How does a Linear Actuator work?

Linear actuators work by moving an object or piece of equipment in a straight line, moving an object extremely accurately and repeatably if required. The primary reason for designing a linear actuator right into a system is for the necessity to move a payload in a linear fashion relatively than a rotary one. As most conventional electric motors are rotary, a linear actuator is used to convert rotary motion to linear motion.

The electrical motor is generally related to the linear actuator by a flexible coupling or a belt, enabling the motor to be mounted either axially or perpendicular to the linear actuator. A wide range of motor sizes could be mounted to these actuators depending on requirements.

Linear actuators have incorporated linear bearings that assist the moving payload, as well as rotary bearings that support either the lead screw, ball screw or belt pulleys. This then permits them to operate as ‘stand-alone’ units, making them easy to mount into current machines and eliminating the necessity to design/manufacture very pricey custom parts. To increase the load capacity and stability of a linear actuator system, they can be paired up with the payload carried between them, equivalent to in an XY gantry fashion stage. In this case, a shaft or belt is commonly used to keep the 2 actuators in sync with each other.

Options of Linear Actuators

Linear Actuators have the next options:

High repeatability

Positioning accuracy

Smooth operation

Long life

Easy upkeep or maintenance free

Protection scores available for some models

Suitable for harsh environments

Compact design

Rugged and reliable

Safe operation

Versatile

Industries and applications for Linear Actuators

Linear Actuators can be used in various applications that require a load to either be lifted, lowered, pushed, pulled, rotated or positioned. Linear Actuators are used in industries together with:

Packaging

Meals processing

Industrial vehicles

Factory automation

Materials dealing with

Clean energy

Printing

Automotive

Machine software

Marine

Aerospace

Defence

Pharmaceutical

Types of Linear Actuators

Picking the proper type of linear actuator in your motion application might help you achieve the perfect results. Lead Screw Actuators, Ball Screw Actuators and Belt Actuators are three types of linear actuators that can be used in varied applications to produce motion.

A Lead Screw Actuator uses a plain screw/nut arrangement to translate the rotary motion from a motor to linear motion. A manually pushed screw or an AC induction motor are essentially the most commonly used methods to supply the rotary motion, as they are generally used in low value and low precision applications. The ability of the actuator to ‘back drive’ is reduced over ball screw actuators because of the low effectivity of the screw/nut. In some applications, this might be an advantage as it helps to keep the payload stationary whilst not in motion. Applications embody agricultural equipment and handbook lift systems, the place safety and reliability are more critical than precision and performance.

A Ball Screw Actuator uses a high precision nut with recirculating ball bearings that rotate round a ground screw thread. In precept this is similar to an ordinary ball race with the load being transmitted by the rolling balls. The significant advantages of this system are high-precision and low friction, giving a really efficient technique of converting rotary motion to linear motion. Stepper or servo motors are generally used to supply the rotary motion. Ball screw actuators are well suited to repeatable indexing and fast cyclic applications similar to machine instruments, scientific devices and medical systems.

Belt actuators work the place a belt is carried between pulleys and hooked up to the moving carriage, then as the belt rotates the carriage is pulled along the actuator. One of the pulleys is pushed by a motor which is generally mounted perpendicular to the actuator and matched using a versatile coupling. They provide a comparatively low-price various, as they inherently have a decrease degree of precision. Belt pushed linear actuators are superb for lengthy journey and high linear velocity applications such as packaging and automatic materials handling systems.