Motion control market opportunities and pressure coexist

Motion control usually refers to transforming a predetermined control scheme and planning instruction into a desired mechanical motion under complex conditions to achieve precise mechanical position control, speed control, acceleration control, and torque or force control. According to different power sources, motion control can be mainly divided into electric motion control using a motor as a power source, gas-liquid control using gas and fluid as a power source, and heat engine motion control using fuel (coal, oil, etc.) as a power source. Wait.

Electric motion control takes its place

Motion control mainly involves the control of stepper motors and servo motors. The control structure mode is generally: control device + driver + (stepping or servo) motor. The control device can be a PLC system or a dedicated automation device (such as a motion controller, motion control card). When the PLC system is used as a control device, although it has the flexibility and certain versatility of the PLC system, it is difficult or difficult to program for high precision (such as interpolation control) and responsiveness requirements, and the cost may be high. . With the advancement of technology and technology accumulation, motion controllers came into being. They solidify some universal and special motion control functions (such as interpolation instructions). Users only need to configure and call these function blocks or instructions. This eases the difficulty of programming and has advantages in terms of performance and cost.

Among them, the step motion control technology is the only motion control method that can operate in the open loop without position feedback. This makes the stepper motor system much simpler than the servo motion system, and the lower cost also adds to the attractiveness of the stepper motor. Coupled with other ever-improving designs, such as hardware miniaturization and high-density torque, the stepper system maintains a strong competitive force in many applications requiring lower speeds and positioning accuracy. For some low-power applications, the inherent control is simple, micro-motors and drivers, high-density torque stepping system constitutes a feasible choice for servo motor. Dongfang Motor (Shanghai 2016 Shanghai Electronic Production Equipment Exhibition, Booth No. W2.2442) The US2 series of speed governing motor products introduced by this company is a comprehensive upgrade of the US series, based on the advanced D-loop for more powerful performance and reliability. Adopts KII series motors and speed reducers with high permissible torque and high strength. High-performance, feature-rich and easier to use.

In recent years, China's motion control products (general servo systems, stepper systems, motion controllers) have grown steadily, and the growth rate has been higher than the GDP growth under the new normal. In particular, the rapid development of machine tools, textiles, printing, packaging and electronics has driven the demand for motion controllers. The universal motion controller is used as the control device of the servo system. Its market size is directly affected by the servo system; the demand for motion controllers has maintained a steady growth from 2006 to 2012, rising from 255,600 sets in 2006 to 754,500 sets in 2012. . In 2013, the demand for China's motion controller market remained relatively stable, with a growth rate of approximately 19% and a demand of approximately 900,000 units.

With the continuous expansion of the market size, Chinese manufacturers have begun to occupy a place in motion control. For example, Shanghai Anpu Mingzhi Automation Equipment Co., Ltd., one of the largest integrated manufacturers of motion control products in China (Shanghai 2016 Shanghai Electronic Production Equipment Exhibition, Booth No. W2.2420), has now ranked among the world's top five stepper motor manufacturers. . Always adhering to the pursuit of professional application technology and international scientific management means, we continue to provide more professional, more energy-efficient and more efficient products in a wide range of applications. From professional factory automation components to intelligent LED lighting drivers, from intelligent management systems for large plant equipment to control executives for automotive communication equipment, Mingzhi has become a comprehensive service provider integrating motion control products and motion control solutions. Covers stepper motors, brushless DC motors, servo motors and motor drives.

As an important power source for machinery manufacturing, direct-drive motors have always attracted the attention of users. Today, the transformation of China's manufacturing industry is accelerating, and more efficient, reliable, and precise direct drive motors are more needed by the industry. Taking the electronic equipment with the most timeliness as an example, with the rapid replacement of electronic products, production equipment needs to be updated quickly. At the same time, these devices must also have high accuracy and light load environment. It is difficult for general direct-drive enterprises to meet the requirements. The solution provided by domestic leading direct-drive motor company - Han's Motor (Munich Shanghai 2016 Shanghai Electronics Manufacturing Equipment Show, booth number: W2.2300) has been repeatedly applied successfully to Apple, Samsung, and Huawei. In the production of the most representative brand products in the electronic semiconductor industry, they have excellent practical experience.

