EE428 Industrial Process Control Chapter 7: Servo Motors: Dr. Ammar Hasan

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EE428 Industrial Process Control

Chapter 7: Servo Motors


Dr. Ammar Hasan

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


DC Servo Motors
• A servomotor is a motor that allows for
precise control of position, velocity and
acceleration. It consists of a suitable motor
coupled to a sensor for position feedback.
• It also requires a relatively sophisticated
controller, often a dedicated module designed
specifically for use with servomotors.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


DC Servo Motors
• Servomotors are not a specific class of motor
although the term servomotor is often used to
refer to a motor suitable for use in a closed-
loop control system.

• Servomotors are used in applications such as


robotics, CNC machinery or automated
manufacturing.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


DC Servo Motors
• The type of motor is not critical to a
servomotor and different types may be used.
• At the simplest, brushed permanent magnet
DC motors are used, owing to their simplicity
and low cost.
• Small industrial servomotors are typically
brushless DC motors. 
• For large industrial servomotors, AC induction
motors are typically used.
Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST
DC Servo Motors
• The chapter in book mainly focuses on
Permanent magnet (PM) DC servo motors
• There are two categories of PM DC motors
• PM Stator
• Wound armature motor
• Moving coil motor
• PM Rotor
• Brushless DC motor

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


DC Servo Motors
• In the mid-1970s, the popularity of PM motors
increased with the introduction of rare earth
magnets.
• Rare earth magnets have greater flux strength than
the ferrite magnets they replaced, which results in
greater torque produced by the motor.
• PM motors are smaller and lighter than wound field
DC motors that produce the same amount of torque.
• They are often used in applications that require
portability and-low maintenance requirements.
Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST
Wound Armature DC Motor
• It has permanent magnets in the outside of the
motor that functions as the stator. It has current
carrying conductors in the rotor.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Wound Armature DC Motor
• It is similar in construction to a wound rotor motor.
• The armature contains wound coils that are placed in
the slots of an iron core.
• Brushes and commutator segments, located at the
end of the motor, switch the current as the armature
turns so that the required magnetic field forms
around the rotor coils.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Wound Armature DC Motor
• The interaction between the magnetic flux lines of
the rotor and stator fields produces a continuous
torque when a DC current is applied.
• The permanent magnets that form the stator
typically are in either a two-pole or four-pole
structure, although six or more poles have been
used.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Wound Armature DC Motor
• Since permanent magnets are used for the pole
pieces, the field flux remains constant.
• The speed is varied by changing the armature
voltage.
• The direction is easily changed by reversing the
current applied to the armature leads.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Wound Armature DC Motor
• The wound armature PM motor does have some
limitations.
• Because the current-carrying rotor coils, which are
heat producing, are located at the inside of the
housing, this motor is thermally inefficient because
the heat cannot readily escape.
• The result is that the motor cannot produce high
torque for prolonged periods without overheating
and becoming damaged.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Wound Armature DC Motor
• Also, the brushes periodically need replacement
because of wear as they ride along the commutator
segments.
• PM motors are commonly used in office machines,
printers, and disk drives.
• Larger PM motors are used for manufacturing
positioning equipment, such as an industrial robot.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Wound Armature DC Motor
• To effectively operate in positioning applications, this
motor must be controlled by a closed-loop servo
system that consists of a controller, an amplifier, and
a position sensor that operates as a feedback device.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Moving Coil Motor
• The moving coil motor (MCM) is designed very
differently from other types of motors.
• Sometimes also referred as pancake motors, due to
their thin size
• The stator field is provided by eight pairs of
permanent magnets that are on each side of the disc
and parallel to the motor shaft.
• These magnets are placed around the perimeter of
the motor housing.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Moving Coil Motor
• They are arranged so that they provide alternating
magnetic field.
• By fitting as many magnets as possible around the
circumference of the motor, the maximum number
of stator flux lines is provided to produce the highest
possible torque.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Moving Coil Motor
• The armature is a thin disc made of fiberglass.
• Two layers of copper conductors are formed on each
side of the fiberglass in much the same way as in a
printed circuit.
• One layer, called the upper conductor, is placed on
top of the other layer, called the lower conductor.
• The conductor paths of each layer are arranged at
30-degree angles to each other

