Where does the name Galil come from? The co-founder of Galil, Jacob Tal was born in Israel near the sea of Galilee. The company name is derived from this region. Do you have local support for Galil products? Galil sells its products through a worldwide network of independent representatives and distributors who have attended factory training. These technical representatives are engineers who are trained to understand the requirements of your specific application and to help integrate Galil products into your system. Contact Galil at 800-377-6329 for the representative nearest you or use our distributor finder. What type of technical support is offered when I buy a Galil controller? Galil provides technical support of its products at no charge. Phone support is offered Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm Pacific Standard time. Galil has a full staff of degreed engineers who have been specially trained in motion control. While Galil does provide support of its products as components operating within a system, Galil does not assume system-level responsibility. Galil has a network of qualified system integrators who provide these services. Galil also offers motion seminars, product training workshops, and web-based classes. Where are Galil controllers used? Galil controllers are used in any application that requires precise motion control. Over 500,000 Galil controllers are in use worldwide in a variety of industries such as medical, semiconductor, test and measurement, machining, textiles, food processing and many more. Many applications are described in Galil's Smart Moves Booklet which is available at no charge. Does Galil offer quantity discounts to OEMs? Yes! Galil controllers are very cost-effective and Galil offers significant discounts for volume purchases. Typically the unit price in 100 quantity is half the single quantity price. Galil guarantees that its pricing for 100+ quantities is less than any other manufacturer with similar product features. Galil is also competitive against in-house solutions and offers prices as low as $100 per axis in 1000 quantity. |
What bus formats does Galil offer? Board-level controllers are available in the popular PCI bus format. In addition, controllers are available for ISA, VME, PC/104 and CompactPCI bus formats Can Galil controllers be operated "stand-alone" without a computer? Galil offers controllers with RS232, USB or Ethernet connectivity which are designed to sit outside of the PC bus. After initial programming and downloading of a motion program into non-volatile memory they can operate without a host computer. Galil's DMC--40x0 Accelera box-level controllers are packaged with drives in a rugged, metal enclosure. The DMC-21x3 Econo series are card-level or DIN rail mount controllers. How many motors or axes of motion can I control with a Galil controller? Galil's multi-axis controllers provide control of one to eight motors. For applications which require more than eight axes, multiple controllers can be used. For example, an eleven-axis project would require an eight-axis and a three-axis controller. The user can purchase Galil controllers in the exact axis configuration needed. Can Galil controllers control both step motors and servo motors? Galil controllers can be configured by the user to control stepper and servo motors on any combination of axes. For example, the DMC-1856 five-axis PCI bus controller can control 3 steppers and 2 servos or 4 servos and 1 stepper or any other combination. This allows the user to "mix-and-match" motor types on any controller without buying additional hardware. Is there any limitation on the size of motors that can be controlled with Galil controllers? There is no limitation on the motor size, and Galil products provide precise control of motors ranging from sub- fractional horsepower to over 30 horsepower. Galil controllers produce a +/- 10Volt or step/direction output that can be sent to any size amplifier. Galil also offers multi-axis amplifiers for use with its DMC-21x3 Econo controllers or DMC-40x0 Accelera controllers which form a cost-effective controller and drive with minimal wiring What type of feedback sensor is required? For servo motor control, Galil controllers accept input from an incremental encoder. The encoder may be rotary or linear as long as it produces two channels of information in quadrature or pulse/direction format. Absolute encoders such as SSI require extra hardware and special firmware. For each axis of servo control, most Galil controllers have inputs for two separate encoders (main and auxiliary) allowing for dual-loop control. All controllers with analog inputs also accept an analog sensor as feedback using the AF command. For step motor control, input from an encoder is not required although input from one encoder is accepted for each axis allowing for position verification. What happens if I cannot find exactly what I want in Galil's controller line? Galil offers customization of any of its controllers. We can do both hardware and firmware modifications including special commands, communication interfaces, connectors, and physical layouts. |
