A Detailed +tudy of +te""er and +ervo )otor Controls

<ason -lietstra% +tudent of Calvin College% Enrolled in Engr. =.> Control +ystems

AbstractAutomation and control systems have become an increasingly important aspect of industry. These systems allow for machines to run automatically minimizing human involvement in their operation. Motors are often a critical component of these machines. Two specific types of motors will be discussed further in this paper. The first is a stepper motor and the second is a servo motor. These motors have many unique benefits over tradition electric motors. This paper will seek to further discuss the control system that is found in each of these systems and describe advantages to each. Index Terms Proportional control Servo motors Stepper motors Closed loop systems Open loop systems Pulse width modulation I. INTRODUCTION Electric motors have become increasingly useful as our society has become more technologically advanced. As a society e are constantly see!ing to "roduce "roducts that are chea"er and more efficient. The most common ay that this is done is through the develo"ment of machines. At the heart of these machines one ill often find some form of an electric motor. As machines gro in com"le#ity motors must evolve to "rovide the necessary "erformance the industry re$uires. The automation industry has become increasing interested in re"eatable "osition control. Or in other ords% being able to "recisely "osition some com"onent of a machine using a motor as very im"ortant to furthering automation develo"ment. To satisfy these needs t o ty"es of motors ere develo"ed. This "a"er ill further discuss t o uni$ue ty"es of motors& ste""er and servo and there role in the automation industry. II. 'ENERA( )OTOR A traditional electric motor uses electrical energy to turn a shaft creating movement. A motor is made u" of three basic com"onents large magnets% the coils and the armature. The magnets are attached to the shaft. A series coils surround the shaft. These coils are used to create a magnetic field. This field re"els the magnets on the shaft creating tor$ue and causing it to turn. *y turning on and off the coils in a "articular se$uence ill cause the shaft to s"in. Traditional motors are able to s"in a smooth s"eed because the "o er is continuous shifting bet een the coils.

III. +TE,,ER )OTOR A ste""er motor ta!es this conce"t further. *y adding a controller to the motor one is able to control the in"uts to the coils. A controller sends s"ecific "ulses to the motor inding causing the shaft to turn. This "rocess can control the shaft ith a high degree of accuracy. An e#am"le of this can be seen in -igure .. This e#am"le uses four coils for sim"licity to control the "osition of the shaft.

-ig. . *y turning on the coils in se$uence ill cause the shaft to rotate a s"ecific amount. /.0

-igure . illustrates one com"lete rotation of a ste""er motor. At "osition .% e can see that the rotor is beginning at the u""er electromagnet% hich is currently active 1has voltage a""lied to it2. To move the rotor cloc! ise 1C32% the u""er electromagnet is deactivated and the right electromagnet is activated% causing the rotor to move 45 degrees C3% aligning itself ith the active magnet. This "rocess is re"eated in the same manner at the south and est electromagnets until e once again reach the starting "osition. 6o ever this e#am"le is e#tremely over sim"lified. An actual ste""er motor ould utili7e 855 coils that could be controlled in se$uence. This ould allo for the shaft to be "ositioned in ..9 deg increments. This ste""er motor:s shaft ould turn a full circle after it had made 855 discrete ste"s of ..9 degrees. /80 This is the most basic movement by hich a ste""er motor is controlled. This ty"e of ste" is termed a full ste" by motor terminology. There are t o other ste"s that can be made using this ty"e of motor.

The first is a half ste". This is done by turning on t o ad;acent coils at the same time. This causes the magnets on the shaft to "osition themselves half ay bet een the t o

coils creating a half ste". -urther e#"lanation of the shaft movement can be seen in -igure 8.

recirculating diodes and a sense resistor that maintains a feedbac! voltage "ro"ortional to the motor current. )otor indings% using a bi"olar cho""er driver% are energi7ed to the full su""ly level by turning on one set 1to" and bottom2 of the s itching transistors. The sense resistor monitors the linear rise in current until the re$uired level is reached. At this "oint the to" s itch o"ens and the current in the motor coil is maintained via the bottom s itch and the diode. Current DdecayD 1lose over time2 occurs until a "reset "osition is reached and the "rocess starts over. This Dcho""ingD effect of the su""ly is hat maintains the correct current voltage to the motor at all times. /=0

-ig. 8 The figure above describes ho the shaft ill move one half ste" as t o ad;acent coils are turned on together. /.0

