AC servo motors and drives refer to the motors that control the operation of mechanical components in a servo system; they are a type of auxiliary motor indirect speed-changing device. Servo motors can control speed with very high positional accuracy, converting voltage signals into torque and speed to drive the controlled object. The rotor speed of a servo motor is controlled by the input signal and can respond quickly. In automatic control systems, they are used as actuators and possess characteristics such as a small electromechanical time constant and high linearity. They can convert received electrical signals into angular displacement or angular velocity output on the motor shaft.
As one of the important drive sources for modern industrial production equipment, AC servo systems are an indispensable foundational technology for industrial automation. This article summarizes the current development trends and research and application results of AC servo systems and provides a prospect for their future development.
Currently, AC permanent magnet servo drive systems based on rare-earth permanent magnets can provide the highest level of dynamic response and torque density. Therefore, the development trend of drive systems is to replace traditional hydraulic, DC, and stepper speed-regulating drives with AC servo drives to achieve a new level of system performance, including shorter cycle times, higher productivity, better reliability, and longer lifespan.
Therefore, AC servo motors, as a crucial pillar technology in automatic control systems, have been widely applied in many high-tech fields, such as laser processing, robotics, CNC machine tools, large-scale integrated circuit manufacturing, office automation equipment, radar and various military weapon servo systems, and flexible manufacturing systems (FMS).
Comparison of Stepper Motor and AC Servo Motor Performance
Stepper motors are discrete motion devices, fundamentally linked to modern digital control technology. Currently, stepper motors are widely used in domestic digital control systems. With the emergence of fully digital AC servo systems, AC servo motors are increasingly being used in digital control systems. To adapt to the development trend of digital control, motion control systems mostly use stepper motors or fully digital AC servo motors as actuators.
AC servo motors and drives are common and have a wide range of applications. However, there are many common problems in their selection and application. If maintenance is neglected during use, it can easily affect the motor's lifespan, thus delaying production and leading to cost losses. By paying attention to a few key points in daily use, we can significantly extend the lifespan of motors. Therefore, today I'll share some tips on how to maintain AC servo motors during application, hoping they will be helpful to you.