ClearPath offers state-of-the-art servo performance that's easy even for new users. Integrated electronics mean no drive to wire and mount. Auto-tuning optimizes performance for your exact system. All at a price less than most non-integrated servos.
Say goodbye to lost steps, stalls, and stepper whine! Simply re-wire the step & direction signals from your stepper drive to ClearPath-SD, then experience the fast, smooth, whisper-quiet motion of a closed loop, AC servo system.
Get rid of your VFD and cables and get a serious performance upgrade: excellent speed control (0.001%). Get full torque at low speeds and hold any position. Replace your AC induction motor and VFD and get an integrated, closed-loop servo for a similar price.
Real reviews from OEM engineers and end-users attest to the quality and performance of Teknic products. The vast majority also praise the excellent technical support they received. Read the reviews yourself:
Google Reviews
Try ClearPath today. Take up to three months to fully exercise it. If you're not 100% successful and satisfied, just send it back. Even if you've beaten up the motor and thrown away the packaging, you'll still get a full refund.
With over 2,500 models to choose from, you won't have to compromise, and it's easy to choose a motor using our step-by-step selection guide. Whatever motor you choose, we'll build and ship it to you from our New York manufacturing plant within 3 business days.
Side-by-side comparison of all ClearPath series
Set Up Via USB
With a standard USB port and cable you can configure ClearPath and use its diagnostic tools. There are no switches or potentiometers to manually set. You can also quickly save and recall set-ups for simple and reliable installations.
User-definable Global Torque Limiting
You can adjust each ClearPath motor to limit its maximum torque to protect your mechanics.
Automatic Torque Foldback
In some cases, you want to use full torque except at certain times, for example, to clamp or insert something, or when you encounter an obstacle or hard stop. ClearPath can be set up to automatically limit the torque (to a value different from the global torque limit) in these situations and more. You can also use this feature to gently move into a hard stop to set a home position without using a home sensor.
Hold Position with No Drift
Even in vertical applications, when subjected to external forces, ClearPath will accurately hold its commanded position.
Runs Smoothly at Low (or Zero) Speed
Unlike AC induction motors and stepper motors, ClearPath's vector servo control allows it to run smoothly at all speeds. ClearPath will also servo lock to any desired position unlike AC induction motors.
Power Density
Compared to AC induction motors and non-integrated servo motors, ClearPath has 3 to 5 times the shaft power per cubic inch of space. Its rare earth, Neodymium-Iron-Boron permanent magnets and 200ºC-rated winding insulation means that ClearPath can be pushed hard without worry.
Dynamic Braking
ClearPath can be configured to use its regenerated enegy as a source to stop its own motion in cases where the motor is disabled by the user or if it shuts down due to an error condition.
Brush Motor Replacement Mode
You can connect ClearPath MC models directly to the H-bridge outputs of a brush motor amplifier to use it as a drop-in replacement for brush motors. ClearPath SD models are powerful replacements for brush motors used with digital input servos.
Regulatory Certifications: UL, CE, RoHS
No Maintenance Ever
The only components in ClearPath that are subject to wear are the shaft bearings. That's why we only use sealed, permanently lubricated bearings, and over-size them for extra design margin. In most applications, the average lifetime for the front bearing is expected to be more than 25 billion revolutions. At 1,000 RPM, running 24 hours a day, that's almost 50 years!
We want you to be able to thoroughly evaluate Teknic products in your application so you can be confident that they meet all your needs. So we've extended our return period and made the return conditions very liberal. That said, there is a maximum limit on the return quantity:
Teknic will give you a full refund (excluding shipping) on up to nine ClearPath motors or Fast-ship Hudson motors (3-day lead motors) as long as they are returned within 90 days of the invoice date. It is okay for the units to have reasonable wear and tear from using them, but they must be returned in their original packaging (or comparably protective packaging) and still be fully functional (i.e., they must still meet their specifications) with no modifications. Up to nine each of any accessory, power supply, or controller part number may also be returned under the same conditions.
Build-to-Order motors are Non-Cancelable/Non-Returnable (NC/NR) and therefore can't be returned for a refund.
All ClearPath and Fast-ship Hudson motors, regardless of part number, are summed together to determine the quantity being returned. Accessories, power supplies, and controllers are summed together on the basis of unique part numbers (so, for example, you could return nine power cables and nine IPC-5 power supplies).
Once your return is received and inspected (usually within 72 hours of receipt), we will process your refund and credit your original method of payment within seven days. Please note that depending on your credit card company, it may take an additional 2-10 business days after your credit is applied for it to post to your account.
