IONI & IONICUBE user guide/Motor compatibility

Typical servo motor with encoder feedback

Short motor compatibility guide

See the recommended Motor compatibility guide

As motor is not included, make sure that you have, or obtain a motor that is compatible with IONI. Learn more about motor types. For overview of motor compatibility with visual illustrations, see Motor compatibility guide.

Servo motor requirements

• Permanent magnet brush-DC, AC, brushless or linear motor
• Motor voltage rating 12-60 VDC (IONI supply voltage is 5 - 52 VDC)
• Motor current rating 0.5 - 15A (IONI maximum output is 15A)
• Servo motor must be equipped with an incremental encoder (position sensor) with resolution of 100 to 1000000 pulses per revolution.

Stepping motor requirements

• Two-phase stepping motor with 0.5 - 10A current rating, no feedback device needed. Can be used in position and velocity control mode. Torque mode not possible. Stepper voltage rating is irrelevant, but generally lower voltage & higher current stepper is better.

Unsuitable/non-optimum motors

• Any non-permanent magnet motors: induction AC motor or DC motor with field coil - will not work
• Cheapest grade DC motor, such as one extracted from power drill - might not give satisfying performance
• Motor with very high voltage, such as 200 VAC AC servo motor - it will work if it has incremental encoder feedback, but maximum rotation speed is limited due to drive voltage. We recommend Argon for motors above 100 volts rating.

Detailed compatibility guide

Compatible motor technologies

Motor type must be one of the following (either rotary or linear):

• Permanent magnet brushed DC
• Permanent magnet brushless DC (BLDC) (magnetic pole count 2 to 100)
• Permanent magnet AC (magnetic pole count 2 to 100)
• Stepping motor (2 phase). Stepping motor is driven open loop (no feedback device is utilized).

Compatible feedback devices

Servomotors must be equipped with an compatible feedback devices.

Encoders

If motor is equipped with encoder, following types are compatible:

• Incremental quadrature output type
• Supply voltage 5V
• Single ended or differential wiring
• 2-channel encoder is sufficient for all motor types (index channel and hall sensors are optional)
• Suitable encoder resolutions range from about 100 PPR to 131070 PPR (pulses or lines per revolution)
• Index channel is not required but is supported for precise homing
• Hall or commutation sensors are not required but are supported for AC/BLDC motors
• Analog SinCos encoders are supported (differential voltage signals with 1 V peak-to-peak voltage amplitude)

More than 99% if incremental encoders used today are directly compatible with IONI.

Limited compatibility encoders

• Serial data communication based encoders are not currently supported. However if the serial encoder also provides incremental signal outputs, then it can be used as standard incremental encoder with Argon.

Motor power rating

Motor voltages and currents can introduce some limitations to motor output speed and torque but will not cause unsuitability.

• Motor voltage is the limiting factor for maximum speed. For example, if you have a 100 VDC brushed DC servo motor and run it at 50 VDC using IONI, then you can expect to get a speed of 50V/100V = 71% of motor's rated speed.
• Motor current is the limiting factor for maximum torque. For example, if you have motor rated for 20A DC and drive's maximum output is 15A DC, then you get 15=/20A=75% of the rated torque.

Smallest suitable motors

IONI has high dynamic range torque control which makes it suitable also for very small motors, such as ones with rated current around 200 mA.

Need help determining compatibility?

If not sure whether your motor is compatible, you may ask it through Granite Devices support. In inquiry please include details:

• Motor and feedback device manufacturer and part numbers
• Motor and feedback device data sheet or web link to specifications
• Feedback device wiring information (which signals are provided by feedback device)
• Motor current and voltage ratings

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