Two-way travel

A technique that for the first time allows standard linear motors to provide movement along two axes simultaneously could allow equipment designers to reduce the number of motors and electronic drive modules.

The 'NForcer technology' from

in the Netherlands has the potential to simplify the overall mechanics of equipment such as pick-and-place machines used to assemble electronic printed circuit boards.

The technology could mean lower equipment cost, while the reduced number of moving parts will mean higher accelerations and operating speeds.

With the new technique, horizontally-mounted linear motors can generate lift and lateral motion with just one motor. Ordinary linear motors can also be used to produce precision magnetically- levitated platforms with 3D shifts and tilts.

According to Philips' senior scientist Georgo Angelis: 'The beauty of this is that it requires no modification to existing motor components. You just need to re-position them slightly and drive them in an intelligent way.'

Ironless, multi-phase linear motors use current-carrying conductors in a magnetic field to generate a Lorenz force — at right angles to the current and the magnetic field — that provides motion.