Below is our range of pancake motors:

GSR Series Printed Motor
The Printed Motor Works GSR range is a totally enclosed dc motor in an ultra slim true pancake profile. With internal bearings to ensure the ultimate compact package this motor is suitable for applications from pumps,fan drives &pulley systems to very cost effective servo performance.  Designed for the mass market this motor design makes the printed motor technology accessible to all. The GSR series range is available in 9 cm,12 cm and 16 cm armature diameter sizes.

Printed Motor Works is immensely proud of this range which constitutes the biggest development effort on the pancake motor in over 40 years. Printed Motor Works reviewed and improved everything in the construction from replacing metal parts with high specification injection moulded engineering plastics to lengthy studies into graphite compositions to ensure product life is optimised.

The Printed Motor Works GSR-16FD-LR on its own is extremely impressive:It has twin printed motors in a package only 51mm thick and can provide up to 1kW mechanical output power without gearing from battery voltage. This makes it a contender as a motor for many smaller vehicles such as motorbikes,motorised lawn mowers and larger mobile robots.

Currently,the following preliminary data sheets are available for the GSR Series printed motors:

GSR-9F –Printed Motor
GSR-12N –Printed Motor
GSR-16FD-LR –Printed Motor

Picture of GSR Series pancake motor

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GP Series Printed Motor
The Printed Motor Works GP series can provide a cost effective servo capability in low volumes. Using flat armature technology the motor is ideal for general purpose applications. Two variants of each size are available:standard ferrite (GPM) and high-power neodymium magnets (GPN). Armature sizes vary from 9cm to 16cm and higher on special request.

The following data sheets are available for the GP Series printed motors:

GP Series Printed Motor Overview
GP LR Series Printed Motor Overview

GPM9 Printed Motor
GPM12 Printed Motor
GPM16 Printed Motor

GPN9 Printed Motor
GPN12 Printed Motor
GPN16 Printed Motor

GPM9LR Printed Motor
GPM12LR Printed Motor
GPM16LR Printed Motor
GPM16 LR D Printed Motor

GPN9LR Printed Motor
GPN12LR Printed Motor
GPN16LR Printed Motor
GPN16 LR D –Printed Motor

Picture of GP Series pancake motors

3D outline drawings of most of the GP range of pancake motors are available to download here:

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GPG Series Printed Motor
The GPG Series pancake motor combines the proven benefits of flat armature motor technology with a fully integrated slim gearbox. A compact,lightweight and durable motor gearbox combination,the GPG Series provides a high quality,low cost solution to suit a vast array of applications. To provide maximum selection flexibility,8 alternative gear ratios from 206:1 to 10:1 are offered as standard for each of 4 motor models (the GPM 12,GPN 12,GPM 12 LR and the GPN 12 LR units) to suit voltages from zero V to a maximum of 60V. An optional encoder or brake can also be externally fitted to the rear of the motor to provide a feedback control loop or simple safety feature.

The following data sheets are available for the GPG Series printed motors:

GPG Series Printed Motor Overview
GPG-9F 150-1 Printed Motor with Gearbox
GPG-9F 80-1Printed Motor with Gearbox
-Other ratios available upon application

Picture of GPG Series pancake motor

Sample Applications

* Welder conductor feeds
* Small rewinders
* Wire drawers
* Rolling shutter doors
* Outdoor rotating advertising displays
* Medical equipment
* Industrial machines

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GM Series Printed Motor
The GM Series is an extremely accurate high power pancake motor range with possible high ambient temperature (150C,302F) operation,for high performance industrial applications. The range is available in 9cm,12cm and 16cm armature diameter sizes,with standard and high power AlNiCo magnet options. Additionally,through our special build scheme every motor in the GM series is available as a low resistance,i.e. parallel ‘winding’ (designated LR) motor perfectly suited for low voltage,battery or higher speed applications.

The following data sheets are available for the GM Series printed motors:

GM Series Printed Motor Overview

Picture of GPG Series pancake motor

Outline drawing of GM Series servo disc motor

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GN Series Printed Motor
The GN Series is an extremely accurate high power motor range but is one third the thickness of the GM range,making it our flattest motor ever. The additional benefits of using NdFeB (Rare Earth) magnets are that it is possible for the motor to operate in low ambient temperature (-20C,-4F),for high performance industrial applications. The range is available in 9cm,12cm and 16cm armature diameter sizes. Additionally,through our special build scheme every motor in the GN series is available as a low resistance,i.e. parallel ‘winding’ (designated LR) motor perfectly suited for low voltage,battery or higher speed applications.

The following data sheets are available for the GN Series printed motors:

GN Series Printed Motor Overview

Outline drawing of GN Series servo disc motor

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GR Series Printed Motor
The GR Series is a high power printed motor range but with a heavily ruggedized motor casing. The range is available in 12cm,16cm and 19cm armature diameter sizes,with standard and high power AlNiCo magnet options.

Picture of GR19 servo disc motor with brake and tacho

Outline drawing of GR Series servo disc motor

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Drives for Printed Motors
We can offer high frequency (40Khz) drives (both programmable and simple amplifiers) for our entire range of printed motors. The high frequency ensures maximum smoothness from the printed motor,however 20Khz would be acceptable for most applications.

All of the Printed Motor Works’ pancake motors can be supported by our amplifier drive:

PMA90 Printed Motor Drive –Manual

-and by our programmable motion controller drive:

PMC90 Printed Motor Drive –Manual

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Tachos,Encoders,Resolvers,Brakes and Gearboxes for Printed Motors
We can also offer cost effective low inertia dc tachometers,encoders,resolvers,brakes and gearboxes that can be coupled directly to our pancake motors.

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Custom Printed Motors
Printed Motor Works have extensive application knowledge and experience in adapting our standard pancake motors to suit customer’s specific requirements. This includes incorporating ancillaries,providing special features such as alternative mounting plates,motor housings and shafts. Our mechanical and electronic engineers will be happy to work with you. If printed armature technology is the first choice for your application,but you can’t find the right power,speed or torque please call or e-mail us with your requirements as we may be able to offer an armature or twin armature design that could suit your needs.  Examples of this are the 24cm and 27cm armature designs that are not listed in our standard product offering.

Example of special design:double 16cm printed armature
for ultra high temperature operation

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Unique Features of Printed Armature Motors

Printed motors,or pancake motors as they are known in North America and Scheibenläufermotor as they are known in Germany,have a number of unique features that make them stand out from other electric motors:

• Size
  The motor is much smaller and thinner than normal iron-core motors

• Rapid acceleration and deceleration
  The armature is very thin giving low-inertia and exceptional torque ratios. The result is extreme acceleration with a typical pancake motor able to accelerate from 0 to 3000 rpm in only 60 degrees of rotation. To achieve rapid acceleration and deceleration printed motors can handle a peak current of up to 10 times the continuous rating which would be impossible for iron-core motors without demagnetising

• Zero-cogging
  Printed armature motors are the only eletric motor variant in the world with no torque ripple. A conventional motor has a tendency to prefer certain positions where the magnetic alignment is best. This is called cogging and creates torque disturbances. The flat armature motor is ironless and is thus intrinsically non-cogging. This gives perfectly smooth rotation at any speed with no ripple effect. Click here for a graph that explains this

• Long brush life
  Because pancake motors have no iron core there is minimal inductance. The result is no arcing,because there is no stored energy in the armature to be dissipated during commutation. In an iron-core motor a lot of energy is stored in the magnetic field of each coil. When this field collapses,the energy tends to be discharged by arcing to the brushes and this wears them out.  Depending on the application, the brushes in our printed motors tend to last as long as the bearings.

• Reliable at high speed
  Printed Motors do not suffer from arching as thus can perform reliably at very high speeds

• Instant torque delivery
  Another benefit of minimal inductance is that the current flows into the armature extremely quickly (in less than one millisecond). This delivers instant torque

• Flat torque curve
  The ironless disc motor has a perfectly flat torque curve up to very high speeds whereas iron-core motors tend to fade at high speeds. Thus a small pancake motor may be sufficient where you would have to select a much larger iron-core motor to achieve the same torque at high speed

• Easy to cool
  Because the armature of a pancake motor is ironless it also has a low thermal time constant which makes it easy to cool either with air or water

• Excellent EMC characteristics
  Printed motors have excellent electromagnetic compatibility characteristics to minimise interference with any nearby electronic components such as communications systems or displays

• Choice of magnets
  Printed armature motors are available with standard Ferrite,AlNiCo and NeFeB (Rare Earth) magnet types. Each type offers different performance advantages with regard to speed,torque and temperature stability

• Wide variety of design options
  PMW can offer special shafts,dual armature configurations,integrated tachos,encoder mounting adaptors or motors complete with encoders,a variety of armature configurations and diameters,gearboxes,pulleys and solutions for cooling and electromagnetic compatibility

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History of Printed Motors
The history of Printed Motor Works stretches back to the 1950′s with the invention of the disc shaped laminated armature made from printed circuit board. The technology was licensed to Printed Motor Works’predecessor,PML,which started up in Aldershot in 1963. PMI of the USA was established on the same basis in the same year.

The design was quickly adapted so that it could be made from laminated copper discs and was applied extensively as magnetic and paper tape capstan drive servos. The printed motor,or slotted disc servo motor as it was also known,was chosen to run analogue magnetic tape drives because of its very precise speed control as well as wide range of speeds. The motor was then combined with digital optical or magnetic tachometers.

Printed motors running analogue magnetic tape drives

However,thanks to its unique properties the pancake motor was very quickly identified for a number of other uses in energy,aerospace,automotive and general industrial automation applications. The iron-free flat armature motor provides some significant performance advantages especially for motion control applications.

We can repair or replace most printed armature motors and our motors are often a straight drop-in for other manufacturers’versions. See the conversion table below for examples from PMI/Kollmorgen/Danaher and Infranor/Mavilor.