It's probably obvious that the fully integrated design of ClearPath, by its very nature, will increase the ruggedness and reliability of your system. The most failure-prone element in all motion systems—the cabling—has been greatly reduced. In fact, the motor-drive cable, the most complex and troublesome cable, is altogether eliminated. But ClearPath has numerous design features, beyond the integration of the motor, encoder, drive and controller, that further enhance reliability. Read on to see how quality and reliability has been designed into every aspect of ClearPath, and you'll see why we're able to provide the longest warranty in the industry.
Motor Design and Construction Features
Every component in the construction of ClearPath motors has been carefully engineered using the highest quality materials, design, and manufacturing processes.
The rare-earth magnets are fully sintered, not bonded together with plastic; the wire insulation exceeds Class H temperature specs; the finish is anodized or electrophoretically-coated (not painted or raw); the extra-large bearings are permanently sealed; and more. Browse through the photos below which show the internal construction, and see for yourself.
Winding end-turns are pressed tightly together and laced to form a nearly solid mass of copper for better thermal performance. Tightly packed wires vibrate less as current flow changes, so they are audibly quieter and their insulation doesn't abrade and fail over time.
"Bonded" neodymium ring magnets (right) are made by mixing NdFeB powder with a plastic resin. ClearPath uses magnets made of virtually pure NdFeB that has been "sintered" into solid bricks (left). These sintered magnets are extremely powerful compared to the plastic bonded magnets. AC induction motors, which use electromagnets rather than permanent magnets, only have about 25% as much power as ClearPath for the same size motor.
The shaft diameter transition in all ClearPath motors is smoothly radiused. Motor shafts with abrupt diameter transitions (right) have severe internal stress concentrations that can cause their shafts to break when side-loaded.
Compared to the common and simple one-coil-per-tooth stators (right), ClearPath stators (left) use an overlapping, alternate-slot fill pattern with two coil sections per slot. This reduces torque ripple, cogging, and detent torque, improves electrical responsiveness, and increases power output.
ClearPath has a compression fit, aluminum housing surrounding the stator that provides a low-resistance path to conduct heat out of the motor and into the mounting suface (which typically acts as a big heat sink). This increases continuous power output and improves reliability. Many motors have no housing (exposed laminations) and so have a poor heat path to the mounting surface.
ClearPath's custom-made, brass balancing weights (left) are more precise and secure than common balancing putty (right). The weight is held captive by the shaft (under the bearing) so that it can not come loose like balancing putty often does.
For extra protection beyond ClearPath's close-tolerance, closed mechanical design, an optional dynamic shaft seal is available. ClearPath's high quality shaft seal is spring tensioned, has a Viton® lip for minimal compression set and excellent high temperature properties, and a PTFE coating for low friction and wear. It also has a metal outer case for greater structural rigidity, and a Viton® outer coating for a better OD seal and more tolerance to thermal expansion differentials.
Drive and Motor Protection Features: Rugged design and construction is great for long life under tough conditions, but ClearPath also has many features that protect it from mishaps that might cause immediate death for other motors—reversed wiring, shorted inputs or outputs, voltage overloads, mechanical jams, etc. Here are some of the protection features built into every ClearPath motor:
In all these shutdown situations, ClearPath will dynamically brake the moving load. Other motors just freewheel when they shut down, allowing your mechanics to crash.
Production Quality and Warranty
Every single ClearPath motor receives a full suite of in-line and post-production tests to assure you of the highest incoming quality. This includes testing for:
Unsurpassed Warranty
ClearPath is warranted to be free from defects in material and workmanship for a full three years. These systems are built to last.
...how we're able to offer an industrial-quality, state-of-the-art, complete servo system at prices that compete with DC brush and AC induction motor systems. Well, frankly, one of the ways we achieved ClearPath's low price was by simply leaving out certain features. To help us decide what to leave out, we consulted a large number of our most experienced users, and asked them which features they'd miss the least. If the features were costly, we just left them out. Doing this, we may have made ClearPath a little less attractive for some applications, but it means now you can use a servo system where you could never afford to before.
Read what we left out.
General purpose I/O. ClearPath's I/O is dedicated to control its own functions. If you need I/O for other machine functions, you'll need to use the I/O from another source (e.g., your PLC or a GPIO card).
