Motor Travel Range Calibration
The process of teaching the system the lower and upper limits within which the actuator can move. Once the system has stored these two end points, it does not apply unnecessary pressure when it reaches the limits. This is the first of the AXI HCT402's three calibration steps and the range is learned automatically.
On every tractor the movement angle of the control lever and the mounting geometry are different. Calibration compensates for this difference on the software side: the motor sweeps the travel range, records the minimum and maximum points and from then on scales commands between these two limits.
- Mechanical life: continuous forcing by the motor at an end point is prevented; the load on the gear and the shaft is reduced.
- Energy: because there is no pointless forcing, no unnecessary current is drawn.
- Repeatability: the whole joystick stroke corresponds to the real travel range; no part of the control is wasted.
The situations in which calibration must be repeated are clear: when the bracket or the motor position changes, when the lever mechanism has been worked on, and when the movement limits are observed to have shifted. If you see the system struggling to reach the end points after a long winter stop, look first for binding on the mechanical side; repeating calibration on a faulty mechanism leads to wrong limits being learned.
The context where this term is used: Converting a tractor hydraulic lever to electronic control