maxon complete new state-of-the-art production centre.

For the past 60 years, maxon has focused on customer-specific solutions, quality and innovation. Continuous growth saw a need to build additional facilities and a new production site, to meet customer demand for their DC motors, gearboxes, sensors and controllers.

Construction work has been in progress at maxon headquarters in Sachseln (Switzerland) since 2020. maxon’s original building from 1961 was demolished and replaced by a new state-of the-art facility with twice the production space than was previously offered. The relocation to the new building will take place in the later part of 2021 and be completed by the end of the year. The products involved are maxon’s pancake DC motors, EC cylindrical motors, X-Drives DC motors (DCX and ECX motors), as well as their assemblies.

Businesses from a wide range of industries, including medical technology, robotics, industrial automation, mobility, and aerospace, place their trust in reliable DC motors and systems by maxon since it opened its doors 60 years ago. maxon DC motors excel where extreme precision and the highest quality standards are vital, and where compromises cannot be tolerated – not only here on Earth but on Mars. Over the past three decades, maxon has provided more than 100 DC motors for robots sent to Mars, working with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on various missions. In 1997, the first rover (Sojourner) landed on Mars – powered by 11 maxon DC motors. maxon brushed and brushless DC motors are also used in demanding robotics applications in surgical equipment, humanoid robots, and industrial automation. maxon were an Official Supplier to Emirates Team New Zealand, winners of the 36th America’s Cup in March 2021 and selected for their uncompromising quality that can be relied upon in even the harshest conditions.

maxon motor Australia tel. +61 2 9457 7477.

The design and development of a haptic force-matching device.

maxon Group Australia designed and developed an all in one device that sensed and measured the subjective perception of pressure.

Constructed entirely in-house by maxon Australia’s R&D team led by Dr Carlos Bacigalupo and working with Macquarie University PhD Candidate David McNaughton, maxon delivered a complete solution to sense and measure the subjective perception of pressure.

The device integrated haptic technology and complex electrical engineering. The haptic system is based on a maxon RE50 brushed 200W DC motor driven by a maxon EPOS 50/5 motor controller working in position control mode. The motor includes an AEDL 5810 encoder with 5000 counts per turn over 3 channels with a line driver that adds a single pulse per turn for reference.

maxon’s RE50 DC motor was selected because of its linear characteristics, detent free, coreless rhombic winding design, proportionally low mass inertia and a high torque constant of 242mNm/A allowing for extremely fine control over the applied pressure.

The instrument had to comply with well-defined experimental protocols and a paper has been published by PhD Candidate David McNaughton with co-authors Dr Carlos Bacigalupo from maxon Group Australia and Alissa Beath, Julia Hush and Alicia Georghiades from Macquarie University. The paper is entitled “The Design, Development and Functionality of a Haptic Force-Matching Device for Measuring Sensory Attenuation” and describes in detail the design, development and functionality of a force-matching device used for experimental psychophysiological testing such that it could be reproduced by any other research group.

For application requirements involving system design, engineering, integration and complete drive systems please contact maxon Group Australia tel. +61 2 9457 7477.

maxon involved in another historical milestone: a one-way flight on Mars.

Ingenuity helicopter currently on Mars made its first one way flight. Six DC micromotors from maxon are inside Ingenuity helping steer the direction of flight.

In its fifth flight on the Red Planet, Ingenuity helicopter has reached another historical milestone succeeding in the first one-way flight from Wright Brothers Field to another airfield 129 metres to the south. Upon arrival, the rotorcraft rose to an altitude of 10 metres and captured high-resolution colour images of the surrounding terrain before touching down. The one-way flight began at 3:26pm EDT, 12:33pm local Mars time and lasted 108 seconds.

There are six maxon DC micromotors with a diameter of 10 millimeters that control the tilt of Ingenuity’s rotor blades, which determines the direction of flight. Aiko Stenzel, Aerospace Design Engineer at maxon, was part of the team that developed the DC motors. “The biggest challenge was the extreme weight requirement. We had to take off every tenth of a gram we could, so that the helicopter can fly in the thin atmosphere on Mars. It’s great that we were able to find a solution with enough power to adjust the rotor blades, despite the weight reduction — and which could handle all the vibration and temperature fluctuations as well.”

