Rapid Prototyping in High-Volume Precision Pumping

As a designer of precision pumps for applications ranging from medical dialysis machines to hydrogen fuel cell systems, Eric Edwards, a Senior Mechanical Engineer at Fluid-o-Tech, faced a critical safety margin issue. His applications often operated on a 48-volt rail, but the maximum allowed voltage on a previous vendor’s motor was dangerously close. Eric recalls the spec being barely over 48 volts, but stressed, "Don't put more than 53 volts in there!" Any power supply variance or voltage spike risked catastrophic failure.

Fluid-o-Tech manufactures high-precision gear, rotary vane, and peristaltic pumps known for flow accuracy and pulsation control. As the market shifted from simple AC induction motors to smart, integrated servos, the company needed a motion control solution that could deliver high power density without succumbing to the electrical "messiness" of diverse customer integrations.

The search for a more reliable solution led Eric to Teknic’s ClearPath integrated servo motors. Unlike the previous motors with tight voltage tolerances, ClearPath NEMA 23 and NEMA34 motors are designed to operate safely with bus voltages up to 75 VDC (90 VDC max, and protected from over-voltage). This capability provided the necessary safety factor for Fluid-o-Tech's 48-volt applications, effectively eliminating the risk of over-voltage burnout from standard power supply fluctuations.

"I'm not using a special power supply, but [ClearPath] going up to 75 volts, that's a lot of headroom when you're working with 48 volts," Eric notes.

Beyond the power bus, Eric utilized the ClearPath’s optically isolated inputs to further harden the system. In a ClearPath motor, opto-isolation electrically separates the low-voltage control signals from the high-voltage power stage. This architecture prevents electrical noise and ground loops, common in industrial environments, from causing motion errors.

"The Teknic motors are robust," Eric says, noting that the isolation ensures the motors are "well protected against messiness" in the field.

During the design phase, Fluid-o-Tech also leveraged Teknic’s interactive performance tools. Because their pumps must often perform identically across different voltage potentials depending on the end-user's available power, Eric needed to predict exact motor behavior without physical trial and error. Teknic’s interactive torque-speed curves allowed him to simulate performance at 24V versus 48V instantly.

"Sometimes you have to interpolate data [with other vendors], which always makes you feel uncomfortable," Eric explains. "Knowing what the torque-speed curve at 24 volts looks like is very useful."

However, technical specifications were only half the equation. Fluid-o-Tech had previously struggled with vendors who promised stock but delivered late. "You compare that to the worst vendors where it's always 'next week' ... and it just goes on forever," Eric recalls.

In contrast, Teknic’s ecommerce purchasing option is built to support iterative engineering for their OEM customers. "When you brought out this, the rapid build-to-order online, I go, 'This is fantastic! This is exactly what we needed,'" Eric says. This availability accelerated the development of critical test stands, allowing Fluid-o-Tech to validate designs in days rather than months.

Teknic is a great company, we've worked with them for 13 years," Eric concludes. "I had a lot of faith that the answer Teknic gave me was what's going to happen."