Rotalink is a 70-strong UK-based company that designs and produces a wide range of miniature power transmission products, including motors, gearboxes and control electronics. Its motor range includes shaded pole, unidirectional or reversible ac motors, permanent or hybrid stepping motors and brushed dc motors, with geared motors offering torque from 0.01 to 10Nm. Applications for these products include vending machines, automatic retailing machines, peristaltic pumps and photocopiers.
The traditional way of testing motors is to build physical prototypes and then analyse their performance. With Maple, Rotalink is now able to fully simulate the operation of the motor during the design phase.
“The mathematical differential equations which describe the motion of the motor are very complex,” says John Lines, Rotalink’s technical manager. “They involve the rotor inertia, the flux linkage (a fundamental equation with third harmonics), the detent torque (fundamental with second harmonic), and the applied voltage with magnitude and phase.” The full simulation model of a new ac motor dedicated to peristaltic pumps was implemented in only a few days.
“We benefit from very good technical service from people like Dr Samir Khan, at Adept Scientific, the UK reseller of Maple," adds Mr Lines. "Dr. Khan and others helped us to use the ‘dsolve’ command in Maple which automatically chooses the right algorithm for solving differential equations, be it for numeric or symbolic solutions.” The plotting capabilities of the software allowed the Rotalink team to analyse the dynamic behaviour of the new motor.
“Maple differential equation solving capabilities are the most advanced on the market. Applications such as electric motors, electronics or mechanical systems are specifically targeted with these solving functions,” claims Dr Khan.
By using Maple, Rotalink hopes that in most cases it will no longer have to build prototypes, reducing development costs and helping to get its cost effective miniature power transmission products to market more quickly.