How To

Lead screws have been widely used to generate linear motion from a rotary motor. It can convert circular motion to linear motion by turning the screw with the nut fixed in place, or turning the nut while the screw remains in place. Today, we will look at two of the most popular screw types in the automation industry: ACME Screws and Ball Screws. ACME Screw ACME screws use a trapezoidal shape thread to roll on to the lead screw. As the shaft ro...

There are two methods of multiple actuator control – parallel and synchronous. Parallel control outputs a constant voltage to each actuator, while synchronous control outputs variable voltage to each actuator. The process of synchronizing multiple actuators is necessary when implementing two or more actuators to move at the same speed.  This can be achieved with two forms of positional feedback – hall effect sensors and multiple turn potentio...

Sitting for long periods of time is never a good idea; it can lead to many health issues including obesity, increased risk of cancer, shorter life spans, and long term posture problems.  But for some, it’s a part of their daily life, primarily those working a desk job that requires sitting at a computer all day. While it is recommended to take breaks and walk away (literally) from your work throughout the day, some people just don’t have the t...

Solar power is one of the most accessible types of renewable energy and is rapidly increasing in efficiency and affordability. In this project, we will show you how we used our PA-14 Mini Linear Actuator to follow the sun through a single axis of motion. Doing this increases the power yield of the solar panel by up to 25% more than a fixed solar panel. In this article, we will show you how we put together our very own Portable Single-Axis Sol...

This article is a quick guide that will show you the difference between brushed and brushless dc motors.  Brushed DC Motor A brushed DC motor is one of the simplest types of motors. It consists of a few main components which in conjunction with a DC power supply create a rotating motor. The armature, commutator, brushes, and field magnet configuration can be seen in Figure 1 below. Figure 1 The brushes charge the commutator which delivers cur...

One of the great things about working at Progressive Automations is hearing from customers about how they plan to use our actuators. From home fixtures to industrial applications, the sky is the limit for automation. In order to realize your ideas for using our linear actuators, there are many parameters which must be determined about the intended application. In this series, we present useful design techniques for determining how our actuator...