What design engineers need to know about VCA
Voice coil actuators (VCAs) are emerging as an extremely valuable solution for many precision motion applications
As the need for smaller, higher accuracy linear motion control components increases, these actuators are being used in an expanding array of mission-critical equipment from ventilators that help patients breathe, to guiding the arms of asteroid-collecting spacecraft.
Originally developed for audio speakers, voice coil actuation technology is now being used to provide precise and reliable motion control for a wide range of medical, industrial process and space applications. Even though it has been around for decades, VCA technology is still a mystery to many design engineers as until recently, the application spaces for which it was a cost-effective solution were relatively restricted. Many designers had to settle for more traditional, but less flexible, solenoid-based devices.
Now that powerful MCUs and precise and efficient drivers are readily available, advanced linear motion designs using VCAs are easier and less expensive to implement. Any time an engineer is looking at developing a product that requires highly reliable, highly repeatable, and highly controllable motions, they ought to take a look at VCA. Voice coil actuators offer many benefits to the engineer. They are very simple and extremely robust, yet are as exactly precise as the input given them.
VCAs accelerate smoothly and quickly to any position within their stroke with nearly zero hysteresis and are only limited by the system’s position-sensing precision and driver capability. Because of this accuracy, these devices lend themselves extremely well to applications such as medical devices, robotics, and industrial process equipment.
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