Encoder output connector. Being a servo, ClearPath uses an integrated 12,800 count per revolution encoder (64,000 count/rev for AC-input models) to maintain accurate position and velocity, but we reduced cost and space (and got rid of potential noise problems) by not running the encoder signals to the outside world. ClearPath does have a digital status output, however, to tell you when moves are done, target speeds are reached, or a number of pulses every revolution (1,2,4,8, or 16). And you can query ClearPath-SC's encoder position via software or capture position (with the advanced firmware option) on the fly.
Memory for downloaded programs To use ClearPath, you configure it to your desired mode of operation and then control it with: (1) digital I/O or switches and buttons (ClearPath-MC), (2) step & direction signals (ClearPath-SD), or (3) software commands from an external Windows or Linux CPU (ClearPath-SC). There's enough built-in control capability to do some pretty sophisticated tasks (see the overview video), and with ClearPath-SC and C++, you can get virtually unlimited flexibility, but there's no built-in memory to run stand-alone programs. But, at least you won't have to learn a new programming language.
Of course, we did a lot more to reduce cost than just leave out a few features.
Here are the biggest reasons that ClearPath can offer high quality and high performance at such a low price:
Automatic Resonance Detection/Avoidance:
All mechanical systems have resonant frequencies. If there are any significant resonances within the bandwidth of a typical servo system connected to the mechanics, the servo may become unstable (or, at a minimum, make loud, unpleasant sounds much like what happens when you put a microphone too close to its loudspeaker). ClearPath automatically detects and compensates for low, medium and high frequency system resonances.
Automatic Sensor Calibration:
Servo systems can exhibit erratic performance when critical current feedback sensors drift over time and temperature. If you can't measure the controlled variable accurately, you can't control it very well. ClearPath uses proprietary circuitry and firmware to continuously minimize the effects of sensor inaccuracies.
RAS™ Jerk Limiting Technology
Automatic Anti-hunting Protection:
This feature allows ClearPath to have high stiffness and disturbance rejection yet minimal hunting (i.e., the tendency for servos to constantly dither 1 or 2 encoder counts when they should be sitting still).
Adaptive Position Error Compensation:
Unlike servos using common control strategies like PID in which the response to position error is in simple proportion to the error, ClearPath uses a non-linear, adaptive control algorithm that automatically and dynamically adjusts its response to current performance in real time.
Automatic Input Voltage Regulation:
ClearPath's vector torque compensator automatically compensates for fluctuations in your bus power. This means you don't have to worry about typical AC line fluctuations causing performance problems.
Helpful Diagnostics
ClearPath Motor Model | IP Rating | Protection from Ingress of Dust and Foreign Objects (IP Test and Method) | Protection from Ingress of Liquids (IP Test and Method) |
---|---|---|---|
NEMA 23 and 34 models with Molex connectors and shaft seal option. | Meets IP53 (see note). The front face of the motor meets IP67 with the shaft seal option, and IP53 without the shaft seal. | No ingress of dust (except when a vacuum is created inside the motor). | Water projected by a nozzle (6.3mm (0.25 in)) against enclosure from any direction. Test Method: Water volume: 12.5 liters per minute. Pressure: 30 kPa (4.4 psi) at a distance of 3 meters (9.8 ft) for at least 3 minutes. Note: connector openings must be filled with dielectric grease prior to test. |
NEMA 23 and 34 models with M12 connectors and shaft seal option. | Meets IP66K and IP67. The shaft seal option is required, or else the motor mounting face is rated at IP53. | No ingress of dust even if a vacuum (-2kPa) is created inside the motor. Test duration: 8 hours. |
IP66K: Water projected in powerful jets (6.3mm (0.25 in) nozzle) against the enclosure from any direction, under elevated pressure (DIN 40050). IP67: Immersion in water up to 1 meter (3 ft 3 in) while motor not running. Test Method: Water jet volume: 75 liters per minute (0.27 gal/sec). Pressure: 1,000 kPa (150 psi) at distance of 3 meters (9.8 ft) for at least 3 minutes. Immersion: lowest point of the enclosure 1.0 m (39.4 in) below the surface of the water for 30 minutes. |
NEMA 56, NEMA 143, and metric D100 models with shaft seal option | Meets IP65. The front face of the motor meets IP67 with the shaft seal option, and IP53 without the shaft seal. | No ingress of dust even if a vacuum (-2kPa) is created inside the motor. Test duration: 8 hours. |
Water projected by a nozzle (6.3 mm (0.25 in)) against motor from any direction. Test Method: Water volume: 12.5 liters per minute. Pressure: 30 kPa (4.4 psi) at a distance of 3 meters (9.8 ft) for at least 3 minutes. |