The Scenic Route is a Southern California based global resource company that provides design and integration services to the entertainment, live event, and trade show industry. The company was tasked with the opportunity to work with The Voice, which required their chairs to rotate 180 degrees based on a simple push of a button. 

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The chairs had to move smoothly and stop smoothly for the show. They chose to apply a proven motor drive to operate the motor. The operation required that the drive could sense two end-of-travel limit switches set at either end of the 180 degree movement. 

The company chose the AllMotion RGA440-10-CYC smart drive, which is a full-featured regenerative controller with the internal intelligence of a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) built into the drive. When either of the end of travel limit switches would be tripped, the motor drive would stop the motor in that position. Resetting the chairs to the previous position would be accomplished by pressing a reverse pushbutton. 

The RGA-CYC Series provides an added logic board to AllMotion’s RGA400 controls. These controls are dual voltage, fully-featured regen drives in a rugged enclosure. As high-performance controls they maintain motor speed with automatic motoring and braking torque, while allowing high-duty cycle reversing and braking—great for limit switch applications. 

Included are a power on/off switch and separate forward and reverse speed potentiometers so independent speeds for each direction can be easily set. Controlling the motor is user-friendly too, by pressing a button on the membrane panel for stop, run, reverse, or jog (jog speed is adjustable). The user can also wire in remote pushbuttons in conjunction with the on-board buttons. These controls can operate in several modes with either one or two limit switches, including continuous cycling, single cycle, dwell, and more—including adjustable stop and dwell times.

Although this application might appear to be very simple, it comprises many of the facets of motion control that would have previously required several components to accomplish. The AllMotion motor drive essentially replaced a PLC plus the PLC power supply. Not all applications will be this straight-forward, but as design engineers maintain an open mind about what the new smarter drives are capable of, they can apply the technology to solve applications in simpler and more efficient ways. 

For more information:

AllMotion

American Control Electronics 

The Scenic Route