TRINAMIC Motion Control
Overview
About Trinamic
Instead of semiconductor makers that just want to sell more chips, TRINAMIC Motion Control (TMC) began with engineers who wanted to design better drives. Its founders knew that designing motion control technology in hardware, not software, was essential for motors that work efficiently, reliably, smoothly, and quietly.
Headquartered in Hamburg, Germany with subsidiaries in Tallinn, Estonia, and Chicago, IL, USA, the fabless semiconductor company's own motion control architecture divides power electronics into three building blocks: a microcontroller for digital processing, a driver that translates digital signals into electrical power, and a gate driver plus power switches. This simplifies development and makes it easier to design components best suited for each block. In 2015, TMC became the first supplier worldwide with an EtherCAT-compliant slave-controller IC for integrating complex, real-time, latency-free I/O peripherals.
TMC now has over 20 years of application experience in embedded motion control. It develops and sells ICs, modules, and integrated mechatronics to market-leading manufacturers worldwide. Examples include Agfa, BQ, Dremel, Ecovent, GE, Honeywell, KUKA, Markforged, Össur, Xerox, and Zeiss. The company's products have been integrated into a wide range of applications in digital manufacturing, biotechnology, lab automation, materials handling, and factory automation.
Trinamic's quality management is certified according to ISO9001 as well as ISO13485 (medical). All products are RoHS conform.
EtherCAT
TRINAMIC Motion Control develops a new family of EtherCAT products to meet the increasing demand for EtherCAT compliant motor and motion control products. It started out with an EtherCAT solution including a plugfest-tested EtherCAT intellectual property (IP) and chip solution for SmartFusion2 SoC FPGA. The solution is suitable for a variety of applications in the industrial and communications markets, including factory automation applications like programmable logic controller (PLC), motor drive/motion drive control, safety input/output (IO) modules, and other applications where EtherCAT communications are required.
Following their success with the TMC8461-BA – an EtherCAT slave controller device with high voltage I/O and integrated real-time motor control peripherals, TRINAMIC Motion Control used their experience and expertise to extend their range of EtherCAT products, such as:
- The TMCC160-LC CoE: a BLDC/PMSM servo controller motionCookie™ for lab automation, 3D printing, scanning equipment and other automated equipment applications.
- The TMCM-1310: a fully closed single axis stepper control unit for high reliability and dynamics.
- The TMCM-6213: one single module with six stepper motor controllers and drivers for sensorless load-dependent current control
Be sure to check out Trinamic’s EtherCAT page for more information.