Driving scalable e-mobility test stands with FANUC technology

Task:

Due to the sheer breadth of e-mobility concepts coming to market, the challenge for test stand builder EMEC-Prototyping was to create a mostly standard test platform but with sufficient scalability to cater for the requirements of all vehicle types. Meeting this goal would require the astute selection of suitable drive and control solutions.

Solution:

EMEC-Prototyping met its ambition by adopting high-performance FANUC products, including servo drives, servo amplifiers, power supply modules, servo adapters and industrial PCs. These innovative yet standard and widely available solutions come with global support on a local level to ensure complete peace of mind for customers.

Result:

Forming part of a state-of-the-art test bench at EMEC-Prototyping, FANUC’s drive and control products allow the company to undertake the complete testing of single and multi-track electric vehicles, underpinned by an easy-to-program software platform. Moving forward, EMEC-Prototyping says FANUC will be its drives supplier of choice for all future large-scale projects.

About EMEC-Prototyping

Based in Dresden, Germany, EMEC-Prototyping develops customised test benches for electromechanical systems, across industries. In the field of e-mobility, the company supports customers with test stands for single and multi-track electric vehicles that include e-bikes, e-scooters, Segways and e-quads, as well as individual vehicle components like drives, gears, batteries and communication systems.

Witnessing a recent shift in demand for larger test stands with more capabilities, EMEC-Prototyping decided it was time to on-board a new supplier of drive and control products.

“For us, the biggest challenge was creating a single large test platform that could meet different market demands: principally using standard components, but sufficiently scalable to meet all customer requests,” explains Dr René Beckert, Managing Director of EMEC-Prototyping.

To help fulfil this ambition, the company wanted to find a supplier that could offer drives with a number of important characteristics, including ease-of-use, flexibility, performance, reliability and, importantly, wide availability. The perfect candidate arrived in the shape of FANUC.Since 2022, EMEC-Prototyping has been successfully using a range of FANUC’s high-quality, ultra-reliable automation solutions, including servo motors, servo amplifiers, power supply modules, servo adapters and industrial PCs.

“Among the advantages of FANUC products is the software platform, which can handle small to very large drives,” says Beckert. “The software is also much easier to program in a scalable way, something we previously found absent with other software packages. As a further point of note, FANUC drives help us feed energy back into the grid.”

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Gerold Münzberg, Team Leader Software & Electronics at EMEC-Prototyping, adds: “FANUC was the only supplier who could help us in a phase when global supply chain issues were impacting on industry. Due to the nature of our projects we cannot tolerate poor availability, but FANUC kept their word: the delivery date matched their initial promises. Furthermore, FANUC trained and supported us in a professional way, responding very quickly to any queries.”

Following a highly successful trial, FANUC drive and control solutions are now standard at EMEC-Prototyping. Importantly, thesmart FANUC drive concept is compatiblewith any third-party CNC or PLC, and offers various interface options, including EtherCAT and POWERLINK.

“In the future, we will use only FANUC for our larger test bench projects,” concludes Beckert. “We selected our previous suppliers because we were focussing on smaller test stands at the time. This has changed, so we now rely on a supplier who can offer significantly higher performance drives.”

FANUC products used

FANUC αi-S series servo motors

These motors offer excellent acceleration that makes them ideal for use in large high-speed and high-precision machines. Offering high-resolution performance and smooth high-feed capabilities, users of FANUC αi-S series servo motors also benefit from a wide torque output range (1-3000 Nm) and speeds up to 8000 rpm.

FANUC αi series servo amplifiers

Featuring power source regeneration and low power loss devices, this is a highly energy-efficient solution. Built using a modular structure with αi-PS series power supply and αi-SV series servo amplifier, these solutions come with integral leakage detection functionality and a safe torque off function (in the servo amplifier). Maintenance is simple because replacing the circuit board and fan does not require disassembly.

FANUC iPC

The FANUC iPC widescreen LCD industrial PC supports both portrait and landscape orientation. With this innovative system, users can eliminate hardware keyboards and control panels, reducing the number of parts necessary for their machines and systems. The FANUC panel iPC features an advanced capacitive touchscreen, providing excellent usability and smartphone-like intuitive operation.