The company established in 2005 has been widely recognized by the market for leading the R&D and integration advantages. Its developed linear motors, torque motors, industrial robots, automation equipment, laser scanning optical systems, servo drive control systems and other high-tech products have been realized. Serialization, standardization and industrialization can be widely used in industrial laser equipment industry, CNC machine tool industry, electronic semiconductor equipment industry, medical equipment industry, textile machinery industry, precision testing equipment industry and civil industry, etc. Users of all fields are preferred.

In the aspect of motion control platform, Han's motor integrated linear motor platform covers single-axis, two-axis, multi-axis, and gantry platform types to meet high-speed automation, precision measurement, electronic semiconductor processing, laser processing, etc. with fast response, accurate positioning, and high reliability. Equipment requirements. In addition, compared with general linear motor platforms, Han's motor integrated linear platform can significantly reduce costs and reduce the workload of installing linear mechanisms on the machine; users can also select linear actuators according to application performance requirements, regardless of the linear mechanism. The internal structure or how it controls the system connection and improve product development efficiency.

Pneumatic control still needs to rise

Positive fluid transmission technology utilizes fluid pressure and fluid kinetic energy for energy transmission, and is one of the key technologies for the development of electromechanical products to high speed, automation, high efficiency, high precision, high reliability, light weight, and diversification. Pneumatic components are convenient and inexpensive basic products. With the expansion of pneumatic technology applications, the market is not only broad in the traditional fields such as electromechanical and light textile, but also in emerging industries such as information technology, biological products and fine processing. The more important the role. Pneumatic element A component that does work by the pressure of a gas or the force generated by an expansion, that is, a mechanism that converts the elastic energy of compressed air into kinetic energy. Such as cylinders, pneumatic motors, steam engines and so on. Pneumatic components are a form of power transmission. They are also energy conversion devices that use gas pressure to transfer energy. IHS predicts that the future market for aerodynamic components will go hand in hand with the growth in demand for industrial machinery.

Due to the development of the automotive industry and the gradual increase of production efficiency and product quality requirements, new and higher requirements have been put on the speed and efficiency of machine tools. The improvement of the performance and quality of the functional components of CNC machine tools has become the development of China's machine tool industry. The top priority. As we all know, in the field of key machine tools, high-tech ball screws are the products. To increase the productivity of the machine tool, it is necessary to increase the speed of the machine tool. As a result, there is a rapid increase in the demand for high-speed, high-precision ball screws and linear guides.

In order to realize its high performance, the ratio of high-precision ball screws used in the Chinese production of machine tools has been greatly improved. At present, ball screws used in machine tools have low-price domestically-made products, and also have high-precision imported products such as Japan and Europe. The use of imported products is often a machine that has higher requirements for speed, accuracy, life, and stability. Among them, Shanghai Shangyin Technology (Munich Shanghai Electronics Manufacturing Equipment Show, Booth No. W2.2402) was founded in 1989. It started with mechanical key components, and is the world's second-largest leader in transmission control and system technology. It has precision ball screws. The world’s largest production volume and the world’s second-largest linear slide production. Shangyin Technology markets its products globally under the HIWIN brand and develops its own products ranging from large to miniature ball screws, linear guides, special bearings, industrial robots, wafer robots, medical robots, linear motors, linear actuators, actuators, and precision positioning. Platforms, etc., are widely used in biotech medical, semiconductor, optoelectronics, 3C, automation, precision machine tools, energy conservation, transportation and other industries, breaking the long-term monopoly of precision machinery markets in Japan, Germany and other countries.