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Moving Coil Motor
• The armature is a thin disc made of fiberglass.
• Two layers of copper conductors are formed on each
side of the fiberglass in much the same way as in a
printed circuit.
• One layer, called the upper conductor, is placed on
top of the other layer, called the lower conductor.
• The conductor paths of each layer are arranged at
30-degree angles to each other

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Moving Coil Motor

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Moving Coil Motor

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Moving Coil Motor
• The armature interacts with the permanent magnet
field to produce a force tangent to each magnetic
pole.
• Enough torque is provided to turn the armature.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Moving Coil Motor

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Moving Coil Motor

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Moving Coil Motor

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Moving Coil Motor
• The ends of the conductors are located at the center
and at one side of the disc in the shape of
commutator segments.
• As the disc turns, brushes ride on the commutator to
provide direct current to the conductors,

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Moving Coil Motor
• As current flows through the upper and lower
conductors, a resultant magnetic field is produced.
• Because the armature is in the shape of a disc, it
does not use iron.
• This provides three advantages.
• First, the disc is light, so it has low inertia. This
enables the armature to accelerate rapidly (from 0 to
3000 RPM in 1/6 of a revolution), stop quickly, and
reverse -direction easily.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Moving Coil Motor
• Second, the brush life is extended because its
armature’s low inductance does not cause arcing.
• Thirdly, the large number of conductors enables the
MCM to run smoothly at speeds as low as 1 RPM,
unlike conventional DC motors, which tend to cog at
low speeds.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Moving Coil Motor
• The speed of the motor is varied by changing the
amount of voltage supplied to the armature.
• The voltage is in the form of DC pulses at a frequency
of about 20 kHz.
• The average voltage varies by changing the width of
the pulses.
• The ratio of time the pulses are on to the time they
are off determines the amount of average voltage.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Moving Coil Motor

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Moving Coil Motor
• The highest voltage possible is 24 volts, which occurs
when there are no pulses and the voltage is a
constant 24 volts DC. The rotor turns at its top speed,
which is over 4000 rpm for MCM motors.
• MCMs are used in applications that require high
torque, fast acceleration, and small size, such as tape
transport systems and computer peripheral devices.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Moving Coil Motor
• There are two types of moving coil motors. Disc type
on Pancake motor is more common

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Brushless DC Motors
• Brushless DC motors (BDCM) contain a powerful
permanent magnet rotor and fixed stator windings.
• The stationary stator windings are usually three-
phase, which means that three separate voltages are
supplied to three different sets of windings.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Brushless DC Motors
• The BDCM also contains a converter and a rotor
position sensor.
• The converter is an electronic commutator that
changes direct current into pulsating DC voltages.
• The pulses are applied to the stator windings to
create a rotating magnetic field.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Brushless DC Motors
• This field attracts the permanent magnet rotor. As it
follows the rotating field, the rotor turns.
• The rotor position sensor provides feedback signals
to the converter so that it switches current pulses
through the stator coils in the proper sequence and
at the proper time.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Brushless DC Motors

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Brushless DC Motors
• Three transistor switching devices are connected to a
DC power source.
• When a transistor is turned on, it supplies a phase
current to a stator field coil. When current flows
through a coil, a south pole is created at the end of
the pole face.
• While SW2 is in the down position, no more than one
transistor can be turned on at any given moment.
• The north pole of the permanent magnet rotor aligns
itself to a stator pole that is energized.
Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST
Brushless DC Motors
• A rotor position sensor that consists of a round disc
with 120 degrees cut away is mounted on the shaft.
• Three proximity-position sensors (such as Hall-Effect
detectors) are mounted 120 degrees apart around
the shaft, within sensing distance of the disc.
• Therefore, the disc is always being sensed by two of
the detectors.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Brushless DC Motors
• Each detector output is connected to a switching
transistor through a signal conditioning network.
• A detector that does not sense the disc causes the
emitter of the optocoupler to which it is connected
to turn off.
• The receiver of the optocoupler sends a positive
voltage to the base of the transistor to which it is
connected and turns it on.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Brushless DC Motors
• In the figure, the north pole of the rotor aligned with
stator pole 3.
• With the disc in the position shown, sensor S1 turns
on transistor Q1, causing current to flow through
stator coil 1.
• The south pole created at the pole face will attract
the rotor and cause it to turn 120 degrees clockwise

