Electric motor and actuator, motion control subsystems, and related electro-mechanical components provider Johnson Electric recently announced a new fast rotary actuator designed specifically for divert motion in sliding shoe sorters - high-speed automated sortation systems essential to large ecommerce, postal, distribution, and shipping operations.
The unit, known as “Solligence,” can deliver actuation times as low as five microseconds - faster than a bolt of lightning - and can perform more than five complete cycles in less time than an average person can blink.
Although shoe sorters have dominated the warehouse automation industry for decades, increasing their performance has posed significant challenges. The Solligence fast rotary actuator was specifically designed to overcome long-standing obstacles, including divert speed limitations, heavy electricity use, equipment health, unpredictability, noise, heat, and unplanned downtime.
Embedded AI can adjust for wear, alert for internal defects
The unit integrates AI sensing capabilities to create closed-loop controlled motion, providing motion assurance for critical shoe sorter applications and data output that can optimize system performance.
“Throughput is often reduced as components age, but the artificial intelligence we’ve embedded in the technology ensures consistent performance over time,” said Vincent Sallé, Johnson Electric VP of business development. “Solligence monitors the motion profile multiple times every second, adjusting for wear, so there’s no loss of speed.”
The unit also triggers an alert when it detects wear that could cause a failure, helping to prevent costly unplanned downtime. We can detect abnormal events on the product and anticipate when something is going wrong,’” Sallé said.
Bistable actuator can reduce energy consumption, increase service life
Because Solligence is a bistable actuator, power is only required to change positions. Home or divert positions can be maintained without power. Johnson Electric said this stability can reduce heat dissipation, allowing for faster continuous-duty operation. The unit’s voltage and current requirements (averaging less than 1.2 amps under standard operation) can reduce installation and energy costs, enabling narrower-gauge wire and smaller, less expensive power supplies to be used.
Integral onboard energy storage allows power to be slowly “sipped” from the main bus during the entire cycle, actuating the solenoid with bursts of power to generate high velocity as needed. Johnson Electric said the integrated drive unit eliminates the needs for an external solenoid driver, control box, and assembly labor.
Solligence fast rotary actuators generate minimal impact energy when activated, which Johnson Electric said can enable a service life rating of 25 million cycles or more and enable quiet operation. Units do not require lubrication, adjustment, nor maintenance for their entire lifecycle. Actuators come fully pre-programmed with auto-calibration enabled, simplifying installation.
Want to learn more about robots picking, packing and packaging? This article was featured in the October 2024 Robotics 24/7 Special Focus Issue titled “Robots picking and packing with precision.”
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