With the increase of the speed of the machine tool, the use of the guide rail is also converted from sliding to rolling. In China, the use of slide rails is still the majority due to lower machine speeds and manufacturing costs, but the number of machine tools using ball and roller guides is increasing rapidly. More and more companies have adopted rolling element guide systems such as rolling linear guides, which have increased the speed of advance and retreat of a few meters per minute to ten or even dozens of meters. As the rolling guide has the advantages of high speed, long life, added preload, and easy installation, along with the improvement of machine tool performance and numerical control requirements, the increase in the use ratio of the rolling guide is an inevitable trend.

The linear guides produced by Intime Technology (Munich Shanghai Electronic Manufacturing Equipment Show, Booth No. W2.2515) have five major advantages: high positioning accuracy, reproducibility, low friction resistance, long-term maintenance of accuracy, and high endurance in four directions. Load capacity; suitable for high-speed applications; easy to assemble and interchangeable. Among the many Taiwanese manufacturing companies that entered the Chinese mainland market, Intime Technology Co., Ltd. (PMI) entered the mainland market earlier. In the field of ball guide rods, linear guides and linear modules, key components of precision machinery, Yintai Technology has great competitiveness in the mainland market, its main supply of machine tools, EDM machines, wire cutting machines, plastic injection molding machines, Semiconductor equipment, precision positioning and other types of equipment and machines.

The pneumatic components market is initially composed of simple technology devices. Some major product substitution trends will affect the future development of this market. At present, Chinese suppliers in the pneumatic control market mainly focus on the production of standard conventional pneumatic valves and actuators, and they have an absolute advantage in price. Now they are looking at bigger markets, such as Europe and North America, and they are advancing on a large scale and gradually entering the market through local distributors. This will cause the pneumatics industry to reshuffle and the global market competition landscape will change.

Opportunity and pressure coexist

China's motion control market depends on machine tools, textiles, rubber and plastics, packaging and a few other downstream machinery industries. Therefore, the market volatility in the past few years is relatively large. With the expansion of industry applications, the motion control industry has gradually matured. With the improvement of China's machinery and equipment technology, the demand for high-end motion control equipment in the Chinese market has remained relatively stable. Especially in the high-end medical equipment, high-end machine tools, high-end automation textile machinery, high-precision printing machinery, precision electronic processing equipment and other industries, Europe and the United States and Japan's motion control manufacturers outstanding performance, with a strong competitive advantage.

In China, many local manufacturers can only provide one of the motion controllers, servo drives, servo motors and encoders, and then sell them with other manufacturers' drives or motors. At the product level, the gap between Chinese domestic motion control products and European, American, and Japanese manufacturers is still relatively large, such as some key indicators: control accuracy, stability, dynamic response, torque ripple, high-speed performance, intelligent control, and network support.

The low-end equipment manufacturing market has a huge capacity and a large number of manufacturers. Because such equipment manufacturers are mainly oriented to subdivided industries, the cost performance is often the primary consideration. Compared with high-end imported products, these manufacturers are relatively sensitive to prices, and their demand changes are relatively drastic. Despite the competition from international brands, domestic economical motion control products have gradually gained recognition from low-end users, but they are still facing greater challenges in the future. Competitive pressure.

In the coming years, the growth in the demand for motion controllers in China will continue to be concentrated in the machine tools, printing, packaging, electronics and other industries, while the demand for motion controllers will also grow steadily in 2016 and 2016. The demand for motion controllers in China will be close to 1.9 million units, while the general motion controller market is expected to reach about 4 billion yuan.

The year 2016 is the first year of China's "13th Five-Year Plan". It is the year of full implementation of major national strategies such as "Made in China 2025" and "Internet Plus", and it is also a crucial year for steady growth and structural adjustment. China's manufacturing must adhere to the intelligent transformation and realize the transformation of China's manufacturing industry from low-end to high-end. China's motion control market must go head-to-head, continuously innovate and break through core technologies, and thus usher in a new outbreak.