No. 1259
Transition of Linear Drive Technology and Usage for Industry Applications
Investigating R&D Committee on Transition of Linear Drive Technology and Usage for Industry Applications
Keyword : Linear Drive, Linear Motor, Patent, Application, Transition
A linear drive is a motor system with a driving control circuit or a sensor in the linear motor or
the linear actuator. The Technical Committee on Linear Drives, IEEJ, has conducted research on the linear motor and its systematic technology for 30 years. Linear motors have been applied in various fields during this period.
Based on the documents at the time and input from engineers and researchers who have worked directly in the initial development and application stages, the investigating R&D Committee has investigated the transition of linear drive technologies and their applications. According to the survey, linear drive technology and its application have been examined in a great many fields since the 1970's, that it is currently essential technology for magnetic disk units, semi-conductor manufacturing machine, precision processing machine, etc. However, there were many cases where the usage of linear drive technology was abandoned.
This report is intended to aid the engineers and users in the future development of linear drive technology. In this report, the transition of linear drive technology and the usage for industrial applications are described as follows: (1) research and development, (2) patents, (3) industrial applications, (4) linear motors and actuators, (5) elemental parts and technologies.

©2007. The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan