In 2018 Swiss manufacturer maxon motor acquired the UK’s largest manufacturer of geared electric motors, Parvalux. Founded in 1947 by LJ Clark, Parvalux has three manufacturing sites in the UK comprising 200 plus employees. Major markets include healthcare, leisure, mobility, transport and industrial applications.

What’s new and what’s different?

The acquisition allows Irish and UK customers to access an unrivalled range of DC geared motor solutions and technical expertise. Maxon and Parvalux share much of the same company ethos that makes the acquisition an excellent fit.

Both companies are family-run businesses with heavy investment in the design of innovative, geared electric motor solutions. Maxon and Parvalux offer the sale of geared motors at low volume direct from the factory.

Close partnerships with OEM’s are desirable as this allows for a carefully selected solution that matches the needs of the customer. Some impressive outcomes of the acquisition include the following:

Interchangeable combinations

Maxon’s compact, high-power density, brushed and brushless motors can be fitted to the Parvalux range of gearheads, reducing the overall footprint. This is particularly interesting for many applications such as e-mobility, where size, weight and cost optimisation are critical factors in sound design.

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows the maxon brushless motor EC-I 52 fitted to the Parvalux small, medium and large worm-spur gear. Figure 2 illustrates the maxon brushless EC52 flat motor fitted to a Parvalux worm and special gear.

Figure 2

AC Motor Range

Maxon solely manufactures DC motors and drives. Parvalux offers customers AC electric and geared motors with properties that make them easy to deploy and suit various applications.

Parvalux stock a vast selection of standalone AC motors to suit a range of gearboxes (see Figure 3). The AC induction motors, trusted by industries worldwide, feature in applications such as high-power wiper systems and patient hoists.

Figure 3: Parvalux AC Motor

• Power range of 8 Watts to 1 kW
• Single and three-phase AC motors 
• Parvalux and IEC Frames Asynchronous and synchronous single and two speed AC motors 
• IE2 and IE3 versions 
• Die-cast zinc alloy, aluminium and cast-iron housing material options

Parvalux game-changing, space-conscious Viper3 windscreen wiper motor solution (see Figure 4) integrates seamlessly into vehicles across the rail, marine, haulage and transport sectors.

Figure 4: Parvalux Viper Motor

• 12V DC, 24V DC and 230V AC wiper motor solutions available
• Equipped with multiple mounting options
• IP Protection rating – IP67
• Increasingly popular in the agri-market due to robustness and simplicity.

Multi Axis Controller MiniMACS6-AMP-4/50/10

Maxon’s compact Multi Macs (multi-axis controller system) will be available to customers in early 2021. The controller (see Figure 5) contains power amplifiers.

Figure 5: MiniMACS6-AMP-4/50/10-IF1

for four BLDC motors, or six DC motors or three stepper motors, now with up to 60 V and 10 A per drive. The MiniMACS6 is ideal for X/Y/Z-positioning, lab automation devices, Robotic systems, AGV systems etc.

• Motion Control Library with robot kinematics for various robotics applications;
• Configurable for brushed and brushless motors up to 540 W continuous power and up to 1.6 kW peak power;
• No hidden costs: all motion control features, servo amplifiers, encoder inputs, bus interfaces, and development tools included;
• Can be integrated into CANopen and optionally in EtherCAT networks as a fully-featured DS402 multi-axis slave device.

Maxon and Parvalux in Ireland