High-precision Gimbals

Optical gimbals for aerial applications require minimized size, weight, & power usage (SWaP) in combination with high precision. The selection of motors for optical gimbals has always involved a compromise between choosing slotted or slotless motors. Slotted motors offer good SWaP but with a poor level of precision, while slotless motors offer the opposite attributes.

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FiberPrinting™ finally alleviates the need for compromise. Alva’s slotless motors combine the precision of traditional slotless motors with the excellent SWaP of slotted motors.

FiberPrinted™ motors exhibits a perfectly linear behaviour in all nominal conditions due to the absence of cogging torque, low back-EMF THD & that they essentially never saturate. This allows for ultra-precise angular control with simple control-electronics & control-algorithms.

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A FiberPrinted™ motor has no cogging torque due to the symmetrical magnetic interaction between the stator & the rotor. A symmetrical magnetic interaction is achieved since the laminations around a FiberPrinted™ stator is perfectly cylindrical.

Due to the geometrical simplicity of a FiberPrinted™ motor in combination of a Halbach array rotor, the stator & rotor can be optimised to generate an almost perfect sinusoidal back-EMF even at high torque-levels & temperature fluctuations.

FiberPrinted™ motors represent an enhanced version of slotless motors, featuring the advantage of a high copper fill-factor (>50%) & non-skewed windings. The higher copper fill-factor & non-skewed windings are made possible by the ingenious combination of industrial weaving & stator winding techniques.

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Alva's slotless motor boasts a torque density rivaling slotted motors & is 100% higher compared to other slotless motors. With Alva's motors, you no longer have to compromise between strength & precision.