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Brushless DC Motors
• When the rotor aligns itself to stator pole 1, the disc
will be turned so that it is sensed by detectors S1 and
S3.
• Detector S2 will then turn on transistor Q2 and cause
current to flow through stator coil 2.
• The rotor turns another 120 degrees clockwise as its
north pole aligns itself with stator pole 2.
• The disc also rotates, causing detector 3 to turn on
transistor Q3.
• This switching sequence continues as the motor shaft
turns in the clockwise direction.
Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST
Brushless DC Motors
• If the collector connections of the transistors are
changed by switch SW1, the motor will reverse
direction.
• By moving switch SW2 upward, all three transistors
turn on.
• The rotor stops and remains stationary as long as
SW2 is in the upward position.
• The rotor remains aligned to one of the stator poles
due to the magnetic attraction.
• The amount-of force required to move the rotor
away from this held position is called holding torque.
Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST
Brushless DC Motors
• There are several advantages of a BDCM over a
wound-field DC motor that has brushes.
• In wound-field motors, the brushes wear out after
only about 2000 hours and have a top speed of 4000
rpm.
• Since BDCMs have no brushes and commutator, they
are virtually maintenance free, and some can operate
at speeds up to 100,000 rpm.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Brushless DC Motors
• Also, as the surface contact between the brushes and
commutator causes the electrical connections to
open and close, sparks develop.
• The arcing that takes place creates magnetic fields
called noise, which can cause interference problems
in computer control equipment placed near the
motor.
• Because the BDCM does not use brushes, it has
lower maintenance requirements and no electrical
noise problem.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Brushless DC Motors
• Also, the rotor of the brushless DC motor is lighter
weight and smaller than a brush type DC motor.
• Therefore, its inertia is reduced, which allows the
motor to accelerate or reverse its direction more
quickly.
• The rotor is lighter because brushes mounted to the
shaft aren’t required, and rare earth magnets, which
are lighter than wound coils, are used.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Brushless DC Motors
• Because the windings, which are the heat generating
element of the motor, are close to the outside of the
motor, the heat is readily dissipated.
• Therefore, it is able to handle higher continuous
loads without exceeding temperature limitations.
• Also, since higher supply voltages are used than
those in conventional PM motors, they operate at
higher speeds and greater torque.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Brushless DC Motors
• BDCMs are used to drive equipment that requires
high speeds, high peak torque capacity, and quick
acceleration or deceleration.
• These characteristics make them well-suited for
servo positioning applications, where quick and
precise positioning movements are required.
Application examples include screen printing
machinery, material handling equipment,
quadcopters, cooling fans inside servers/PCs.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motors
• All of the permanent magnet motors described so far
in this chapter can be classified as continuous
rotation motors.
• When power is applied to the motor, the armature
turns.
• When power is removed, they coast to a stop and
cannot be stopped at a desired position.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motors
• A stepper motor operates differently.
• In a stepper motor, the armature tums through a
specific number of degrees and then stops.
• It converts electronic digital signals into mechanical
motion in fixed increments.
• Each time an incoming pulse is applied to the motor,
its shaft turns or steps a specific angular distance.
• The shaft can be driven in either direction and
operated at low or very high stepping rates.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motors
• Therefore, the stepper motor has the capability of
controlling the velocity, distance, and direction of a
mechanical load.
• It also produces a holding torque at standstill to
prevent unwanted motion. A stepper motor is
typically used as an actuator in motion control
applications that require accurate positioning.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motors
• One attractive feature of the stepper motor is that it
responds to digital signals.
• Therefore, it can be controlled by computers or a
computer peripheral device.
• The elements that make up a typical stepper motor
system are user interface, indexer, driver, motor, and
encoder

