Hi everyone, I’m new to the forum.
I’d love some help choosing two linear actuators (and necessary controller hardware, etc) for a prototype I’m trying to build. I’m not certain what the right technology would be.
Let me describe the requirements and hopefully someone can steer me in the right direction! Thanks in advance.
Each linear actuator can be pretty weak. Only needs a few pounds of force.
Each linear actuator needs to be capable of moving pretty quickly, on the order of several inches per second.
Each linear actuator needs something on the order of a 1-2" stroke.
The first linear actuator needs to be force programmable. Meaning, I’d want to set the force it’s extending with. The precision here does not have to be amazing, nor the accuracy, but I’d love to be able to set force to within a half ounce or so. This actuator also needs position feedback, meaning, tell me where it is. IDEALLY this actuator would be “back-driveable” with very, very low force, on the order of a few ounces, but that is not strictly necessary. (I wonder if this constraint, back-driving, puts me in the “voice coil” camp?)
The second linear actuator should be position programmable, meaning, I tell it where to be. This actuator should have a static holding force on the order of a few pounds, such that it won’t be “back driven” if a few pounds of force are applied to it.
Can anyone out there help me figure out if there’s anything out there that would meet these constraints?
Thanks!!!
-Chris