Scientists from London's Imperial College are using a Cool Muscle NEMA 23 integrated servo system (from Myostat Motion Control Inc., Newmarket, Ontario) to reproduce and study sub-surface pressure changes created by lunar tides — in the hopes of one day improving oil recovery. The Cool Muscle, along with support from Reliance Precision Mechatronics LLP, allow the scientists to concentrate on the research without having to spend time controlling and verifying the test system.

The compact closed loop motor system can share I/Os, coordinate complex motion, and use mathematical notation to perform motion. The onboard memory and logic banks and integrated tuners, vector drive, amplifiers, 32 bit RISC processor and 50,000 count magnetic encoder provide an intelligent motor which delivers cool running and smooth motion. Too, motor system’s computing power can create an inverse cosine motion on a linear slide over a selectable time scale. Using this feature, the Imperial College scientists are able to replicate the lunar tides found in underground oil reservoirs for their experiments.

More information on Cool Muscle integrated linear actuators can be found at coolmuscle.com.