Electrical Actuation Systems

DC MOTORS
AC MOTORS
STEPPER MOTORS
 DC MOTORS
Brush-type
• Coils of wire are mounted in slots
on a cylinder of magnetic material
called armature.

• The armature is mounted on

bearings, free to rotate.

• Field poles produced magnetic

field.
• For electromagnets motors, the
magnetism is produced by a
current through the field coils.
• The direction of
rotation is changed
either by reversing
the armature or the
field current.
 DC MOTORS
Brush-type
• Torque T= NBbLi = kti
N = number of conductors.
B = magnetic flux density
b = breadth of the coil
L = armature length
i = current
kt= torque constant

• The force result in a torque about the coil axis is

Fb.
 DC MOTORS
Brush-type
• The equivalent circuit.
• Electromagnetic induction
will occur and back e.m.f
(vb) will be induced since
the armature coil is
rotating in a magnetic
field.
• Back e.m.f. vb = kvω • Armature coil is represented
by a resistor R in series with
kv = back e.m.f. constant
inductance L in series with a
ω =angular velocity of the source of back e.m.f.
rotation
 DC MOTORS
Brush-type
• If we neglect L, then the
voltage providing the
current i through R is
V-vb.
• Hence,
I = V - vb = V - kvω
R R
• Thus, torque
T = kti = kt (V - kvω )
R
 DC MOTORS
Brush-type
• Graphs of torque against
the rotational speed, ω.
• The starting torque, when
ω=0, is proportional to the
applied voltage.
• The no-load speed is
proportional to the
applied voltage.
• Torque decreases with
increasing speed.
 DC MOTORS
Brush-type
• The electrical power converted to mechanical power
developed by a motor when operating under steady-state
condition is the product of the torque and the angular
velocity.
• The power delivered to the motor in steady-state
conditions is the sum of the power loss through the
resistance of the armature coil and the mechanical power
developed.
• Example: a small permanent magnet motor S6M41 by
PMI Motors has kt=3.01N cm/A, kv=3.15 V per thousand
rev/min, a terminal resistance of 1.207 Ω and an
armature resistance of 0.940 Ω.
 DC MOTORS
Brush-type with field coils
• DC Motors with field coils are classified as
a) series, b) shunt, c) compound and
d) separately wound.
 DC MOTORS
Brush-type with field coils
• Series-wound motor
– Armature and field coils are in series
– Highest starting torque
– Greatest no-load speed
– Danger of running at high speed
– Reversing the polarity has no effect on direction
since both the field and armature currents have
been reversed.
• Shunt-wound motor
– Armature and field coils are in parallel
– Lowest starting torque
– Much lower no-load speed
– Good speed regulation
– Very widely used since has almost constant
speed regardless of load.
– Reversing either the armature or field supplied
will reverse the direction of rotation.
 DC MOTORS
Brush-type with field coils
• Compound motor
– Two field windings, one in series and one in
parallel with the armature.
– Two combined the best features of series and
shunt wound motors.
– As a result, has high starting torque and good
speed regulation.

• Separately excited motor

– Has separate control of the armature and field
currents.
– Can be considered to be a special case of the
shunt-wound motor.

• The speed of such dc motors can be changed by changing either the armature or
the field current. Generally it is the armature current that is varied.
• Robot wrist might use series-wound motor because the speed decreases as the
load increases.
• A shunt-wound motor would be used where a constant speed was required,
regardless of the load.
 DC MOTORS
Control of brush-type
• Speed can be controlled by varying the voltage.
• Because fixed voltage supplies are often used, a variable
voltage is obtained by an electronic circuit.
• Pulse width modulation (PWM) technique is used to chop
a constant dc supply voltage so that the average value is
varied.
 DC MOTORS
Control of brush-type

– The transistor is switched on or off by applying signal

to its base.
– The diode is to provide a path for current which arises
when the transistor is off. (back e.m.f.)
– Only one direction
 DC MOTORS
Control of brush-type

– To operate is both directions, four transistors are used

– It is called H-bridge circuit.
 DC MOTORS
Control of brush-type

– By using logic gates, one input controls the switching

and controls the direction of rotation.
 DC MOTORS
Control of brush-type

Speed control with feedback

– Feedback signal provided by tachogenerator is converted by
ADC to provide digital signal to microprocessor / microcontroller.
– Output signal from microprocessor is converted by DAC to vary
the voltage to control the motor’s speed.
– Amplifier circuit is used to generate suitable voltage for the motor
as the voltage from microcontroller usually from 0V to 5V.
 DC MOTORS
Control of brush-type

Speed control with feedback from encoder

– Feedback signal is provided by encoder which give digital signal.
– After code conversion can be directly inputted to the
microprocessor.
– Sometimes, code conversion is done inside the microprocessor.
– DAC is used to provide varying analog voltage.
 DC MOTORS
Control of brush-type

Speed control with feedback from encoder

In this circuit, the system is completely digital as PWM
circuit is used to control the average voltage applied to
the armature.
 DC MOTORS
Brushless permanent magnet
• The problem with brushed
motors is their brushes tend to
wear due to the sliding contact
between the commutator and the
brushes.
• Thus brushless motors have
been designed.

