Servo System

This study is made possible by the availability of a motor potentiometer from All Electronics at small
cost. The item is catalog number MPOT-10K, and costs $4.00. It is manufactured by Alps, and the motor
is marked MD157320, the body 725t 10BX2. The potentiometer is dual 10k, so one potentiometer can be
used for feedback of the position, while the other serves as the output. What we are going to do here is to
make a remote-controlled potentiometer that repeats the setting of the control potentiometer. This is a
typical feedback system, but since it involves a mechanical element, it is called a servomechanism, or
servo, for short. The output could be the shaft position, as well as the electrical output of the controlled
potentiometer. In fact, the output of most servos is mechanical.

The motor pot consists of a small DC motor, gearing that drives the
sliders, the support for the potentiometer resistances, and a shaft. The
connections are shown at the right. We are looking at the motor end;
the shaft is at the other end. It is slightly disappointing that the
potentiometers are Siamese twins, so they are not completely
independent, but that is little matter for our purposes. A clockwise
rotation of the shaft, looking from the shaft end, increases the
resistance between the common end and the sliders. A voltage applied
to the motor terminals with the marked polarity turns the shaft anticlockwise, bringing the sliders toward
the common ends. The motor requires a little more than 2 V to begin turning, so that 5 V is a reasonable
maximum. The motor draws about 30 mA or a bit more. There are two connection pins (not shown) on
the shaft side of the potentiometer connections that light a red LED that shines through the hole in the
shaft. As you face the shaft, the anode is at the right. Pins 1 and 8 appear to be connected to nothing.

An elementary servo circuit is shown at the left. The usual

op-amp, here an LF411, cannot drive the motor by itself, and
must be helped by transistors. The complementary 2N3904
and 2N3906 can do the job nicely, but, of course, any small
complementary pair could be used. The LF411 is used as a
comparator here, which is allowed by its common-mode
range. The output saturates one direction or the other to drive
the motor. With a ±5 V supply, the motor voltage will be
between 3.5 and 4 V, so no further arrangments are
necessary. In this simple circuit, the motor is driven one way
or the other at full voltage. A more complicated circuit could
provide more sophisticated control.

This circuit finds the proper position rapidly, following the control potentiometer. It then oscillates on
either side of the correct position at a frequency of about 5 Hz. Observe the output voltage of the op-amp
with the oscilloscope on the slowest speed sweep. If the feedback has the wrong sign when you test the
circuit, simply exchange the connections to the op-amp inputs.

The elimination of the hunting is a more challenging problem than would appear at first sight. If the
voltage applied to the motor is decreased as the equilibrium position is approached (proportional control),
the motor will stop short at some point. If this is satisfactory, then the problem is solved, but there will be
a little annoying hysteresis because of the finite voltage required for movement. If the error signal is
integrated (integral control), it will cause the motor to approach a more correct position until the error is
zero. These refinements are not (at this time) within the scope of this exercise, which is to illustrate basic
servo control, but are discussed at length in any text on control systems.

On my first try, a quick, erroneous understanding of the connections ruined the potentiometer
immediately, when it rotated to one limit. This, however, gave me the opportunity to disassemble the
system and find out what it looked like inside, especially to clarify the connections. The LED was
discovered in this way, which had been something of a mystery. The gearing is ingenious. A worm gear
on the motor drives a spur gear which is connected to a hypoid right-angle drive, with a ring gear with
inclined teeth driven by a curious worm gear. There is a friction connection to the shaft, so that the shaft
can be rotated manually. Of course, the motor gear does not reverse. The whole is nicely manufactured,
and probably cost considerably more than the $4.00 it brings as surplus.