Describe Galil's programming language? Galil commands are two letter, english-like commands such as "BG" for begin motion and "SP" for speed. Over 200 commands are provided to specify motion, compensation, and I/O events. In addition, commands are provided for program sequencing such as conditional jumps, IF/THEN, and event trippoints. Commands may be sent in ASCII or binary format and are upward compatible between controller models. Can I program a Galil controller in C/C++? Galil offers free Dynamic Link Libraries (dlls) in the DMCWIN software package that includes extensive subroutines written in C/C++ to perform communication functions with the controller. Users can develop a wide variety of motion applications using C/C++ functions. For a complete list of programming languages and examples, Galil has created HelloGalil - a quickstart for PC progamming languages Does Galil have Linux support? Yes. Galil offers samples and driver files (including source code) for Linux operating systems. For more info and to download the latest version, go to the downloads page. I need to display the position of each axis continuously. Doesn't this tie up the controller? Optima controllers provide a secondary FIFO buffer which captures real-time data such as position, torque and error continuously. The host PC does not have to poll for this data and other communications are taking place through the primary communications FIFO buffer. Galil's software tools such as GalilTools and Active-X Tool Kit provide a real-time display of important motion data such as postion, velocity and torque. Do Galil controllers provide memory? All Galil controllers provide memory for storing application programs, variables and arrays. This means an applications program can be downloaded to the controller and executed without intervention of a host computer. While the host controller can interrogate the controller or send commands at any time, it is free to accomplish other system level tasks. What is multitasking? Galil controllers can execute up to eight application programs at the same time. This means eight totally independent operations can be accomplished with just one controller. |
What modes of motion can I perform with a Galil controller? Modes of motion include point-to-point positioning, jogging, 2-D linear and circular interpolation, linear interpolation, contouring, position tracking, electronic gearing and ecam. The linear interpolation mode allows any arbitrary path on up to 8 axes to be defined as a set of linear segments. The contouring mode is ideal for "teaching" and accepts any arbitrary profile as a sequence of position and time increments. ECAM allows any slave axis or set of slave axes to be linked to a master axis to simulate the motion of a mechanical cam and electronic gearing makes it easy for Galil controllers to simulate the motion of mechanical gears. Galil can also customize controller firmware for special motion requirements. How do I specify a 2-D motion path? Galil's multi-axis controllers provide a Vector Mode where 2-D paths are specified as a sequence of straight line and arc segments. Vector speed, acceleration and deceleration are also specified and the controller performs linear and circular interpolation along the entire path. Up to 511 segments can be given prior to the start of motion and additional segments can be sent during motion allowing very long paths to be followed without stopping. The vector speed can be changed anytime during motion to permit feedrate override, slow down around corners and assignment of different speeds to specific segments. |
How many inputs and outputs are available? Multi-axis controllers in one through four axis configurations provide 8 digital inputs and 8 digital outputs. Optima and Accelera controllers provide optically isolated I/O. 5 through 8 axis models provide 16 inputs and 16 outputs. Most Galil controllers also provide I/O expansion options. All Optima and Accelera controllers also provide 8 uncommitted analog inputs. In addition to the uncommitted I/O, all Galil controllers provide forward and reverse limits and a home input for each axis. |
Do I need a tachometer to stabilize my servo motor? No! Galil controllers provide a digital PID filter that eliminates the need for tachometer feedback and assures robust, stable closed-loop control. The PID parameters are programmable and Galil's WSDK Servo Design Kit software automatically tunes most servo systems for optimum performance. What do I do to correct for resonance in my system? Galil Optima controllers include a programmable notch filter to minimize resonance. The notch frequency and bandwidth are programmable allowing for correction at the specific resonance frequency. How do I correct for backlash in my leadscrew coupling between the rotary motor and linear stage? Galil controllers actually accept input from two different encoders per servo axis allowing you to have a linear encoder on your stage and a rotary encoder on your motor. Galil controllers provide special compensation for dual loop systems where the position loop is closed with the load encoder and the damping terms are derived from the motor encoder. This method provides smooth and accurate control along the motion path regardless of backlash. How fast is a Galil controller? Galil controllers use a 32-bit microprocessor for high speed performance. For Accelera controllers, the microprocessor can close the position loop every 62 microseconds (2-axis controller) assuring precise control of high bandwidth systems. Command processing is about 40 microseconds per command. Accelera controllers accept encoder feedback at rates up to 22 MHz and control steppers at rates up to 6 MHz. In addition, a high speed position latch for each axis and an encoder compare output is provided for synchronizing position with external I/O to within 1 microsecond. |