Servo motors

1. Servo motors have been around for a long time and are utilized in many applications.
2. They are small in size but pack a big punch and are very energy-efficient.
3. These features allow them to be used to operate remote-controlled or radio-controlled
toy cars, robots and airplanes.
4. Servo motors are also used in industrial applications, robotics, in-line manufacturing,
pharmaceutics and food services.

How do the servo motors work?

1. The servo circuitry is built right inside the motor unit and has a positionable shaft, which
usually is fitted with a gear (as shown below).
2. The motor is controlled with an electric signal which determines the amount of
movement of the shaft.

What's inside the servo?

Hitec HS-322HD Standard Heavy Duty Servo

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1. Inside there is a simple set-up: a small DC motor, potentiometer, and a control circuit.
2. The motor is attached by gears to the control wheel. As the motor rotates, the
potentiometer's resistance changes, so the control circuit can precisely regulate how
much movement there is and in which direction.
3. When the shaft of the motor is at the desired position, power supplied to the motor is
stopped. If not, the motor is turned in the appropriate direction.
4. The desired position is sent via electrical pulses through the signal wire.
5. The motor's speed is proportional to the difference between its actual position and
desired position. So if the motor is near the desired position, it will turn slowly,
otherwise it will turn fast.
 6. This is called proportional control. This means the motor will only run as hard as
necessary to accomplish the task at hand, a very efficient little guy.

How is the servo controlled?

The guts of a servo motor (L) and an assembled servo (R)

 1. Servos are controlled by sending an electrical pulse of variable width, or pulse
width modulation (PWM), through the control wire. There is a minimum pulse, a
maximum pulse, and a repetition rate.
2. A servo motor can usually only turn 90° in either direction for a total of 180°
movement.
3. The motor's neutral position is defined as the position where the servo has the
same amount of potential rotation in the both the clockwise or counter-clockwise
direction.
4. The PWM sent to the motor determines position of the shaft, and based on the
duration of the pulse sent via the control wire; the rotor will turn to the desired
position.
5. The servo motor expects to see a pulse every 20 milliseconds (ms) and the length
of the pulse will determine how far the motor turns. For example, a 1.5ms pulse will
make the motor turn to the 90° position. Shorter than 1.5ms moves it in the counter
clockwise direction toward the 0° position, and any longer than 1.5ms will turn the
servo in a clockwise direction toward the 180° position.

6. When these servos are commanded to move, they will move to the position and
hold that position.
7. If an external force pushes against the servo while the servo is holding a position,
the servo will resist from moving out of that position.
8. The maximum amount of force the servo can exert is called the torque rating of the
servo.
9. Servos will not hold their position forever though; the position pulse must be
repeated to instruct the servo to stay in position.

Types of Servo Motors

1. There are two types of servo motors - AC and DC.
2. AC servo can handle higher current surges and tend to be used in industrial machinery.
3. DC servos are not designed for high current surges and are usually better suited for
smaller applications.
4. Generally speaking, DC motors are less expensive than their AC counterparts.
These are also servo motors that have been built specifically for continuous rotation,
making it an easy way to get your robot moving.
5. They feature two ball bearings on the output shaft for reduced friction and easy access
to the rest-point adjustment potentiometer.
6. Servos come in many sizes and in three basic types: positional rotation, continuous
rotation, and linear.

 Positional rotation servo:

