Delta Motion Integrates Acontis EtherCAT Stack into RMC200 Controller
Delta Motion has announced a strategic partnership with Acontis Technologies to integrate the high-performance EC-Master EtherCAT MainDevice stack into its RMC200 motion controller. This collaboration marks a significant shift in how engineers can manage hybrid motion environments, providing a unified, high-speed communication framework that bridges the gap between traditional hydraulic power and modern electric servo systems.
Let’s be honest: if you’ve spent any time in the trenches of industrial automation, you know that mixing hydraulic and electric axes usually leads to a headache of cable management and communication protocol mismatches. Integrating disparate motion technologies often meant settling for suboptimal performance or spending an eternity tuning the system to handle the lag between different control loops. Delta’s move to bake EtherCAT MainDevice capability directly into the RMC200 is effectively giving engineers a "cheat code" for these hybrid architectures. By leveraging Acontis’ proven EtherCAT stack, the RMC200 can now synchronize up to 50 axes with microsecond precision, drastically reducing the jitter that plagues legacy multi-protocol setups.
What makes this particularly interesting is the RMC200's new ability to serve as a high-speed backbone for large-scale operations. Instead of dealing with the nightmare of complex, multi-layered wiring, engineers can now tap into the inherent efficiency of the EtherCAT protocol to communicate directly with both hydraulic servo-proportional valves and modern electric drives. It is a best-of-both-worlds scenario. You get the brute force and power density of hydraulics for the heavy lifting, combined with the precision and ease of integration that electric servo drives provide, all managed under a single controller.
Delta’s rigorous beta-testing program, which involved extensive data collection across a variety of real-world use cases, suggests that this is not just another "paper spec" upgrade. They have spent the time to ensure the firmware is ready for immediate deployment. For facilities looking to modernize their lines without a total system overhaul, this integration provides a clear path to reducing hardware footprints and cabling costs while simultaneously boosting control accuracy. It’s a clean, scalable, and—most importantly—stable way to handle complex motion control, setting a new benchmark for what manufacturers should expect from a mid-to-high-range motion controller.
Written by: Jordan Halloway. With over 12 years of experience in plant floor instrumentation and industrial control system design, Jordan focuses on identifying and eliminating inefficiencies in high-volume manufacturing and automated assembly environments.