Beckhoff has managed to squeeze a complete servodrive for motors rated up to 200W into a 12mm-wide EtherCat I/O terminal housing. It says that the EL7201 servo terminal – part of its EtherCat Terminal system – will simplify cabling and commissioning, and cut space requirements and costs.

The servodrive can control 8–50V permanent magnet synchronous motors with rated currents up to 4A. Direct connections are provided for the motor, resolver and a motor-holding brake.

The drive provides field-oriented current and PI speed control for dynamic positioning tasks. When braking, it can feed current back into the DC link. The drive can monitor under- and over-voltage, over-currents, terminal temperatures and motor loads.

For more news from the SPS/IPC/Drives Show, see our detailed report.