Dr.

Adel Gastli

Electromechanical Systems & Actuators

SERVO MOTORS

Definition
A Servo is a small device that has an output shaft. This shaft can be positioned to specific angular positions by sending the servo a coded signal. As long as the coded signal exists on the input line, the servo will maintain the angular position of the shaft. As the coded signal changes, the angular position of the shaft changes.
Dr. Adel Gastli Servo Motors

A Futaba S-148 Servo

Servomotors: Control motors

Servomotors are specially designed electrical motors for use in feedback control systems. Their power rating can vary from a fraction of watt up to a few hundred watts. They have a high speed of response, which requires low rotor inertia. These motors are therefore smaller in diameter and longer in length. They may be used for various applications such as robots, radar, machine tools, tracking and guidance systems, process controller, radio controlled cars, puppets, and radio controlled airplanes. Both dc and ac servomotors are used at present.
Dr. Adel Gastli Servo Motors

DC Servomotors
DC Servomotors are separately excited dc motor or permanent magnet dc motor. They are controlled by armature voltage. The armature is designed to have large resistance so that the torque-speed characteristics are linear and have a large negative slope as shown below. Therefore, a step change in the armature voltage results in a quick change in the position or speed of the motor.

Va

Field

Armature

Dr. Adel Gastli

Servo Motors

AC Servomotors
Most ac servomotors are of 2-phase squirrel-cage induction type. The schematic diagram of a two-phase ac servomotor is as shown in the figure. The stator has two distributed windings displaced 90 electrical degree apart.
One winding is the reference phase and is connected to a constant voltage source. The other winding is the control phase and is supplied with a variable voltage of the same frequency as the reference phase but is phase-displaced by 90 electrical degree.
Dr. Adel Gastli Servo Motors 5

AC Servomotors (cont.)
For balanced two-phase voltages (Va=Vb), the motor torque-speed characteristic is similar to that of a three-phase induction motor. For low rotor resistance this characteristic is non-linear. Such characteristic is unacceptable in control systems, however if the rotor resistance is high the characteristic will be linear over a wide range of speed, as shown in the figure.
Dr. Adel Gastli Servo Motors

Low rotor resistance High rotor resistance