As you can see in figure 8% in the first "osition only the u""er electromagnet is active% and the rotor is dra n com"letely to it. In "osition 8% both the to" and right electromagnets are active% causing the rotor to "osition itself bet een the t o active "oles. -inally% in "osition =% the to" magnet is deactivated and the rotor is dra n all the ay right. This "rocess can then be re"eated for the entire rotation. )a!ing using of this technology ty"ical motors controls are actuate to .4 degrees using ?55 half@ste"s. +ometimes e#treme situations call for very accurate "osition control. 3hen the "osition of the shaft must be accurate to less than .4 degrees motors controllers ill use a "rocess call microste""ing. This "rocess is achieved similarly to half ste""ing. T o ad;acent coils are given "o er causing the shaft to rotate in bet een them. 6o ever% in the case of microste""ing the une$ual amount of current a""lied to each coil ill cause the shaft to sto" at a distance bet een the shafts "ro"ortional to the difference in the current a""lied to the shaft. Using this techni$ue motor manufactures claim that their motors can have 8>A uni$ue "ositions bet een each of the coils. This means that for a motor ith 855 coils it ill have over >8555 uni$ue "ositions ithin one turn of the shaft./80 IB. +TE,,ER )OTOR *(OCC DIA'RA)+ There are many different com"onents that ma!e u" the control of the ste""er motor.

-ig ?. Diagram sho s a driver device of a ste""er motor. /=0

-ig. = This figure describes the four ma;or com"onents of a ste""er motor design. /=0

The drivers function is to ta!e "ulses created by the inde#er and transform them in to a signal that can be used to "o er s"ecific inding. In this ay the shaft of the motor ill turn. There are many ty"es of drives used by ste""er motors but the most commonly used is a bi"olar cho""er. These often are the most e#"ensive to develo" but they offer high "erformance and high efficiency. *i"olar cho""er drivers use an e#tra set of s itching transistors to eliminate the need for t o "o er sources. Additionally% these drivers use a four transistor bridge ith

The driver device o"erates similar a close loo" system here a desired set of "arameters are re$uired and the in"uts are corrected to further maintain the desired values. The diodes ithin the circuit% control monitor the current being sent to the coils of the motor and see! to maintain a s"ecified value. As the current decays it s itches to maintain the "ro"er value. This assures that the motor ill "rovide ade$uate tor$ue to turn the shaft at all times. The inde#er is a device res"onsible for receiving information from the com"uter or in"ut "ositioning device and converting it to "ulses that are used by the driver to control the "osition of the motor. The inde# is res"onsible managing control functions such as& ste"s "er second% acceleration% deceleration% and distance. This device hel"s to "reserve the motors life and "rovide smooth transitions bet een states. 3ithout using any ty"e of acceleration and deceleration the motor ould sna" in and out of "osition. This ould in turn cause are to the motors internal com"onents. At its highest level a ste""er motor o"erates using some ty"e of user interface or at least a "re"rogrammed set of commands. These commands are usually the distance or turns you ish for the motor to ma!e. +ome of the more advances interfaces ill allo the user to in"ut the desired "osition of the end of arm hich is then translated in to distance or turns of the motor.

B. +TE,,ER )OTOR CONTRO( A+,ECT+ A ste""er motor functions as an o"en loo" system. As a result the motor is "rone to s"ecific ty"es of error in "osition. At the in"ut level the o"erating system sets a desired "osition for the motor to reach. At hich time inde#er generates a s"ecific routine by hich to move to the "osition s"ecified. 6o ever there is nothing ithin "rogramming hich allo s the inde#er or the o"erating system to !no if the motor "osition is actually correct. Oftentimes% the error doesn:t lie ithin the routine s"ecified by the inde#er but is caused by a resistive tor$ue frictional load acting on the motor. This causes the motor to sli" resulting is incorrect "ositioning. +te""er motors are !no n to o"erate different amounts of tor$ue related to the s"eed at hich they are traveling.

actual "assion of the shaft itch can then be com"ared ith the e#"ected "osition. At this "oint the com"uter can be "rogrammed to ma!e the necessary ad;ustments to achieve the desired "osition. BII. +ERBO )OTOR+ The term servo motor is used by electric motor manufacturers to define a motor that is s"ecifically designed to o"erate in a closed@loo" control environment here a feedbac! device% usually monitoring s"eed% current% and "osition% etc. is used to control the "erformance of the motor./>0 Traditionally servos are o"erated on direct current ho ever servos o"erating on alternating current due e#ist. +ervo control is "erformed by continuous "ulse idth modulation 1,3)2. This "rocess controls the servo by sending it a series of "ulses hich it then inter"rets as a desired "osition that it must align itself ith. )ost servos e#"ect to see a "ulse every 85 ms. The length of this "ulse ill indicate hich ay the shaft is to turn. The figure belo ill aid in the descri"tion of ho these controls are inter"reted.

