Repair And Exchange Of Servo Amplifier In Industrial Electronics

It is essential to include the exchange programs when deciding about the right company to select for repairing industrial electronics or servo motors. This is because these companies that is on the exchange program send a motor that works to help the customer to continue their normal life activities using this replacement till they repair the part. It is possible to continue working till the repaired unit is returned.

Factor in this consideration regarding the exchange program when you decide about the best service company for industrial repairs. You can continue to work without interruptions at the facility where you work as well as benefit with great savings. You will only be paying a fraction of the cost when you repair and use remanufactured parts instead of brand new motors.

It is not necessary to wait when the repairs are being carried out when one is using the exchange process. The remanufactured spare part is used to replace the malfunctioning part and help continue to run the facility smoothly. It is not necessary to maintain a huge inventory of various machine parts in case one of them does not function properly.

The advantage is that your facility continues to function with the backing of the industrial repair company. These types of servo motor exchange and repair companies enable people to avoid incurring huge costs for maintaining inventories by providing equipment from their inventory. They prefer to collaborate with companies that use the exchange facility for repair as well as delivery. Given below are some methods used by industrial repair companies in the exchange process

·         The website of the company can be visited and the exchange form filled

·         The full price for the remanufactured unit should be paid upfront

·         Downtime is eliminated as the item is quickly shipped

·         The malfunctioning motor is quickly returned to the repair company after boxing it up when the remanufactured item is received for efficient motion control

·         Once this item having malfunctions are received, the customer credit for the item is issued by the company

Make sure you collaborate with a company that offers and deals with equipment such as spindle, servo motor, servo amplifier, VFD drive, monitor, spindle amplifier, power supply and so on. This equipment should also work with electronic manufacturers such as Indramat, Allen Bradley, Yaskawa, Siemens, Fanuc and Xycom. These companies also serve as a one stop solution for every requirement and you can avoid running to different repair services every time you run into a problem.

Servo amplifier

Servo is the name of the motor used to control and manage the mechanical performance of particular machines. In engineering terms it refers to an automatic device and applies this control theory to provide the actual power for the whole mechanism to work. These electric motors have inbuilt motion sensors to control applications for highly controlled motion.

Servo motor control is focused at sensing errors in the mechanism which will then send instant negative feedback or signals to correct this error and enable smooth uninterrupted functioning. These signals can correct multiple parameters from speed to mechanical position.

Controlling a mechanical position with servo amplifier –

Servo mainly uses electric motor to create mechanical force. The concept of servo motor control lies on two factors – there is an actual position and there is a desired position within the mechanism. The difference is sensed and an error signal is then amplified and then converted to reduce or completely erase the error. Other than electric force some servos also use magnetic, pneumatics or hydraulic force to correct position. They are widely used in military and marine navigation systems, satellite tracking.

Controlling a mechanical speed with servo amplifier –

The use of servo in controlling speed has seen many earlier applications like the steam engine. Today the application of servo motor control is found in trains, airplanes as well as ships. But that’s not all. These are also integral part of machine which run huge industrial functions and run the complex industrial motions. The applications of speed control can be seen from complex airplane navigation, to the cruise control function of a car, to a hard disk drive in the laptop, in both cases focusing in error free and precise performance.

Servo motor control is one of the key components of robotic functioning. Constant error sensing feedback keeps all parts of a robotic function in check. They also need very little power to run on and are ideal of machine like robots which run on batteries. They are also essential parts of any remote controlled device. These range from remotes for a child’s toy to a complex one to manage a submarine or an aircraft. Basically they are keys to any application which needs precise mechanical functioning and where error would mean malfunction with serious ramifications. This is why it is so important for the defense industry. Servo mechanism can make smooth functioning through unfriendly terrains as well as hard weather conditions.

The use of servo mechanism is the basis for mechanical accuracy.

Mechanics of a Servo Control System

A servomotor is an essential component of a servo control system or servomechanism. It is usually paired with an encoding device to accurately provide the speed or position feedback detail. However, not all servomechanisms require a servomotor. A domestic furnace is a good example of a servo control device that does not use a servomotor. The thermostat in a domestic furnace acts as a servomechanism in the sense that it depends on feedback and error-control; however, no motor is directly controlled by it for performing this task.  

Classification of Servos

Servo amplifiers can be further classified based on the type of their performances and their feedback control:

·         Type 0- This type of servos typically generate a constant output value when the error signal remains constant under steady state

·         Type 1- These produce a constant output value when the error signal is null under steady state conditions. However, a constant change of reference would imply a constant error in reference tracking

·         Type 2 – These are capable of providing a steady output value with a null error signal under a steady state. Here a constant change in the reference provides zero error in reference tracking but a steady rate of acceleration of the reference would mean there is a constant error in reference tracking

Here, the bandwidth of the servo control systems, indicate their ability to respond to the rapidly changing input commands.

Servo Amplifier

A servo amplifier is a part of the closed loop servo control drive system is designed to primarily control the performance of a mechanism. Basically they are four-quadrant, power amplifiers with regenerative features and equipped to supply power according to the control voltage to the overall motor. These servo amplifiers can supply energy to the load, as well as absorb energy from the load. They are also designed to convert the kinetic energy of the combined motor load into electrical energy while the load is decelerating.

The output of a servo amplifier is an analogue circuit. The circuit enables the current and voltage of the motor to be adjusted to control position, torque and velocity. The feedback and comparator stages though can have a mixture of analog and digital devices.

Few ideal characteristics that are desired in a servo amplifier are as follows:

• Constant Velocity – ability to maintain the commanded velocity. Tachometers are used to record the aberrations between the commanded and actual motor speed.

·         Infinite Acceleration – an ideal amplifier must be able to provide infinite acceleration which can be observed by abruptly starting and stopping the motor.

·         Linear response – the amplifier need to respond proportionally to the changes in the velocity input command.

·         Hold Position – the amplifier should drive the motor in such a way that the latter holds its position irrespective of any external force or disturbance.

·         Overload protection – a low resistance circuit should be there to protect the amplifier from excessive current.

There are a host of servo amplifiers in the market but one should be careful while choosing an amplifier. The compatibility of the servo amplifier with its servo is to be ensured. Some notable types of servo amplifiers are as follows:

• Push Pull amplifiers – one of the earliest designs of amplifiers designed primarily for two transistors to get switched on/off to share the current load for the motor.
• Chopper amplifier – another primitive DC-motor based amplifier that finds limited usage today.
• L Type (Linear Motion) Servo Amplifier – it is fitted with linear positioning function you can basically construct a linear positioning system using such amplifiers as a ball screw or rack & pinion.
• Digital Amplifier – it is usually used for higher machine performance as it promises improved reliability and repeatability through digital technology.
• R Type (Rotation) Servo Amplifier – it provides an additional rotation angle indexing function. Rotation angle index system can be constructed using this amplifier.
• DC servo amplifier – both brush and brushless amplifiers can be found in simple DC motors