The Beck Motor

Durable and Efficient Drive Train

The Beck motor key features;

  • Uses permanent magnets.
  • Reaches full speed and torque in milliseconds.....eliminating dead time.
  • Stops instantaneously..... eliminating coast and overshoot.
  • Provides extremely accurate repeatable positioning.
  • No maintenance required.
  • Mostly uses 120VAC drawing very low current.....0.16 to 3 amps in most cases.
  • Never overheats or burns out even under demanding modulating or stalled conditions.
  • No Torque Switches Required.

Gear Module

Becks durable all spur gear construction maintains accurate positions even under the demanding conditions of an active control loop.

The wide Beck rotary drives use face gears, a durable and efficient drive train which virtually eliminates wear induced backlash so common in actuators which use worm wheel drive technologies. In addition the gear module is lubricated for life, so is virtually maintenance free.

Key features are;

  • Gear trains employ a unique, all spur gear construction of heat-treated alloy steels and ductile iron.
  • Efficient, wide-face spur gearing virtually eliminates wear-induced backlash and positioning inaccuracies.
  • Durable design provides up to 4 days of protection against intermittent or extended accidental stalls.

The gear module incorporates and integral Self-Locking Mechanism (SLM )holds up to 200% of the rated load with the motor de-energised.

Manual Handwheel

An easy-to-turn, spoke-free Handwheel is designed to allow manual operation during installation or power outages.

Turning the Handwheel delivers full drive torque to the application so it is easy to move valves and dampers to any position smoothly without power, even under full load conditions.

Mechanical stops in housing prevent manual overtravel.

About Beck

Beck actuators are designed and manufactured in a purpose built facility in Pennsylvania USA.

Find out More

Beck Link Assist

A complementary service to support the setup and installation of our linkage connected actuator products.

Find out More

Installations

Since 2007, over 300 installations of Beck Actuators have taken place in Europe.

Find out More

Digital Control

The digital control module uses an on board modular design with push button configuration.

Find out More

Biomass Plant

Recently completed the installation of actuators on Europe's largest coal to biomass power station conversion.

Find out More

Whats The Difference With Beck

Precise, Reliable Control

The main difference between Beck’s actuator technology and that of other electric actuator manufacturers is the motor. This is particularly true when comparisons to other conventional electric actuators are made.

As a result questions often arise concerning motor duty cycle, availability, and the number of possible starts. The following information is an introduction to Beck’s motor technology, and how it contributes to the precise operation of the Beck actuator.

The motors used for Beck actuators are a permanent magnet, synchronous design. This type of motor is used in a wide variety of applications where precise control is required. Examples include computer disc drives and printers for business, laser eye surgery devices, and precision machine tools for manufacturing. Beck applies the technology to industrial-grade process control actuators.

The basic design consists of a permanently magnetized rotor and a stator with multiple coils of copper wire. When the stator coils are energized, they create an electro-magnet that interacts with the permanent magnet rotor. The rotor’s outer, and stator’s inner surfaces consist of multiple teeth that are separated by a small air gap. Because the rotor teeth are at a pitch where they cannot line up with the stator teeth, alternating phase changes within the stator’s electromagnet will cause the rotor to move.

With this type of motor design, it is possible for the rotor to advance one tooth-pitch for each complete cycle of the applied AC frequency. The result is the ability to make very small step changes. Once started, the motor will rotate at some frequency multiple of the AC electricity, thus at a slow constant speed, independent of the load. When the stator is de-energized, the motor can stop within approximately 1.5 line cycles.

The inherent benefits of the permanent magnet synchronous design include dynamic magnetic braking, impedance overload protection (will not burn-out), low rotor speed, and rapid acceleration and deceleration. Because torque is generated by the excitation of the permanent and electro-magnets, there is no slip, lag, or large inrush currents that are typical of conventional induction motors.

In theory, the Beck motor is capable of 20 starts/stops per second when powered by a 60 Hz line frequency. Here is the logic:

  • For a 60 Hertz line, one line cycle = 1/60 second
  • Since the motor can start in 1.5 line cycles, the motor takes (1/60)*(1.5) to start, and an additional (1/60)*(1.5) to stop.
  • Thus 1 second / 2*((1/60)*(1.5)) = 20 starts and stops per second.
  • Extrapolated out to one hour, an unloaded motor can theoretically start/stop 72,000 times. (This becomes 60,000 when using 50 Hertz power).

The above description shows the precision that the technology is capable of under ideal conditions. In application, motor start and stop times will vary based on model and load. In operation and at full load the stopping time may be extended to 25-30 milliseconds. But, even these reality based start/stop speeds are considered instantaneous for the purpose of motor operation. The important concept is that the motor speed and stepping frequency are tied to the AC line frequency, and this performance is key to the actuator’s positioning capabilities.

What the Beck actuator offers is a high degree of resolution (number of discrete steps), instantaneous response, and a positioning capability that closely tracks the process demand signal. The Beck drive helps eliminate actuator induced non-linearities in a control loop, allowing the user to tune aggressively.