maxon has existing thruster products and saw an increase in enquiries for subsea pressure-compensated actuators. “Customers were asking for thrusters, but without the propeller,” explained the Aquatic Solutions team. “We listened to their requirements and developed a range for their needs.”
A customer contacted maxon for a subsea inspection application. The units were driving sensors for monitoring corrosion on the various types of subsea structures.
From the detailed specification, a motor and gearbox combination was derived to deliver the output requirements from the input supply. Then it was up to the design engineers to package it into the oil filled housing and to detail the other modifications that the customer had requested. The result was a top-level drawing that was sent to the customer for approval.
Many industries are moving away from hydraulic actuation towards electro-mechanical actuation. maxon offers both rotary and linear actuation solutions for the subsea arena. Rotary solutions can be motor-only for high-speed, low-torque applications, or motor-gearbox for lower-speed, higher-torque applications. By utilizing maxon’s screw drive products, we can also supply linear actuators to suit a variety of speed and load applications, such as grippers, manipulators, fin actuation and propulsion.
maxon has heritage in supplying products for highly challenging environments, be that subsea, underground, in the air or on Mars. These environments pose a wide range of different challenges, such as shock and vibration, high temperature, low temperature, and vacuum. maxon has invested in a large suite of test equipment to validate products for these challenging conditions.
To our customers, it is important that maxon continues to be a safe pair of hands delivering consistently high-quality products that work wherever our customers need them to operate.