Faculty of Applied Technical Sciences

Department of Mechatronics Engineering

Sensors & Actuators Laboratory
(ME3620)
First Semester 2019/2020

Experiment Title:
Solenoid servo Motor

 Introduction

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Solenoid: Solenoids are basically electromagnets: they are made of a big coil of copper
wire with an armature (a slug of metal) in the middle. When the coil is energized, the slug is
pulled into the center of the coil. This makes the solenoid able to pull from one end, or push
from the other.

Solenoid 

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Servomotors: can be defined as simply as a rotary actuator or linear actuator, read as motors,
with built-in control circuitry.

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The simple servo has a power, ground, and control pin. The control pin is usually just a PWM
signal. The change in the width or timing of the pulse tells the servo what to do. For servos that
only turn to a certain degree, it is usually along the lines of a 1 ms pulse for the 0 degree
position, a 1.5 ms pulse for 90 degrees, and a 2 ms pulse for 180 degrees.

Servo motor 

1 Objective
Our objective was to observe and analyses how the Solenoid behave when we change to change
the voltage to different values (higher or lower) or with shorter or longer Duty cycle.

2 Apparatus and Materials

 Lab-view Computer software

 QNET Actuators DC motors and solenoid kit

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Solenoid

Kit Overview
The QNET Mechatronic Actuators board consists of a solenoid, two brushed DC motors, a brushless DC motor, an unipolar stepper motor, and a
servo motor. One of the brushed DC motors is commanded through a linear power amplifier, the other is commanded by a PWM amplifier. The
solenoid can be used to couple the two brushed DC motors. The brushless DC motor, stepper motor and servo motor are driven by a PWM
amplifier. Current sense is used to read the current supplied to each of the motors, the angular position of the motors is measured by
photomicrosensors.

3 Procedure

At first we open the desired file for the Solenoid that’s called “QNET Actuators-DC Motor and
solenoid.vi.” then we activate the solenoid by pressing and depressing the power button. As what
is recommended in Lab sheet we touch the solenoid and then characterize the solenoid
temperature

While the program is running we have controlled the current values by made shorter or longer
duty cycle and the voltage was running continuously at 6V

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  Data and analysis
Our solenoid specifications:

Stroke VS Force Force vs amp-turns

Description Resistance at Number of Volts Part

20C turns DC Number
Solenoid, open 15 1080 6V MCSMO-
frame, push 6V OHM Turn DC 0630S06STD

With the previous procedure we had for desired duty cycles {100%, 50%, 25%,
and 10%} with resistance (R) =15 ohm and voltage (V) =6V the current (I) for
each duty cycle (D) by OHM’S law  I= (D*V)/R

Duty Cycle (D) Current (I) A

100% 0.4
50% 0.2
25% 0.1
10% 0.04

Sample of I calculations
I= {(25%)*(6V)}/15 OHM = 0.1A
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I= {(50%)*(6V)}/15 OHM = 0.2A

We observed that the current increased with increasing the duty cycle without any
variation in both resister and voltage

 Discussion
The solenoid is a device that when activated with up to 6VDC, the solenoid
moves and then the voltage is removed, it springs back to the original position.
And when we turn the solenoid on its push the PMW Motor (while the motor is
on) to contact with the Linear DC Motor (which it does not move) to cause the
move in Linear DC Motor due to contact that caused by solenoid.

And we observe in our experiment that the solenoid can run continuously at
6VDC, but there is another way to get higher Voltage by have shorter duty
cycle.

That clearly shows through duty cycle (ON,OFF) time. When we decreasing the
ON time the duty cycle decreasing

D= (TON )/(TON+TOFF)

And from our experiment we observed that the magnetic field is become lower
with the distance increase due to that the holding force become lower while we
going further.

 Problems & Errors

As we know that the solenoid generates a magnetic field by current flowing due
to that the solenoid heating more current flow time more heat. While we have
done our experiment when we turn the solenoid on, it is heating rapidly and turn
of due to heat.

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  Solution
To overcome this problem we recommend to change duty cycle, such we can
increase the voltage by increasing the duty cycle and this operation will reduce
the increasing rate of the temperature.

 Applications

1 Solenoid Actuator-based Novel Type of Micropump

In the medical field and in biotechnology, a new type of micropump that can supply micro liquid
flow has urgently been demanded, and the proposed micropump is able to make a micro flow
and is suitable for the use in medical applications and in biotechnology.

2 High speed solenoid valves in pneumatic servo applications

Pneumatic driving systems are mainly used in industrial applications where the moving parts are
usually fixed by the mechanical stops. For flexible and precise positioning tasks of pneumatic
drives.

 Conclusion

In conclude in this experiment we dealt with solenoid by change and observation

we use the lab view software and the QNET mechatronics kit. Also we had seen
that how the solenoid operate continuously at 6V DC. And we had seen that we
can get higher voltage or current by increasing the ON Time (Duty cycle). Finally
we saw the effect of temperature on our system.

 References

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  http://www.ni.com/

 https://www.yottavolt.com/shop/qnet-mechatronic-actuators-board/

 https://www.solenoid.com.tw/

 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/

 https://en.wikipedia.org/

 https://www.digikey.sg/

 Measurements & Instrumentation class notes by Dr. Jumana Abu

Khalaf, 2019.

 Measurement & Instrumentation Principles”, Alan S. Morris, 3rd edition.

 Measurement and Instrumentation - Theory and Application”, Alan S.

Morris and Reza Langari.