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motors

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motors: user interface
• The device used by the operator to communicate to
the stepper motor system is called the user interface.
• Data entered by this device are high-level
commands, which include speed, acceleration,
distance, direction, and ramping routines.
• These devices include computers, programmable
logic controllers, switch panels, thumbwheel
switches, and handheld terminals.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motors: Indexer
• The primary function of the indexer is to convert the
desired motion information entered into the user
interface device into move signals that are applied to
a driver that powers the motor.
• Indexers can include features such as data
communication, I/O lines, memory for storing motion
programs, and encoder feedback for closed-loop
positioning.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motors: Driver
• The driver converts the step input signals from the
indexer into current pulses that power and drive the
motor.
• Depending on the driver that is selected, they
produce signals that range from low power full-or
half-stepping to high performance microstepping.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motors: Motor
• The motor, converts the signals from the driver into
fixed mechanical increments of motion.
• The movements they make are very accurate and can
be used in precision motion applications without a
closed-loop to verify accuracy.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motors: Encoder
• For applications that require extreme accuracy, a
measurement device that provides feedback
information is used, such as an incremental encoder.
• It verifies that the motor is in the desired position
specified by the indexer.
• If it is not, corrective action is taken.
• The feedback information is sent by the
measurement device to the indexer.
• Another function of the feedback device is to detect
whether there is a stall condition.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motors: Types
• Many types of stepper motors exist, of which the
permanent magnet (PM) and the variable reluctance
(VR) motors are the most popular.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


PM Stepper Motor
• The operation of a stepper motor is based on the
magnetic principle that like poles repel and unlike
poles attract.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


PM Stepper Motor
• it is constructed of four electromagnets located 90
degrees apart in the stator.
• An external transistor is connected to each of the
coils.
• The function of the transistors is to electronically
perform the switching (commutating) action that
creates a moving magnetic field in the stator.
• Current is passed through a particular coil when the
transistor to which it is connected is turned on.
• When it is energized, the coiled wire is wrapped so
that its pole becomes magnetic north.
Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST
PM Stepper Motor
• A cylindrical rotor with six magnetic teeth located 45
degrees apart is placed inside the four coils.
• The rotor has no armature windings. Instead, each
tooth is a permanent magnet.
• The polarity of the rotor teeth alternate between
north and south.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


PM Stepper Motor
• Figure shows the motor when
transistor A is turned on and stator coil
A is energized.
• The north pole created by the coil
attracts the south pole of tooth (1),
and they become physically aligned.
• As they do, the flux lines from stator
pole face A pass through the rotor and
continue their path by entering the
face of the stator pole directly
opposite it through tooth (4).
Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST
PM Stepper Motor
• The reason why the flux lines pass through tooth (4) is
because it is the only one aligned with an other stator
pole face.
• Even though coil C is not energized by transistor C, the
Pole still becomes magnetized because of the flux lines
that pass through it.
• The result is that its pole face becomes a south pole,
which adds to the torque of the rotor as it attracts the
• north pole of tooth (4).

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


PM Stepper Motor
• The flux lines complete the magnetic circuit through
the frame of the motor.
• Pole C is referred to as being a passive magnet because
it is not magnetized by current flowing through its own
coil.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


PM Stepper Motor
• To show how the rotor turns, imagine that transistor A
turns off and transistor B turns on simultaneously.
• Pole B of the stator energizes and becomes a north
Pole, and pole D becomes a Passive south pole.
• The rotor turns clockwise until tooth (5) aligns with the
north pole of stator B, and the north pole of tooth (2)
becomes aligned with pole D. The rotor stops after
turning clockwise by 30 degrees

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


PM Stepper Motor
• The next step of the motor occurs when transistor B in
the control circuit turns of and transistor C
simultaneously turns on.
• Pole C energizes and becomes a north pole, and pole A
becomes a passive south pole.
• The south pole of tooth (3) is attracted to and aligns
with the north stator pole C, and tooth (6) aligns with
the passive south stator pole A.
• The rotor stops after turning clockwise by another 30
degrees.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


