Design Guidelines
Transport System Design
108
MagneMotion
Rockwell Automation Publication MMI-UM007F-EN-P - September 2020
Vehicle Gap
The Vehicle Gap, which is shown in
, is the distance that is maintained between
the magnet array and the QSHT motor. This gap must be maintained throughout the transport
system to make sure that the vehicle operates consistently (the larger the gap the longer the
magnet array must be to achieve the same thrust). See
for vehicle
thrust data.
Figure 3-33: Vehicle Gap
The suspension surfaces on which the vehicles move are typically held as flat as is reasonable
to maintain consistency in the Vehicle Gap. Allowing greater variability in the Vehicle Gap
helps to minimize the guideway and vehicle costs to meet the thrust requirements (see
). However, the greater the tolerance on the flatness of the
guideway the larger the Vehicle Gap must be to make sure that the magnet array never touches
the top of a motor. Also, with a larger gap, the magnet array must be larger to provide the
same thrust as would be achieved from a smaller Vehicle Gap.
NOTE:
The Vehicle Gap must be such that any deviation in the flatness of the vehicle sus-
pension surface does not allow the magnet array on the vehicle to touch down on
either the suspension surfaces or the motors.
The recommendations for the Vehicle Gap when using QSHT magnet arrays that are shown
are for reference only. Using a smaller minimum Vehicle Gap or a larger maximum Vehicle
Gap is possible. However, exceeding the Vehicle Gap recommendations typically requires
special design considerations and can make it difficult for the position sensors in the motor to
locate the vehicles precisely. Contact ICT Customer Support for additional information.
•
Minimum Vehicle Gap is 4 mm.
•
Nominal Vehicle Gap is 12 mm for typical industrial applications.
•
Maximum Vehicle Gap is 22 mm.
Single Array Vehicle
Vehicles with single magnet arrays are typically used in QuickStick HT transport systems
where all motion is in a straight line. However, they can be used where the guideway includes
Magnet Array
QuickStick HT Motor
Vehicle Gap