Newport has introduced the ESP301 three-axis motion controller and driver. The new model succeeds the ESP300, providing the same intuitive functionality but with a standard USB interface and an improved, integrated manual front panel interface. The company's ESP stage auto-detection and auto-configuration and two-character software commands combine to deliver maximum backward compatibility for easy integration into new or existing motion systems.
The ESP301 can drive and control up to three axes of motion using any combination of DC or two-phase stepper motors up to 3A per axis. It uses a 64-bit, floating point, DSP processor for high precision, synchronised control. A digital PID-FF (feed-forward) servo loop ensures precise velocity profile tracking and accurate positioning. A 1000x programmable micro-step resolution provides ultra-smooth, low-speed, stepper-positioning capability, and the 18-bit DC motor command output ensures improved stability for precision applications.
The ESP301 provides several modes of positioning, including synchronised and non-synchronised point-to-point, jogging, linear or circular interpolation, and continuous path contouring. With electronic gearing, any axis of the ESP301 can be 'slaved' to any other axis, even if they have different motor/gear ratios or lead screw pitches. Other sophisticated motion features include on-the-fly position, velocity, or trajectory changes for complex motion and alignment routines. Software limits can be set to improve system safety. An advanced origin search routine includes encoder index pulse consideration for precision homing. Backlash and linear error compensation eliminate repeatable system errors.