Product Description:

The SERVOSTAR MC is a multi-axis servo drive controller produced by Kollmorgen within the MC Servostar Servo Drives series. It coordinates multiple motion channels in automated machinery. It handles position, velocity, and torque loops so PLCs can focus on higher-level sequencing. This arrangement suits equipment that requires synchronized control across several axes from one rack-based platform.

This controller communicates over a 10 Mbps Ethernet link for plant networking and host access, while deterministic real-time control is handled through two optical SERCOS rings that accept 2 SERCOS fiber cables. A single rack can manage up to 16 maximum axes; each axis receives commands with a 32-bit position command size, allowing fine positioning resolution on linear stages. Velocity resolution is fixed at 1/256 count per update, giving predictable speed steps for feed drives. Two PC-104 card slots permit local expansion for fieldbus adapters or custom I/O. Internally, the unit supports 16 priority levels so time-critical interpolation is not blocked by background tasks. The base backplane also carries standard digital I/O for machine sensors, E-stops, and contactors.

Each drive slice presents a 14-bit per-drive analog input for torque or tension feedback and a 12-bit per-drive analog output for proportional valve or analog drive references. The controller also provides 23 standard digital inputs, along with three per-drive digital inputs, one per-drive digital output, and twenty shared digital outputs, so local signals can be handled without routing every change through the PLC. Up to 256 task blocks can run concurrently, letting users separate homing, camming, and diagnostics into independent processes. Thirty-two virtual inputs and thirty-two virtual outputs map field data to these tasks for simulation or handshaking between axes.