5. Servomotors
This chapter focuses on a second type of motor intended for motion control—the servomotor, or servo. Whereas steppers rotate through an angle and halt, many servos rotate continuously. Properly controlled, a servo can do everything a stepper can and more. In addition to setting the rotation angle, the controller can configure the servo’s rotational speed and acceleration. This added control is the main advantage of servos over steppers.
The main disadvantage is that designing a servo controller is a difficult process. As explained in Chapter 4, “Stepper Motors,” a stepper can be controlled with a simple sequence of discrete pulses. With servos, the control signals are more involved. The goal of this chapter is to explain why this ...
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