• Brushless motors consists of stator coils (fixed) and

permanent magnet rotor (rotate).
• The rotor is a ferrite or ceramic permanent magnet.
• The current to the stator coiled is electronically switched
by transistors in sequence round the coils.
 DC MOTORS
Brushless permanent magnet
• Hall sensors are generally used to sense the
position of the rotor and initiates the switching
by the transistors.
• To switch the coils in sequence, we need to
switch the transistors on in the right sequence.
• When rotor in vertical position, 0°, sensor c
activated while sensor a and b is not. Thus
transistors A+ and B- are switched to move the
rotor.
• At 60°, sensor b and c are activated, transistors
A+ and C- are switched on.
http://users.tinyworld.co.uk/flecc/brushless_motor.html
http://users.tinyworld.co.uk/flecc/brushless_motor.html
http://users.tinyworld.co.uk/flecc/brushless_motor.html
http://users.tinyworld.co.uk/flecc/brushless_motor.html
http://users.tinyworld.co.uk/flecc/brushless_motor.html
http://users.tinyworld.co.uk/flecc/brushless_motor.html
http://users.tinyworld.co.uk/flecc/brushless_motor.html
 DC MOTORS
Brushless permanent magnet

• Brushless permanent magnet are becoming

increasingly used in situations where:
– High performance coupled with reliability
– Low maintenance

• Benefits:
– Quiet
– Capable of high speeds.
– Low maintenance
 AC Motors
• Classification • Single Phase
– Single-phase – Low power
requirement
• Induction
• synchronous
• Polyphase
– Polyphase
– High powers
• Induction
• synchronous
• Induction Motor
– Cheaper
– Widely used
 AC Motors
• Single-phase squirrel-cage consists of a squirrel
cage rotor (copper / aluminium bars)
• No external electrical connections to the rotor.
 AC Motors
• Rotor rotates at a speed determined by the
frequency of the alternating current applied to the
stator.
• For a constant freq. supply to a two-poles single-
phase motor, the magnetic field will alternate at
this frequency.
• This speed of rotation of the magnetic field is
termed the synchronous speed.
 AC Motors
• Three-phase induction motor
– Similar to the single-phase but has a stator with 3
windings located 120° apart.
– The three phases reach their maximum current at
different times, thus the magnetic field can be
considered to rotate round the stator poles.
– The rotation of the field is much smoother than with
the single-phase motor.
– The direction of rotation is reversed
by interchanging any two of the
line connections.
 AC Motors
• Synchronous motor
– Similar stators with three-phase induction motor but its
rotor is a permanent magnet.
– The magnetic field produced
by the stators rotates and so
the magnet rotates with it.
- Are used when a precise
speed is required.
 AC Motors
• Advantages • Disadvantages
– Cheaper – Speed control is
– Rugged complex
– Reliable
– Maintenance Free
 Stepper Motors
• Device that produces rotation through equal
angles (steps) for each digital pulse supplied to
its input.
• Ex: if 1 pulse produces a rotation of 6° than 60
pulses will produce a rotation through 360°.

• There are a number of forms of stepper motor:

– 1. Variable Reluctance Stepper
– 2. Permanent Magnet Stepper
– 3. Hybrid Stepper
 Stepper Motors
Variable Reluctance Stepper
• Rotor is made of soft steel and is cylindrical with four poles.
• When an opposite of windings has a current switched to them, a
magnetic field is produced with line of forces which pass from the
stator poles through the nearest set of poles on the rotor.
• The rotor will move until the rotor and stator poles line up. This is
called the position of minimum reluctance. Usually step angles of
7.5° or 15°
 Stepper Motors
Permanent Magnet Stepper
• A stator with 4 poles.
• The rotor is a permanent
magnet.
• When a pair of stator poles
has a current switched to it,
the rotor will move to line up
with it.
• Steps angle for this type of
motor are commonly 1.8°,
7.5°, 15°, 30°, 45°, 90°

Permanent magnet two-phase stepper motor with 90° steps. (a), (b),
(c) and (d) show the positions of the magnet rotor as the coils are energised in different
directions
 Stepper Motors
Hybrid Stepper
• Combine the features of both the
variable reluctance and
permanent magnet motors.
• Permanent magnet encased in
iron caps which are cut to have
teeth.
• Typical steps angle are 0.9° and
1.8°.
• If a motor has n phases on the
stator and m teeth on the rotor,
the total number of steps per
revolution is nm.
• Extensively used in high-
accuracy positioning
applications, e.g. in computer
hard disk drives.
 Stepper Motors
Specifications
The following are some of the terms commonly used in specifying
stepper motors: Pg 212.

1. Phase
2. Step Angle
3. Holding Torque
4. Pull-in Torque
5. Pull-out Torque
6. Pull-in Rate
7. Pull-out Rate
8. Slew Range

Stepper motor characteristics

 Stepper Motors
Control
• Two-phase motor are called bipolar motors when they have 4
connecting wires for signals to generate the switching sequence.
 Stepper Motors
Control
• Two-phase motor are called unipolar
motors when they have 6 connecting
wires for signals to generate the
switching sequence.