Two servos coupled mechanically

I have two Kinetix servos that are mechanically coupled. The processor is Controllogix. I am wondering if somebody has done something like this before.

The way to do it that comes to mind is to have a virtual axis and have both real axis geared to it. Then do all moves to the virtual axis.

The other thing I was thinking about (how we do it with two drives going into the same gearbox) is to have one setup as a torque follower. I am not sure if that is possible with this servo setup.

Any ideas/comments will be greatly appreciated.

Tom

I have asked the local rockwell servo guru this a couple of years ago
he could not come up with anything positive but to use a ultra 3000 as it had a "slave" mode. We ended up using a larger kinetics servo that came out in time for the project.


The core of the problem is you have two position servos that are physically coupled together via a common shaft to perform load sharing
If the positions on the servos are slightly different then the two servos can end up "fighting" each other

Methods that I have thought about to get the load sharing to work

1) Virtual axis as you described and enable one axis first and allow it to become stable before MSO the next axis
Also "load share" using incremental moves on the follower axis to using the torque feedback - This would be a Motion Event Task - Still not the best solution as the update rate is in ms not ns

2) I wonder if you could have one servo using the "Dual feedback servo" or "Aux Position Servo" configuration where the Aux feedback is the other motor ?


Question: Are the servos directly coupled together onto the same shaft or via a gearbox?

Which Kinetix?

6000