7. This is the most common type of servo motor. The output shaft rotates in about half of
a circle, or 180 degrees. It has physical stops placed in the gear mechanism to prevent
turning beyond these limits to protect the rotational sensor. These common servos are
found in radio-controlled cars and water- and aircraft, toys, robots, and many other
applications.
 Continuous rotation servo:
8. This is quite similar to the common positional rotation servo motor, except it can turn
in either direction indefinitely. The control signal, rather than setting the static position
of the servo, is interpreted as the direction and speed of rotation. The range of possible
commands causes the servo to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise as desired, at
varying speed, depending on the command signal. You might use a servo of this type
on a radar dish if you mounted one on a robot. Or you could use one as a drive motor
on a mobile robot.
 Linear servo:
9. This is also like the positional rotation servo motor described above, but with additional
gears (usually a rack and pinion mechanism) to change the output from circular to
back-and-forth. These servos are not easy to find, but you can sometimes find them at
hobby stores where they are used as actuators in larger model airplanes.
Servo Motor Applications
1. Servos are used in radio-controlled airplanes to position control surfaces like elevators,
rudders, walking a robot, or operating grippers.
2. Servo motors are small, have built-in control circuitry and have good power for their
size.
3. In food services and pharmaceuticals, the tools are designed to be used in harsher
environments, where the potential for corrosion is high due to being washed at high
pressures and temperatures repeatedly to maintain strict hygiene standards.
4. Servos are also used in in-line manufacturing, where high repetition yet precise work
is necessary.

Self-Contained Electric Devices that Rotate or Push

1. Servo motors can be used in many ways from helping your robots walk to moving
remote-controlled boats or cars.
2. Servos range in size from miniature for small projects to larger sizes for industrial
purposes.
3. Servos are constructed from these basic parts; a motor and a potentiometer that
are connected to the output shaft and a control board.
4. The output shaft can be positioned to specific angular positions by sending the
servo a coded signal.
5. Servos are used in radio controlled airplanes to position control surfaces like the
elevators and rudders.
6. The motors are small, have built in control circuitry and have good power for their
size.

Continuous Rotation Servo Motors

1. These are servo motors that have been built specifically for continuous rotation,
making it an easy way to get your robot moving.
 2. They feature two ball bearings on the output shaft for reduced friction and easy access
to the rest-point adjustment potentiometer.

Specific Applications:
1. Building a miniature walking robot
2. Creating grippers or other mechanisms for small robots
3. Moving control surfaces on small model aircraft

Description of the DC Servo Motor System

1. A DC servo motor, with its electrical and mechanical components, provides a great
example to illustrate multi-domain modelling using first principles.
2. The DC servo motor is part of a larger system that contains the control electronics (H-
Bridge) and a disk attached to the motor shaft.
3. The overall model, spe_servomotor, is shown below, where the Input Signal (V) is the
voltage signal applied to the H-bridge circuit, and the Output Signal (deg) is the angular
position of the motor shaft.

Open the DC motor system

1. Developed a first-principles model of the DC motor within the DC servo motor

subsystem.
2. Used Simscape Power Systems to model the electrical components and Simscape
Driveline to model the mechanical components of the motor. The figure below shows
the content of the servo motor subsystem.
Open the DC Servo Motor subsystem

1. The DC motor model shows a relationship from current to torque (the green line on the
left).
2. The torque causes the shaft of the motor to spin and we have a relationship between
this spinning to the Back EMF (electromotive force).
3. The rest of the parameters include a shaft inertia, viscous friction (damping), armature
resistance, and armature inductance.
4. While manufacturers may provide values for some of these quantities, they are only
approximate.
5. Estimate these parameters as precisely as possible for our model to ascertain whether
it is an accurate representation of the actual DC servo motor system.
6. When apply a series of voltage pulses to the motor input, the motor shaft turns in
response.
7. However, if the model parameters do not match those of the physical system, the
model response will not match that of the actual system, either.
8. This is where Simulink® Design Optimization™ plays a pivotal role in estimating
parameter values. A parameter estimation process consists of a number of well-
defined steps:

 Collect test data from system (experiment).

 Specify the parameters to estimate (including initial guesses, parameter bounds, etc.).
 Configure estimation and run a suitable estimation algorithm.
 Validate the results against other test data sets and repeat above steps if necessary.

9. Simulink Design Optimization provides a Parameter Estimation tool which is a user

interface to help perform parameter estimation, organize estimation project, and save
it for future work.
10. Example :