PM Stepper Motor

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


PM Stepper Motor: Half Stepping
• The step of the rotor’s rotation can be reduced from
30 degrees to smaller movements of 15 degrees by
altering the switching sequence of the control circuit.
• Cutting the movements in half is called half-stepping.
• Lets say initially transistor A energizes coil A and
causes the rotor to be in the reference 0 degree
position.
• During the next step of the sequence, transistor A is
turned off, and transistors C and D turn on to energize
coils C and D, thereby causing pole faces C and D to
become active north poles.
Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST
PM Stepper Motor: Half Stepping
• A combined net magnetic north pole field is created in
the middle of the space between stator poles C and D.
This causes the closest south pole rotor tooth (3)
which is 15 degrees away, to align

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


PM Stepper Motor: Half Stepping

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motor: Disc Type
• The physical size and weight of a cylindrical-toothed
rotor is relatively large; therefore it is more difficult
to move, which causes the motor to react slowly.
• This limits the stepping rate of the motor.
• To overcome potential inertia problems, some PM
stepper motors use a flat disc rotor instead, which
weighs 60 percent less than the cylinder type.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motor: Disc Type
• A flat disc rotor is placed inside two C-shaped
electromagnetic cores.
• The outer edge of the disc is composed of tiny
individual magnets

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motor: Disc Type
• C shaped electromagnets appear to be placed across
from each other, they actually are offset from each
other by half a rotor pole.
• Each electromagnet is energized by a different phase.
As one electromagnet is energized, the rotor aligns
itself to the magnetic field it produces.
• Next, the first phase is turned off and the second
electromagnet is energized.
• The disc will turn one-half of a half rotor pole

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motor: Disc Type
• A typical rotor has 100 magnets of equal size.
• Therefore, the angular distance between poles
around the outside portion of the 360-degree disk is
3.6 degrees.
• Each time the disk rotates when the C-shaped
electromagnet is energized, it moves one-half the
distance of the magnetic pole segments, or 1.8
degrees.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor
• The variable reluctance (VR) stepper motor uses
electromagnetic stator poles. Its rotor is in the shape
of a disc with teeth and slots around the outer edge.
The rotor is unmagnetized.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor
• VR stepper motor uses six sets of stator windings to
form six pole pairs.
• The poles in each pair are located directly across
from each other and are energized at the-same time
because their coils are connected in series.
• Because the coils are wound in the opposite
direction, the poles in each pair will always have
different polarity.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor
• There are twelve stator poles that are equally spaced
apart by 30 degrees.
• The rotor has eight teeth that are equally spaced at
45-degree intervals.
• Therefore, the alignment of the stator and rotor is
different by 15 degrees (45° -30° = 15°).
• When the rotor rotates one step, it moves 15
degrees.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor
• It takes 24 steps to turn the rotor a full 360 degrees.
• The VR stepper motor can run as high as 100,000
rpm.
• By using the pulse width modulation (PWM) method,
the torque of the motor can be controlled by varying
the width of the pulses.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor
• In practice, there are multiple teeth with alternating
north and south poles on the rotor.
• There are also eight coil windings
• There are 50 teeth machined into the rotor.
• Each pulse moves the rotor a distance of 1/4 tooth.
Since it takes four steps to advance the width of one
tooth and the adjacent space between the teeth, it
takes 200 steps to complete one revolution.
• The step angle (also resolution) can be computed by
dividing 360 degrees by 200 steps: 360/200 = 1.8
degrees.
Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST
Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor
• The name variable reluctance (VR) stepper motor is
derived from the principle of its operation.
• When the rotor turns and a tooth aligns with a stator
coil, it moves to a position that minimizes the
magnetic reluctance of the overall flux.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motor: Step angle and rate
• Two important terms relating to stepper motors are
stepping rate and step angle.
• Stepping rate is the maximum number of steps the
motor can make in a second.
• The number of degrees that the motor moves per
step is called step angle.
• The step angle is determined by the number of rotor
teeth and stator poles used.
• The actual speed of the rotor depends on the step
angle and stepping rate.
Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST
Stepper Motor: Microstepping
• There are some undesirable characteristics
associated with stepper motors.
• At low speeds the motor jerks as it steps, which can
cause rough running in the mechanical mechanism to
which it is attached.
• If a smooth operation is required at low speed, the
motor speed is kept high and a gear reduction
transmission is connected between the motor and
load.
• Another drawback is limited resolution. Some
applications require accuracy under one degree.
Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST
Stepper Motor: Microstepping
• A technique that overcomes low speed and
resolution problems is microstepping.
• Instead of square waves energizing the stator coils
that cause the rotor to start and stop as it turns,
simulated sine waves created by small steps are used
instead.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motor: Microstepping
• A technique that overcomes low speed and
resolution problems is microstepping.
• Instead of square waves energizing the stator coils
that cause the rotor to start and stop as it turns,
simulated sine waves created by small steps are used
instead.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motor: Microstepping
• Similar to half-steps described earlier, two adjacent
stator filed poles are energized at the same time.
• However, with microstepping, their coils are driven
with different voltage levels that change gradually.
• The current through one coil increases while the
current through the other one decreases.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motor: Microstepping

