The Difference Between Stepper Motors, Servos, and RC Servos

By Roger Arrick

Stepper motors:
A stepper motor's shaft has permanet magnets attached to it. Around the body of the motor is a series of coils that create a magnetic field that interacts with the permanet magnets. When these coils are turned on and off the magnetic field causes the rotor to move. As the coils are turned on and off in sequence the motor will rotate forward or reverse. This sequence is called the phase pattern and there are several types of patterns that will cause the motor to turn. Common types are full-double phase, full-single phase, and half step. To make a stepper motor rotate, you must constantly turn on and off the coils. If you simply energize one coil the motor will just jump to that position and stay there resisting change. This energized coil pulls full current even though the motor is not turning. The stepper motor will generate a lot of heat at standstill. The ability to stay put at one position rigidly is often an advantage of stepper motors. The torque at standstill is called the holding torque. Because steppers can be controlled by turning coils on and off, they are easy to control using digital circuitry and microcontroller chips. The controller simply energizes the coils in a certain pattern and the motor will move accordingly. At any given time the computer will know the position of the motor since the number of steps given can be tracked. This is true only if some outside force of greater strength than the motor has not interfered with the motion. An optical encoder could be attached to the motor to verify its position but steppers are usually used open-loop (without feedback). Most stepper motor control systems will have a home switch associated with each motor that will allow the software to determine the starting or reference "home" position.

Servo motors:
There are several types of servo motors but I'll just deal with a simple DC type here. If you take a normal DC motor that can be bought at Radio Shack it has one coil (2 wires). If you attach a battery to those wires the motor will spin. See, very different from a stepper already!. Reversing the polarity will reverse the direction. Attach that motor to the wheel of a robot and watch the robot move noting the speed. Now add a heavier payload to the robot, what happens? The robot will slow down due to the increased load. The computer inside of the robot would not know this happened unless there was an encoder on the motor keeping track of its position. So, in a DC motor, the speed and current draw is a affected by the load. For applications that the exact position of the motor must be known, a feedback device like an encoder MUST be used (not optional like a stepper). The control circuitry to perform good servoing of a DC motor is MUCH more complex than the circuitry that controls a stepper motor.

RC Servos:
Often when talking about robots the word "servo" really means an RC (remote control) servo motor. This is a small box designed for use in hobby airplanes and cars. Inside this box is a complete servo system including: motor, gearbox, feedback device (pot), servo control circuitry, and drive circuit. It's really amazing that they can stick all of that in such a small package. RC servos normally have 3 wires: +v, ground, control. The control signal is a pulse that occurs at about 50hz. The width of the pulse determines the position of the servo motors output. As you can see, this would be pretty easy to control with a digital controller such as a Basic Stamp. Most will run on 5-6 volts and draw 100-500ma depending on size.

What is the difference between a DC motor and servo motor?

DC motor

Servo motor
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A DC motor has a two wire connection. All drive power is supplied over these two wiresthink of a light bulb. When you turn on a DC motor, it just starts spinning round and round. Most DC motors are pretty fast, about 5000 RPM (revolutions per minute). With the DC motor, its speed (or more accurately, its power level) is controlled using a technique named pulse width modulation, or simply PWM. This is idea of controlling the motors power level by strobing the power on and off. The key concept here is duty

cyclethe percentage of on time versusoff time. If the power is on only 1/2 of the
time, the motor runs with 1/2 the power of its full-on operation. If you switch the power on and off fast enough, then it just seems like the motor is running weakertheres no stuttering. This is what PWM means when referring to DC motors. The Handy Boards DC motor power drive circuits simply switch on and off, and the motor runs more slowly because its only receiving power for 25%, 50%, or some other fractional percentage of the time. A servo motor is an entirely different story. The servo motor is actually an assembly of four things: a normal DC motor, a gear reduction unit, a position-sensing device (usually a potentiometera volume control knob), and a control circuit. The function of the servo is to receive a control signal that represents adesired output

position of the servo shaft, and apply power to its DC motor until its shaft turns to that
position. It uses the position-sensing device to determine the rotational position of the

