model. Delta has programmed new motor control algorithms and increased the computing power of the drive to achieve this superior result.

A 40% reduction in settling time also contributes to improved production line productivity. Load tolerances have increased, allowing for better control resolution and system stability as well as higher response bandwidth for the same load conditions.

Further contributing to efficiency are the low cogging torque, increased speed, and lower acceleration and deceleration times. As with the previous line of Delta servo drives, customers can choose from motors with varying inertia ranges to achieve the most efficient inertia ratio.

The new drive enables a number of motion functions, for instance in PR mode. Operators can use up to 99 PR paths for flexible motion command planning. The Capture feature makes it possible to capture coordinates instantly from a single set of digital inputs.

State-of-the-art safety, communications, and control
Safety features include built-in STO with no additional module required (B3A family), reaching a safety integrity level of 2 (SIL-2) and performance level D (PL-D). The ASDA-B3 Series can also operate using several different control modes from traditional pulse train and analog input to the more current fieldbus systems including CANopen and EtherCAT. These different control modes were achieved with three different hardware designs to ensure good segmentation and achieve cost efficiency for the respective application. The EtherCAT command frequency has been raised to 125 µs / 8kHz for greater accuracy.

Positioning is now several orders of magnitude more precise thanks to the 24-bit encoder, which results in 16,777,216 pulses per turn and 46,603 pulses for a single degree. This absolute encoder also retains the motor’s position when the power is off.

Flexibility, compatibility, and enhanced usability
The new configuration application ASDA-Soft employs wizards to guide users through a fast and easy setup procedure. Onboard diagnostics features and usability have been improved with a new and intuitive layout. The new servo drives of ASDA-B3 Series are compatible with the existing motors of ASDA-A2 Series and ASDA-A3 Series. Configurations are available with IP20 connectors and IP65 connectors are in planning