ENX Easy [Image courtesy of Maxon Motor]
The ENX Easy is a sterilizable encoder for use with Maxon’s brushless DC motors. Maxon officials say the ENX Easy opens new possibilities in medical technology. The ENX Easy’s compact and robust design is especially ideal for power tools, according to the company.
Sterilization is extremely important in healthcare settings. There were roughly 722,000 healthcare-associated infections in U.S. acute care hospitals in 2011 alone, with about 75,000 patients with HAIs dying during their hospitalizations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The ENX Easy is available in an incremental (1024 counts) and absolute version (4096 steps). Maxon designed both versions to withstand 1,000 autoclave cycles.
Maxon says the ENX Easy can be combined with matching BLDC motors and planetary gearheads. Engineers and designers can integrate the encoder into the brushless drives ECX 13 and ECX 16 Speed (up to 120,000 rpm and 104 W) without increasing length.
When the gearheads GPX 13 and GPX 16 Speed (0.2 Nm max. continuous torque) are added to the combination, the result is a fully sterilizable positioning system, according to Maxon.
On top of the ENX Easy, Maxon has also developed another new encoder – the ENX Rio. The ENX Rio is a high-resolution encoder with 65,500 counts per turn. Its diameter is only 16 mm. Maxon’s range of ultra-compact DC motors is also growing with 2 new additions, the DCX 6 and DCX 8 drives (6 and 8 mm in diameter).
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