-ig. > This figure sho s the relationshi" bet een the s"eed of the motor to the amount of tor$ue that is a""lied by the motor to the shaft. /?0

The running tor$ue or "ull@out tor$ue is the ma#imum frictional tor$ue the motor can overcome on a rotating load before the load is "ulled out of ste" by the friction. In other ords% as the motor is attem"ting to sto" it is the ma#imum amount of tor$ue that can be a""lied and still sto" in the desired "osition. ,ull@in tor$ue is the ma#imum frictional tor$ue that the motor can overcome to accelerate a sto""ed load to moving s"eed. 'iven this information and combined ith the relationshi" sho n in figure >% it is obvious that ste""er motors tend to "erform more accurately at slo er s"eeds. At slo er s"eeds the motor o"erating to$ue is much higher therefore if it encounter a s"i!e in the amount of tor$ue it is less li!ely to e#ceed the running tor$ue causing the motor to sli" out of "osition. Another ay of "reventing motor sli" is by varying the s"eed of the motor over the "lanned movement. *y o"erating at a slo initial s"eed allo the motor come the startu" tor$ue due to acceleration and by slo ing to a sto" hen "ositioning the motor is able to avoid ma;or forces due to inertia due to sudden changes in direction. A good inde# controller ill have "re"rogram algorithms that ill automatically account for these as"ects. BI. C(O+IN' T6E (OO, -or some a""lications it is not sufficient to ;ust consider the startu" and shut do n of each "ositional move. +ometimes the loading is dynamic throughout the movement of the motor. In these cases the motor might sli" at any "oint in its rotational "ath. To account for these variables it is im"ortant to close the loo" of the system "roviding feedbac! to either the inde#er or to the o"erating interface. To do this an o"tical encoder is often used. This device measures the rotation of the shaft. 3hen it is used in con;unction ith a ste""er motor it is able to "rovide information about the

)otor control is achieved by each "ulse idth corres"onding to a "articular shaft angle. The circuitry ithin the motor intero"erates the "ulse idths and then causes the motor to move in the desired direction. Outside of the motor the controller of a servo motor often functions using ,ID circuits hich "rovide distinct advantages over a direct "ath of movement seen in other motors. This ty"e of e#ternal control ill be discussed later. )otors that move using "ulse idth modulation a have a distinct advantage over other motors. 3hen these motors are commanded to shift they ill move to the ne "osition and hold that "osition until a ne condition has been set. This means that a stationary servo actively holds its fi#ed "osition. If an e#ternal force "ushes against the servo hile the servo is holding a "osition% the servo ill resist from moving out of that "osition. +ervos ill not hold their "osition forever thoughE the "osition "ulse must be re"eated to instruct the servo to stay in "osition. This ma!es the system remains very reliable. -or instance% in many real life a""lications servo motors are used here un"redictable conditions and e#ternal forces often ma!e other systems inaccurate. A servo motors ability to actively ada"ted to a changing environment ma!es it an e#cellent motor ere "recision movements are im"ortant. The other "arameter that can effects the control of the motor is the am"litude of the "ulse that is being sent. As the am"litude is increased the s"eed of the res"onse is also increased. Also the amount of "o er that is su""lied to the motor is increased in this case. The amount of "o er

-ig. A The figure above describes the movement of a servo due to ,3). /A0

delivered to the motor can "roduce a verity of effects on the characteristics of o"eration of the motor. -irst% as it has ;ust been stated the s"eed of rotation can be affected. +econd the a motor ith more "o er can "rovide more tor$ue. This can be seen in greater acceleration of a loaded shaft or "rovide greater resistance to outside forces hen Fholding "osition.G The ma#imum amount of force the servo can e#ert is this situation is de"endant on the ma#imum tor$ue rating of the servo. BIII. +,EED CONTRO( +o far it has been discussed that servos are "rimarily useful hen accurate "osition control is desired. 6o ever servos can be used to "rovide accurate s"eed control for a variety of a""lications. A good e#am"le of this is the hard drive in a com"uter./H0 In order to read the drive efficiently it must be s"inning at a "articular s"eed and that s"eed must remain constant. The feedbac! loo" in the servo control measures the actual s"eed and com"ares it ith the desired s"eed after hich it ad;usts accordingly. II. ADBANTA'E+ O- +ERBO CO),ARED TO +TE,,ER+ )OTOR+ The most basic advantage of a servo motor hen com"ared ith a ste""er motor is that a servo:s closed loo" design ma!es it more resilient to changes in its environment. This means for system that o"erate in dynamic conditions servo motors "rovide a more reliable and accurate "ositioning control. Another as"ect to the closed loo" design allo s the servo to !no here it is in all circumstances. This ma!es the servo automatically com"ensate for error in its movement. In the case of the ste""er motor% if a "ositional error occur in the first of a series of movements this error ill be "assed to all subse$uent moves. 'ra"hical descri"tion of this "roblem can be seen in the figure belo .

com"ensate for the disturbances hich it encounters. This can be observed by ho the servo 1red2 line attem"ts to follo the desired "osition 1green2. It is "ossible to see that the servo line does develo" some steady state error over time. This is due to the feedbac! loo" and can be com"ensated for using a variety of methods. I. ,ID CONTRO((ER+ E--ECT ON ,ER-OR)ANCE The best ay to further im"rove system "erformance of the servo control is to add a "ro"ortional integrator and derivative control 1,ID2 to the o"eration controller. This ill eliminate the steady state error that is often associated ith closed loo" systems. Additionally the ,ID can ma!e the system more res"onsive to changes in hich it encounters. This ma!es for a system that is $uic!er and accurate. 3hen adding a ,ID the simulation used in figure H% one finds the follo ing results.