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motor: Microstepping
• Half stepping vs microstepping

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motor: Microstepping
• In actual applications, there are as many as 125
microsteps to each full step in a conventional stepper
motor.
• These signals are developed by a microprocessor
located in the drive circuitry.
• These sinusoidal signals cause the rotor to move
smoothly without jerking, and accurate positioning is
attained if the currents are held at intermittent
values.
• Resolution of 20,000 to 50,000 steps per revolution is
common.
Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST
Stepper Motor: Microstepping

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Stepper Motor: Microstepping
• The stepper motor is typically used in an open-loop
system.
• Position is determined by counting pulses.
• For critical applications, the system can be modified
into a closed-loop configuration by using an encoder
to verify the position
• Stepper motors are used in many practical
applications such as printers, floppy discs, and X-Y
positioning tables.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


AC Brushless Servo Motor
• The AC brushless servo motor operates on the same
principle as the single-phase induction motor.
• Both motor types have squirrel cage rotors and two
sets of stator windings that are energized by two AC
voltages that are 90 degrees out of phase.
• Instead of using a capacitor or inductor to develop
the auxiliary phase, the AC servo motor uses an
electronic circuit to perform this function.
• This circuit is referred to as an AC servo drive
amplifier.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


AC Brushless Servo Motor

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


AC Brushless Servo Motor
• The AC line, source supplies power to the main
winding.
• It also provides power to the servo drive amplifier.
• A feedback signal from a transducer is used to
indicate the actual position.
• Another input of the amplifier is a command signal
that indicates the desired position.
• The difference between the measured feedback
signal and the command signal creates an error
signal.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


AC Brushless Servo Motor
• This error signal is used to control the firing angles of
phase-shift circuits, such as those that are powered
by a triac.
• By firing the triac at different points during each
alternation, the RMS value supplied to the amplifier
output, labeled Va, can be varied.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


AC Brushless Servo Motor
• When the difference between the actual and desired
position is great, output Va will be large
• The strong magnetic field fed to the auxiliary winding
will cause the servo motor to run at a high speed.
• As the difference between the actual position and
desired position is reduced, the error also decreases.
the motor will run slower.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


AC Brushless Servo Motor
• When the object is in the desired position, error goes
to zero, and the motor stops.
• Even though the voltage supplied to the main
winding does not change, the motor will not turn
because there is no rotating magnetic field due to
the single-phase condition.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


AC Brushless Servo Motor
• When the object is in the desired position, error goes
to zero, and the motor stops.
• Even though the voltage supplied to the main
winding does not change, the motor will not turn
because there is no rotating magnetic field due to
the single-phase condition.

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST
Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST
Problems

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST


Problems

Dr. Ammar Hasan SEECS, NUST

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