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ProductsLeveraging its advanced servo architecture and deep industry expertise, Qifan specializes in the R&D, manufacturing, and sales of customized drives and servo systems tailored to specific industries. This enables the company to deliver cutting-edge European-style servo technology and comprehensive servo system solutions that span across critical areas such as industrial automation, motion control, and energy conversion.
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Application areasProduct application areas include artificial intelligence, laser cutting, die bonders, woodworking, textiles, semiconductors, 3C electronics manufacturing equipment, industrial robotics, lithium batteries, photovoltaics, packaging, printing, aerospace, and more.
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StrengthIn the context of globalizing smart manufacturing and China's dual-circulation strategy—both domestic and international—Qifan is committed to doing its part in advancing domestically produced servo technology, striving to become a world-leading provider of integrated drive-and-control servo systems.
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BlogQifan refines customization needs at every stage of the product lifecycle, seamlessly integrating them into both large-scale standardized R&D and manufacturing while also delivering exceptional services for non-standard, custom solutions!
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ProfileNingbo Qifan Automation Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Qifan) was established in 2019. The company boasts a team with 15 years of expertise in servo technology research and development, focusing on the creation and application of high-performance, high-power servo drives.
Detailed information
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2025
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09
Development Technologies and Application Prospects of High-Power Servo Drives
As Industry 4.0 and intelligent manufacturing continue to advance rapidly, high-power servo drives—essential components for precise motion control—are undergoing dual breakthroughs: technological iteration and expanded application scenarios. Their development is not only focused on key metrics like enhanced power density and optimized thermal management but also leverages cutting-edge approaches such as AI algorithms and innovative materials to redefine performance boundaries. Driven by surging demand in sectors like new-energy vehicles, aerospace, and medical robotics, this technology sector is now stepping into a new phase characterized by greater integration, heightened intelligence, and increased sustainability.
I. Development Technologies: From Hardware Innovation to System Reconfiguration
1. Integrated design breaks through physical limits
Traditional servo drive systems are limited by the separate structure of their motors, gearboxes, and encoders, with size and weight becoming major bottlenecks that restrict their application in high-load scenarios. The current technological approach addresses this challenge by deeply integrating a frameless torque motor with a harmonic gearbox, complemented by 3D-printed, custom-designed cooling channels for enhanced thermal management. This innovation results in a power density that is 40% higher than conventional solutions. For instance, a humanoid robot joint drive developed by a leading company uses PEEK material instead of an aluminum alloy casing, achieving both superior tensile strength—maintaining ≥100 MPa—and a 30% reduction in weight. As a result, the device boasts a thrust-to-weight ratio of 4,500 N/kg, significantly surpassing the benchmark performance of Tesla’s Optimus linear actuator.
2. Intelligent Control Algorithm Reconstructs Dynamic Response
Facing the stringent requirements of communication latency ≤1ms and bus bandwidth ≥100 Mbps in multi-joint collaborative control, the fusion algorithm combining Model Predictive Control (MPC) with adaptive sliding-mode control has become the mainstream approach. An AI-based online optimization system developed by a certain laboratory leverages deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to dynamically adjust PID parameters in real time, boosting response speed by 30% during load disturbances and improving dynamic error compensation efficiency by 50%. In swing tests with a 10kg payload, the system achieved completion of a 0–90° swing within 0.2 seconds, with overshoot kept below 5%, demonstrating the algorithm's robustness even under complex operational conditions.
3. Thermal Management Technology Breaks Through Cooling Bottlenecks
The challenge of localized temperature rises exceeding 15°C/min due to high power density is driving the synergistic application of phase-change materials and liquid-cooling circulation systems. One company has integrated paraffin-based phase-change materials into motor stators, pairing them with a micro-pump-driven copper-tube liquid-cooling system that reduces peak temperature increases by 25% while achieving a thermal dissipation efficiency of up to 90 W/cm³. After four consecutive hours of high-load operation, this advanced cooling solution keeps temperature rise below 35°C, ensuring reliable performance for continuous industrial robot operations.
