Monthly Archives: March 2023

Zero-Cogging Motors for Precision Industrial Applications

ThinGap’s permanent magnet motors are widely used in airborne and space platforms, but there are more applications that benefit from their zero-cogging technology. With the insatiable demand for high tech devices, comes an equally high demand for precision equipment used to make integrated circuits. Today’s semiconductor equipment and test platforms need high degrees of force density, and decisive move-and-hold steps. Robust, yet compact semiconductor equipment enable inline process functions, yield enhancements, and higher levels of throughput.

Motors and actuators used in wafer processing and test require the benefits of cogless, absolute precision. Low profile motors are ideal because of the large internal aperture so that optics, cabling, or prisms can be routed through the center, yet be compact, enabling deep system integration. Additionally, precision brushless motors are used extensively in optical systems for applications such as beam steering, delivering micron-level resolution.

The ongoing transition to direct-drive solutions enables system-level advancements needed by today’s semiconductor industry. Frameless, slotless motor kits with high torque are in many cases the ideal solution for semiconductor equipment with low profile, high torque coreless motors being the right fit for metrology and optical-based systems.

Beyond zero cogging, ThinGap’s air core motor kits have near zero Eddy-current, and a harmonic distortion of less than 1%, so torque output is directly proportional to current. The resulting smooth motion, linear output makes them perfect for use in precision industrial applications.

ThinGap’s LS Series of slotless motor kits are an industry leader for semiconductor applications. Standard kits range in size from 25-267 mm outer diameter, and a continuous torque output from 0.1- 24.4 N-m. Always cogless, always low profile and with high power density and with standard and modified configurations, the LS Series is ideal for semiconductor applications.

ThinGap Renews ISO 9001:2015 Certification Until 2026

Renewal for three more years underlines ThinGap’s commitment to stringent customer quality requirements and the widely recognized ISO Standards

ThinGap’s ISO 9001:2015 certification has been renewed for another three years, and will remain in effect until March 2026. An audit and renewal of ThinGap’s certificate was completed by American Global Standards, LLC of Montecito, CA as the basis for the Certification renewal.

An image of ThinGap's updated ISO 9001:2015 Certificate, issued March 28, 2023

Based on ISO 9001:2015, ThinGap’s Quality Management System (QMS) serves as the baseline for delivering high quality products to many customers with program-specific QC requirements for a wide variety of industries. ThinGap has a track record of supporting the exacting requirements for its base of Fortune 500 companies, Government customers, including NASA, and regulatory specifications across multiple sectors, be it space, medical, defense or airborne.

With more than two decades of experience in the design and production of slotless motor kits, ThinGap can leverage proven designs and analytical modeling that results in highly accurate transitions from predicted performance to real world operation. Furthermore, the process steps needed to produce motors of all sizes is highly scalable; ThinGap has shipped motors from 19 mm up to 600 mm in size.