The production in Hungary is running smoothly.

For the past 10 years, maxon motor hungary has successfully been producing component groups and high-precision DC motors.

The trend towards increasingly smaller and more powerful drive components is in full force. At the same time, the product development cycle is getting shorter and shorter. To enable a more flexible response to the market demands, maxon motor founded a third production plant in Veszprém, Hungary, in 2001. Ten years later, the drive specialist can add another success story to its history.

maxon motor has always put a high premium on well-planned expansion and sustainable growth. With production sites in Switzerland, Germany and Hungary, maxon motor today has factory space totaling 16,000 m2 and a distribution network in more than 30 countries at its disposal; around 80 percent of the produced goods are exported into 55 countries. Additionally, maxon motor has managed to continuously increase its revenue and workforce over the past 50 years; in 2010, a record result of 307 million Swiss francs was achieved. The production plant in Hungary has played an important part in this success. Currently, more than 190 employees assemble component groups and manufacture DC motors there.

2001 to 2011: From brush covers to high-precision minimotors.

The constant growth of the maxon group in the 1990s made it necessary to expand the production capacity. At the existing production sites in Sachseln (CH) and Sexau (D), further growth was only possible to a limited degree and the higher market demands and new manufacturing technologies necessitated increasingly stronger specialization. In early 2001, the company therefore decided to evaluate and develop a new production site: In December 2001, maxon motor hungary kft. was founded.

The production of lever and plunger brush covers started at the beginning of 2002. These are important components of maxon precision drives. At the time, 7 employees worked at the Veszprém plant. By the end of 2002, this number had already increased to 18. In 2003, another 22 employees joined the team. At the start of 2003, it became clear that the rented premises would soon limit the expansion of the production capacity. Therefore construction work on the new factory started in 2004, on a surface area of 830 m2 and with a total production area of 900 m2. One year later, the number of employees increased to 97. At the same time, new machines for manufacturing the coreless maxon winding were set up. Today maxon motor hungary has more than 190 employees and has its own quality assurance. The production area has been increased to 2100 m2, to provide space for new manufacturing methods for new products.

The maxon motors from Hungary are used in numerous areas of application: For example in medical technology, industrial automation, in cars and airplanes, in measuring technology and security equipment, and in robotics

Small Servo Amplifier ESCON 36/2 DC – One-Two-Go! Servomotor Startup made easy.

The ESCON 36/2 DC is the first product in the new servo motor controller range by maxon motor and shows how user-friendly motor drive technology can be. The extremely compact, powerful 4-quadrant PWM servo controller offers efficient control of brushed permanent-magnet activated DC motors up to approx. 72 W. With its unsurpassed power density, it is the embodiment of the degree of miniaturization that is currently possible in the field of servo controller technology. It is hardly possible to pack more power, more functionality, more convenience and more protection in such small dimensions with today’s level of technology.

The ESCON 36/2 DC has excellent motor control properties and a very fast digital current controller with an enormous bandwidth for optimal motor current/torque control. The drift-free yet extremely dynamic speed behavior enables a speed range of 1 to 150,000 rpm. The little miracle provides a wide range of functions, with fully configurable digital and analog inputs and outputs. It is perfectly matched to maxon’s range of DC motors and thus allows dynamic drive solutions that meet the highest demands. Furthermore it can be run in various operating modes (speed controller (closed loop), speed controller (open loop), current controller).

The ultra-compact servo controller is controlled by means of an analog set value. This value can be specified by means of analog voltage, an external or internal potentiometer, a defined value or by means of a PWM signal with variable duty cycle. Other interesting functions are for instance the ability to enable or disable the power stage depending on the direction of rotation, or to use speed ramps for acceleration and deceleration. The speed can be regulated by means of a digital incremental encoder (2-channel, with/without line driver), DC tacho or without encoder (IxR compensation).

Startup made easy
Top motor performance should not be a matter of practice makes perfect. Therefore the servo controller has been designed specifically with easy startup and user-friendliness in mind – no in-depth knowledge of drive technology is required. When the servo controller is connected to a PC via a USB port, it can easily and efficiently be configured with the “ESCON Studio” graphical user interface. During startup and configuration of the inputs and outputs, monitoring, data recording and diagnostics, the user has access to a large variety of functions and is assisted by user-friendly software wizards, as well as a well-designed automatic procedure for fine-tuning the controller. On the hardware side, the ESCON 36/2 DC comes fully equipped with everything that is needed. For example, no additional external filters or motor chokes are required and pre-assembled cables for the startup are available as accessories.

Top-notch protection
The ESCON 36/2 DC has protective circuits against overcurrent, excess temperature, under- and over-voltage, against voltage transients and against short-circuits in the motor cable. Furthermore it is equipped with protected digital inputs and outputs and an adjustable current limitation for protecting the motor and the load. The motor current and the actual speed of the motor shaft can be monitored by means of the analog output voltage.

No-compromise flexibility and efficiency
The large range for the input voltage and the operating temperature allows flexible use in almost all drive applications, in automation technology, in small machine manufacturing and equipment engineering, and in mechatronics. With its exceptional efficiency of 95%, the inexpensive ESCON 36/2 DC is a first-class choice for mobile, highly efficient yet consumption-optimized applications.

For more information on ESCON, the new servo controller range of maxon motor, visit http://escon.maxonmotor.com.