ELECTRICAL ACTUATION SYSTEMS [MOD 2]

RELAYS

Relays are employed to have on/off switching actions in response to a

signal from control system.
When the current passes through a solenoid, a magnetic field is produced
across it and it will attract the control terminal of the switch
When the current stops flowing through the coil the spring pulls the control
terminal up and opens the contact
Relays are electronically controllable switches.
Advantages of relays are that they allow remote operation.
SOLENOIDS
A solenoid is a electromechanical device used to convert electrical energy
into mechanical energy.
A solenoid consists of a magnetic coil and plunger made of soft iron which
is connected to the coil using spring.
When voltage is appied to the coil, magnetic field is generated which brings
the plunger inside the coil.
The amount of movement of plunger for a particular application will be
proportional to the amount of current.
Solenoid can be used as push or pull device.

STEPPER MOTORS
They are devices that produce rotation through equal angles, so called-steps, for
each digital pulse supplied to its input.
STEPPER MOTOR SPECIFICATIONS

Phase :phase is the term which refers to the number of independent windings on
stator eg a two phase motor
Step angle: it is the angle through which the stepper motor rotates for one
switching change for stator coil
Holding torque: it is the maximum torque that can be applied to a powered motor
without moving it from rest position and causing spindle rotation
Pull in range: it is the range of frictional load torque at which motor can start and
stop without losing steps
Pull in torque: pull in torque is the max torque against which a motor will start for
a given pulse, rate and reach synchronism without losing step
Pull out torque: it is the max torque that can be applied to a motor running at a
given stepping rate, without losing step
Pull in rate: it is the max switching rate at which a loaded motor can start without
losing a step
Pull out rate: it is the switching rate at which a loaded motor can start without
losing a step
Slew range: The slew range is where stepper motors are usually operated. A
stepper motor cannot be started directly in the slew range. After starting the
motor somewhere in the self start range, the motor can be accelerated into or
load applied into the slew range. The motor must then be decelerated or load
reduced back into the self start range before the motor can be stopped.

CLASSIFICATION OF STEPPER MOTORS

1. PERMANENT MAGNET STEPPER MOTOR
A permanent magnet stepper motor consists of a stator with windings and a
rotor with permanent magnet poles
The rotor and stator poles are not teethed. Instead the rotor have
alternative north and south poles parallel to the axis of the rotor shaft
When a stator is energized, it develops electromagnetic poles. Magnetic
rotor aligns along magnetic field of the stator.
This way energizing the stators in a fixed sequence rotates the stepper
motor by fixed angles

2. VARIABLE RELUCTANCE STEPPER MOTOR

In variable reluctance stepper motor the rotor is teethed and made of
metal, but is not permanently magnetized.
The variable reluctance stepper has a toothed non magnetic soft iron rotor.
When the stator coil is energized the rotor moves to have a minimum gap
between stator and teeth.
The teeth of the rotor are designed so that when they are aligned with one
stator they get misaligned with next stator. Now when the next stator is
energized, the rotor moves to align its teeth with next stator
This way energizing stators in a fixed sequence completes the rotation of
step motor.

3. HYBRID STEPPER MOTOR

It combines the features of both the variable reluctance and permanent
magnet motor, having a permanent magnet encased into caps which are
cut to have teeth.
The rotor sets itself in the minimum reluctance position in response to a pair
of stator coils being energized.

STEPPER MOTOR SPEED CONTROL

A typical stepper motor control system consists of a stepper motor and a drive
package that contains control electronics and power supply. The driver is the
interface between the microprocessor and stepper motor. It contains the logic to
convert or translate digital info into motor shaft rotation. The motor will move
one step for each pulse received by driver. The microprocessor provides the
desired number of pulses at specified or programmed rate which translates into
distance and speed.

SEQUENCING LOGIC AND DRIVER AMPLIFIER

H-BRIDGE CIRCUIT

For controlling motor in both directions H bridge circuit is used. Its working is very
simple and is described below. The H-Bridge is designed to drive a motor
clockwise and anticlockwise.
To reverse a motor, the supply must be reversed and this is what the H-Bridge
does. An H-Bridge can be made with SWITCHES, RELAYS, TRANSISTORS ETC

H-bridge working
Closed Switches

Open Switches

Voltage across motor

Motion

Nil

S1,S2,S3,S4

No motion

S1,S4

S2,S3

12V (say)

Clockwise (say)

S2,S3

S1,S4

-12V

Anti-clockwise

S1,S3

S2,S4

0V

Brake

Stepping Sequence of Stepper Motors (draw a table for this)

Step Modes
Stepper motor "step modes" include Full, Half and Microstep. The type of step mode output
of any stepper motor is dependent on the design of the driver.

FULL STEP
Standard hybrid stepping motors have 200 rotor teeth, or 200 full steps per revolution of
the motor shaft. Dividing the 200 steps into the 360 of rotation equals a 1.8 full step
angle. Normally, full step mode is achieved by energizing both windings while reversing the
current alternately. Essentially one digital pulse from the driver is equivalent to one step.
HALF STEP
Half step simply means that the step motor is rotating at 400 steps per revolution. In this
mode, one winding is energized and then two windings are energized alternately, causing
the rotor to rotate at half the distance, or 0.9. Although it provides approximately 30%
less torque, half-step mode produces a smoother motion than full-step mode.
MICROSTEP
Microstepping is a relatively new stepper motor technology that controls the current in the
motor winding to a degree that further subdivides the number of positions between poles.
microstepping drives are capable of dividing a full step (1.8) into 256 microsteps, resulting
in 51,200 steps per revolution (.007/step). Microstepping is typically used in applications
that require accurate positioning and smoother motion over a wide range of speeds. Like
the half-step mode, microstepping provides approximately 30% less torque than full-step
mode.

SERVOMOTORS
A servo is a small motor that you can position at any angle very accurately.
It contains internal circuits that will automatically maintain that particular
angle.
Servo motors are small, have built-in control circuitry and have good power
for their size.
Servo motors and are constructed out of basic DC motors, by adding:

some gear reduction--- by using gear reduction system, the torque

can be increased at the expense of speed
a position sensor for the motor shaft--- A positional sensor on the
final gear is connected to a small circuit board . The sensor tells this
circuit board how far the servo output shaft has rotated
an electronic circuit that controls the motor's operation-- The
electronics on the circuit board decode the signals to determine how
far the user wants the servo to rotate. It then compares the desired
position to the actual position and decides which direction to rotate
the shaft so it gets to the desired position.
Servomotors are used in applications such as robotics, CNC machinery or
automated manufacturing.