According to NASA JPL, the flight marked Ingenuity’s transition to a new operations demonstration phase, which will focus on investigating the range of capabilities rotorcraft operating from Mars can provide . This is expected to include scouting, aerial observations of areas not accessible by a rover, and detailed stereo imaging from atmospheric altitudes. 

Ingenuity is now expected to await future instructions, relayed via Perseverance, from mission controllers.

The Perseverance rover is also scheduled to travel south, where it is expected to commence scientific operations and sample collection. Perseverance has 10 maxon DC motors inside, including for the first time brushless DC motors: nine EC 32 flat DC motors and one EC 20 flat DC motor in combination with a GP 22 UP (Ultra Power) planetary gearbox. Years of collaboration between maxon and the space experts at JPL led to the development of the BLDC motors which handle the valuable soil samples on Mars during Perseverance’s mission.

Like all of our electric DC motors used on Mars, they are based on standard catalogue products especially modified to suit the harsh conditions of Space travel. Florbela Costa, SpaceLab Project Manager at maxon said “(the DC motors) are different from other applications, above all because of their generally higher quality requirements for things like resistance to vibration and temperature. Consequently, everything needs to be analysed and tested. Parts used in our standard motors are re-evaluated to make absolutely certain that they will function in space or on other planets”.

The Aerospace team at maxon can’t afford to make mistakes as not only is there no way to fix materials once they’re on Mars but it could also cause the entire mission to fail. “When making motors for Mars, nearly everything has to be done by hand. Every move and every assembly step have to be documented and has to be right — we can’t afford to make mistakes. We’re working with materials that you can’t just get from the warehouse” said Dominik Omlin, Production Engineer Aerospace at maxon.

maxon have expertise in space applications and have established quality assurance processes that meet the expectations of the industry. Customers from other industries where requirements can be just as demanding, like the medical sector, also benefit from this know-how.

For more information about DC motors for harsh environments please contact maxon motor Australia tel. +61 2 9457 7477. Visit maxonworld to follow the Mars adventure.

maxon DRIVEN magazine and product catalogue out now.

The 2021/2022 product catalogue and latest edition of technical magazine DRIVEN have been released by maxon. DRIVEN looks at agricultural robotics, drone technology and clean-rooms amongst other exciting developments in technology.

maxon’s new 2021/2022 product catalogue is more than 560 pages covering their large range of components from brushed and brushless DC motors to gearboxes, encoders, positioning controllers, master controllers, and battery management systems. New products are unveiled such as the EPOS4 Disk positioning controller, alongside the regular range of DC motors and maxon’s modular system. The catalogue also contains detailed data sheets, technical tips and the maxon selection guide. Available as a digital version, in print and online at shop.maxongroup.com.

EPOS4 Disk positioning controller

Featured is the EPOS4 Disk positioning controller, which has a round design with a centred hole. This makes it suitable for robotic applications, eg. for integration into joints. The controller is available in 60 and 90 millimetre sizes, in both CANopen and EtherCAT versions.

Drone technology in the Agricultural industry

We are witnessing the start of a robotic evolution that is sweeping through all aspects of agriculture. This includes drones that monitor fields, spray specific plants, or send information to other robots on the ground that pull-out weeds and harvest fruit. maxon’s current edition of DRIVEN is dedicated to agriculture, taking a closer look at where autonomous applications will steer the industry.

DRIVEN … the world of technology

DRIVEN also looks at an inspiring application for children with walking disabilities, developed by a Canadian company. Additionally, maxon employees tell us about the challenges they faced when the demand for motors in medical devices skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

DRIVEN brings you interviews, application stories and news from the world of drive technology, and is published in three languages. The current edition is now available online at magazine.maxongroup.com

maxon motor Australia tel. +61 2 9457 7477.