Company B, a medical equipment manufacturer, was considering developing a new product to reduce the cost of syringe pumps in order to improve the competitiveness of its products. Director A of the development department at Company B explains as follows:
"Our goal was to reduce the cost of the equipment by 20 to 30 percent. Therefore, we came up with the idea of replacing the stepping motor on the syringe pump axis. The current model uses a five-phase stepping motor and driver, but we thought that replacing it with a two-phase would lead to significant cost reductions.
In addition, due to the retirement of engineers, design techniques were not being passed on, making it difficult to design a 5-phase driver... From a technical standpoint, a 2-phase driver had the advantage of being easier to design by ourselves." (Mr. A)
Company B's development department immediately began gathering information.
"There was also concern that replacing the five-phase stepping motor with a two-phase would result in increased noise. Since medical equipment is used in close proximity to patients, noise pollution is also an essential requirement.
We contacted several motor manufacturers both in Japan and overseas, but we couldn't find any proposals that met our required performance and cost, so the motor replacement did not go smoothly." (Mr. A)
Manager A, who attended the technology exhibition, consulted with a SANYO DENKI CO., LTD. representative about his issues.
After hearing the details of the problem from Director A, the SANYO DENKI CO., LTD. staff member confirmed the operating conditions and proposed a two-phase stepping motor that was one size smaller. Director A was interested in the proposal and immediately requested a sample to conduct an evaluation on the actual equipment.
"SANYO DENKI CO., LTD. checked our required specifications in detail, including the operating conditions. At first, we were considering making it the same size as the current model, but we found that by changing the windings, we could reduce the size and still maintain the torque.
We have the design know-how for versatile two-phase drivers in-house. If we can switch to two-phase drivers, we will be able to eliminate the dependency on individual skills in the future.
We were also able to control the vibrations that were causing the noise, which was a concern, with the driver. Also, when we consulted about the slight rattle of the shaft, SANYO DENKI CO., LTD. 's custom proposal resolved the issue. With various technical support, we were able to keep the noise within an acceptable range.
Even for evaluation samples, they quickly provided us with a minimum torque sample, taking into consideration the performance range, so we felt we could move on to mass production with peace of mind." (Mr. A)
After evaluating the actual machine, Company B decided to adopt SANYO DENKI CO., LTD. 's two-phase stepping motor. "SANYO DENKI CO., LTD. didn't just submit a quote in response to our request. They listened to our issues, proposed ways to solve them, such as customization, held meetings with engineers present, and provided us with relevant data such as noise levels. Thanks to their support, we were able to successfully switch to a two-phase stepping motor and achieve cost reductions. We are very grateful for their support, and we plan to ask SANYO DENKI CO., LTD. for various help in the future." (Mr. A)
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