-ig. 9 A com"arison bet een a ste""er motor and a servo motor using a ,ID control.

Using a ,ID control the servo motor is able to com"ensate for disturbances in the system much faster using a traditional feedbac! loo". One can see that the res"onse time for the servo motors is much faster than the ste""er motors. Additionally the servo using a ,ID is has eliminated the steady state error seen in the first simulation. This II. ADDITIONA( ADBANTA'E+ An additional advantage of a servo over a ste""er motor is that a servo motor can move in an infinite number of ste"s hich allo it to a""roach an e#act value. The ste""erJs resolution is based on a discrete number of ste"s. 1Ty"ically ..9 deg or =.A deg "er ste"2 Each ste" covers a s"ecific range of movement. In a nutshell% a ste""er is a set of D"resetD "ositions you can move to. /80 Any "osition thatJs not "art of the D"resetsD is unattainable by that motor and can only be reached as an a""ro#imation. III. A,,(ICATION+ *oth ste""er and +ervo motors have a ide range of a""lications. *oth of these motors can be found in ide

-ig. H gra"hical re"resentation sho ing the res"onse different motors to signals disturbances. Desired "osition sho n in green. +te""er motor sho n in blue. +ervo motor sho n in red.

As sho n in the figure above% the ste""er motor 1in blue2 does not com"ensate for any disturbance for hich it encounter. Also the res"onse time for such a motor is considerably slo er than the servo motor 1red2. The servo motor because it o"erates on a closed loo" system it is able to

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range of industries. The ste""er motors is ty"ically the chea"er of the t o. -or this reason it is the first choice to be used ere critical "osition is necessary. Ty"ical uses might include inde#ing machines such as "ac!ing machines% bottle filling% and robotic motion control. The ste""er motors can be used very effectively as long as the load in hich they are moving remains static. Another "ractice that is commonly a""lied hen dealing ith ste""er motors is FhomingG the motor bet een every se$uence of moves. This "rovides a stable reference "oint for each se$uence. In this ay the motor:s accumulating error is minimi7ed bet een every se$uence. +ervo motors ada"tive abilities ma!es it the best choice hen motor "osition is critical andKor cost is not the driving factor. +ervo motors are commonly used on aircraft% advances automation e$ui"ments such as robotics% and radio control devices li!e toy cars and "lanes. Use these of devices one often see better "erformance and even an increase in cycle time hen use in con;unction ith manufacturing e$ui"ment. IIII. CONC(U+ION +te""er and servo motors "rovide a high degree of accuracy that is useful ithin a ide range of a""lications. -or this reason% the understanding of these systems is critical any u"coming engineer ho ishes to develo" the ne#t generation of machine tools. ,eo"le ill al ays desire actuate "erformance in as"ects many as"ects of their lives. As they do% engineers ill be there to design the technology that is re$uired.

IBI. *IO'RA,6N Jason lietstra as born in 'rand Ra"ids% )ichigan in .49. 6e is currently studying to com"lete his under graduate degree in engineering ith a concentration mechanics. 6is em"loyment e#"erience includes Innotec 'rou". 3here his s"ecial interest is in "roduction management and manufacturing engineering.

IIB. ACCNO3(ED')ENT The author gratefully ac!no ledges the contributions of ,rofessor Ribeiro and )att 3illiams for their insight and guidance in the creation of this "a"er. IB. RE-ERENCE+
/.0 6o +te""er )otors 3or!. 1855? Nov2 /Online0 Available& htt"&KK .imagesco.comKarticlesK"icste""erK58.html /80 )otors and ho they or!. 1855? Nov2 /Online0 Available& htt"&KK .constructionmaintenance.orgKidH9=.htm /=0 Advances micro systems +te""er )otor +ystem *asics htt"&KK .ams8555.com

/?0 D.3. <ones% Control of +te""ing )otors. 1855? Nov2 /Online0 htt"&KK .cs.uio a.eduKL;onesKste"K />0 htt"&KK .servocity.comKhtmlKho MdoMservosM or!M.html

/A0 3hat:s a servo& A $uic! tutorial. 1855? NOB2 /ON(INE0 htt"&KK .seattlerobotics.orgKguideKservos.html /H0 Introduction to +ervo Control htt"&KK olfstone.hallo eenhost.comKTech*aseKsvointMRC+ervos.html