II. Application Scenarios: From High-End Manufacturing to Everyday Life
1. Industrial Automation: The "Nervous System" of Precision Manufacturing
In applications such as semiconductor chip mounting and high-precision grinding, high-power servo drives achieve positioning accuracy of ±5 μm with nanosecond-level response times. A gantry dual-drive system developed by a leading company utilizes decoupled synchronous control technology to maintain synchronization errors below 1 μm across spans of up to several meters, making it widely used in fields like photovoltaic module assembly and LCD panel inspection. Additionally, their innovative flexible support technology has broken foreign monopolies, boosting equipment productivity by 25% while reducing costs by 40%.
2. New Energy Vehicles: The "Smart Brain" of the Powertrain
The electric vehicle industry’s relentless pursuit of power density (exceeding 5 kW/kg) and efficiency (over 97%) has driven the widespread adoption of silicon carbide (SiC) power devices. SiC-based motor drive systems now achieve switching frequencies as high as 40 kHz, while capacitor sizes have been reduced to just 25% of conventional designs. Combined with a distributed integrated drive-and-control architecture, these advancements lead to an 8% reduction in overall vehicle energy consumption. Meanwhile, one automaker’s innovative four-in-one electric drive system—featuring a shared DC bus design—boosts overall efficiency by 12% and extends vehicle range by an impressive 15%.
3. Medical Robots: The "Invisible Assistant" for Precision Surgery
In the field of surgical robotics, technical specifications such as force control resolution ≤0.1N and repeatable positioning accuracy of ±0.03mm have become standard features. A medical device company has developed a 7-degree-of-freedom robotic arm that leverages dual-redundant encoders and TSN (Time-Sensitive Networking) to achieve sub-millisecond-level synchronous control across its 28 joints. During prostate cancer particle implantation surgery, the system maintains puncture accuracy within 0.1mm, reducing procedure time by 40% and paving the way for minimally invasive surgery to enter the "sub-millimeter era."
3. Market Trends: From Technological Competition to Ecosystem Restructuring
1. Domestic substitution accelerates technology for widespread benefits
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s "Smart Manufacturing Development Plan" clearly mandates that the CNC rate for key manufacturing processes reach 70% by 2025, compelling domestic servo system manufacturers to boost their localization rate from 32% in 2020 to 65% by 2025. Meanwhile, a local enterprise has successfully replaced imported materials with China Research Institute’s PEEK material, cutting BOM costs by 30%. As a result, its gantry dual-drive system has now captured over 18% market share in the 3C electronics sector, offering price advantages that rival international brands like ACSmotion.
2. Open ecosystem drives industry collaboration
The widespread adoption of the OPC UA over TSN protocol has enabled servo drives to achieve data interaction latency of less than 100 microseconds with MES and ERP systems. Meanwhile, a company has introduced an integrated drive-and-control platform that is compatible with ROS2 and MATLAB/Simulink, significantly reducing the secondary development cycle from 3 months to just 2 weeks. This open architecture has attracted over 300 equipment vendors to join its ecosystem, fostering a complete industry chain—from individual chips to fully integrated machines.
3. Green Transformation Reshapes the Rules of Competition
The implementation of the IE5 energy efficiency standard has driven the penetration rate of GaN power devices in servo systems from 12% in 2023 to 35% by 2025. A company’s newly developed regenerative braking technology achieves an impressive motor energy-recovery efficiency of up to 85%, and when combined with a phase-change energy storage system, it can save enough electricity annually to offset 12 tons of carbon emissions. This innovative technology is now helping companies establish new competitive advantages in fields such as medical CT equipment and logistics AGVs.
Keywords:
Servo drive
Qifan
Ningbo Qifan Automation Technology Co., Ltd.
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Room 302, Building 4, No. 515 Kangzhuang South Road, Jiangbei District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province