Staccato Technologies, a Swedish valve producer and newly appointed Kvaser Technical Associate, has chosen Kvaser Leaf Light Controller Area Network (CAN) to USB interfaces to package with a new product for fine pneumatic actuator control.
Staccato Technologies’ unique digitally-controlled valve technology combines the precision and speed of electric motor-controlled actuation, with the low cost, simplicity, and speed of installation of pneumatic control. The company’s latest product, the flexible positioning unit (FPU), contains high-speed valves, control electronics, and embedded software. Analog position signals are sent to the unit, which performs the calculations and controls position automatically, to an accuracy of 0.1mm.
Kvasers’s Leaf Light v2 is used by Staccato to communicate between their PC-based software and the CAN-based operating system in the FPU, during testing and whenever parameters are changed. It is also supplied as part of an advanced package for FPU users who wish to modify settings such as speed, force, and acceleration in the firmware.
Apart from the control of standard pneumatic actuators, the FPU can also control finger position and force on pneumatic grippers, rotation angle and torque on rotary actuators, plus position, force and speed on rodless actuators. And aside from industrial control, the FPU can be applied in certain automotive situations, such as the control of individual valves on retarder brakes for heavy vehicles and construction equipment.
