Magnets are useful for more than just slapping your favorite pictures up on the refrigerator or keeping a roller coaster on its tracks. For example, Indramat motors use permanent rare earth magnets. But your servo motors can’t use any old refrigerator magnet. For the most powerful, most efficient motors, you have to use rare earth magnets.
Rare earth magnets are incredibly strong, which is what makes them the ideal choice for motors and machinery. A rare earth magnet can generate up to four times the magnetic field of a traditional iron magnet.
What is a rare earth magnet?
Rare earth magnets were developed in the 1970’s and 1980’s (like Indramat servo motors) and are the most powerful type of permanent magnet produced.
When rare earth magnets were first developed, they were only used in a few things, like servo motors. Today, rare earth magnets can be used in just about anything including a typical refrigerator door. Basically, they are newer and more efficient magnets.
Although rare earth magnets are strong, they are also fragile. The magnets are brittle and they are prone to corrosion. This is why you typically see rare earth magnets with a coating or plating. Without some type of protective shell, these high-powered magnets would crumble to dust.
While the name suggests that rare earth magnets are precious and hard to find, that’s not really the case. They’re rare in the sense that lead is rare, which is to say not very.
Rare earth magnets can be produced from the lanthanide or actinide elements. There are 15 lanthanide elements — metals with the atomic numbers 57 through 71 — and 15 actinide elements — metals with the atomic numbers 89 through 103.
These metals can be easily magnetized to produce rare earth magnets.
Because rare earth magnets are so much more powerful than older magnets, smaller magnets can be used to provide greater strength. This means that things like computer hard drives, servo motors, speakers, and the like can all benefit from lighter magnets.
Call 479-422-0390 for Indramat support
The permanent rare earth magnets in your Indramat servos might last forever, but that doesn’t mean that your servos will. Contact us online or call 479-422-0390 for repair, replacement, or troubleshooting for Indramat industrial servos.