shaft, so it knows which way the motor must turn to move the shaft to the commanded position. The shaft typically does not rotate freely round and round like a DC motor, but rather can only turn 200 degrees or so back and forth. The servo has a 3 wire connection: power, ground, and control. The power source must be constantly applied; the servo has its own drive electronics that draw current from the power lead to drive the motor. The control signal is pulse width modulated (PWM), but here the duration of the positive-going pulse determines the position of the servo shaft. For instance, a 1.520 millisecond pulse is the center position for a Futaba S148 servo. A longer pulse makes the servo turn to a clockwise-from-center position, and a shorter pulse makes the servo turn to a counter-clockwise-from-center position. The servo control pulse is repeated every 20 milliseconds. In essence, every 20 milliseconds you are telling the servo, go here. To recap, there are two important differences between the control pulse of the servo motor versus the DC motor. First, on the servo motor, duty cycle (on-time vs. off-time) has no meaning whatsoeverall that matters is the absolute duration of the positivegoing pulse, which corresponds to a commanded output position of the servo shaft. Second, the servo has its own power electronics, so very little power flows over the control signal. All power is draw from its power lead, which must be simply hooked up to a high-current source of 5 volts. Contrast this to the DC motor. On the Handy Board, there are specific motor driver circuits for four DC motors. Remember, a DC motor is like a light bulb; it has no electronics of its own and it requires a large amount of drive current to be supplied to it. This is the function of the L293D chips on the Handy Board, to act as large current switches for operating DC motors. Plans and software drivers are given to operate two servo motors from the HB. This is done simply by taking spare digital outputs, which are used to generate the precise timing waveform that the servo uses as a control input. Very little current flows over these servo control signals, because the servo has its own internal drive electronics for running its built-in motors.

What is the difference between Stepper Motor and DC Servo Motor ?..... pls read inside?
please answer with reference to practical aspects like...... 1) how many terminals are there in stepper motor & dc servo motor? and what are they? (Ex: a simple dc motor has 2 terminals only, +ve & -ve) 2) what kind of (driver) circuit is needed to drive these two motors? (Ex: it's just a battery for dc motor) 3) which of these three is used for (or produces) maximum torque? 4) which of these three gives most precise & accurate movt? 5) give an example each, where these motors are used? (PS: i'm making a robot, and want to use correct motor for it)
3 months ago

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The Ghost of Harrison

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A stepper motor moves a discrete amount per pulse (or step) given to it. The connections to it are power and an encoder of some type. Power is usually just two power leads and a ground wire. The encoder connection can vary greatly, but most modern encoders use a CANbus of Fieldbus (AB Devicenet or Siemens Profibus being the most common) connection, which is five terminals: +24V, 0V, can hi, can lo, and shield. There are older greyscale, analog, BCD and optical encoders as well, but those are largely outdated. Steppers give the most accurate movement and are what are used in all modern industrial robots. They do however require a relatively sophisticated drive unit (Siemens Movidrive and AB Ultra3000 being the current industry standards), and are typically run from a PLC or robot controller digital output card. A DC servo motor is a normal DC motor with a position and speed feedback loop. They will also often use an optical encoder for their feedback, but instead of being moved by alternating phase pulses from the power wires, they are fed a constant phase DC power and the voltage is varied according to the parameters required. These are used often in "smart" conveyor sytems where nearly continuous running is required, but speed and/or location of parts must at times be matched within certain limits. The main advantage is that the controller is much simpler and less costly.
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veeyesve...

1) how many terminals are there in stepper motor & dc servo motor? and what are they? (Ex: a simple dc motor has 2 terminals only, +ve & -ve) The stepper motor has often 5 terminals, with one common and four coils. 2) what kind of (driver) circuit is needed to drive these two motors? (Ex: it's just a battery for dc motor).For stepper motor, you require drivers which will sequentially switch one or more coils. They are switched in quadrature. 3) which of these three is used for (or produces) maximum torque?. Stepper motor can give some torque, but dc motors can give I guess higher torque. 4) which of these three gives most precise & accurate movt? Stepper motors can provide accurate precise movement 5) give an example each, where these motors are used? dc motors are usd in toys. Stepper motors are used in printers. o o
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What is the Difference Between Stepper Motors & Standard DC Motors?

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Using the right motor can make the difference between success and failure in your electrical project. Though similar, DC motors and stepper motors are not the same. The differences between them make each more suitable for different applications.

1. Function
o

A DC motor runs continuous electric current through its coil, causing the coil to rotate smoothly within an enclosing magnetic field. A stepper motor also has a coil of wire placed between magnets, but it receives pulses of electricity, causing it to move in discontinuous steps.

Responsiveness
o

DC motors respond more rapidly than stepper motors.

Accuracy
o

DC motors can be positioned more accurately. Any errors in a stepper motor's position are noncumulative, unlike DC motors. Therefore, over time DC motors may become less accurate than stepper motors.

Cost
o

Stepper motors usually cost less than DC motors. However, under high loads or high accelerations, DC motors may prove more cost-effective.

Applications
o

DC motors are most appropriate for applications where the motor must drive a heavy load, accelerate quickly or respond quickly. Stepper motors are better for digital applications.