Glossary

Acceleration, maximum from stall The acceleration rate of an un-

loaded motor, initially at rest, at the instant a current I pk is applied;
KT Ipk
Tfriction
am ¼
Ja
Ambient temperature The temperature of the cooling medium
immediately surrounding the motor.
Armature reaction The production of a magnetic field 90 electrical
degrees in the direction opposite to the direction of armature
rotation. This magnetic field is produced by armature current.
Bandwidth The frequency range in which system response is within
3 dB of the specified response.
Block diagram A simplified representation of a servo system with
each component represented by a block and each block is positioned
in the order of signal flow through the system.
Bode plot A plot of system gain in decibels versus the log of signal
frequency.
Break frequency The frequency (lines) at which the asymptotes of the
gain versus frequency plot intersect.
Characteristic equation The characteristic equation of a servo system
is 1 þ GH ¼ 0 where G is the transfer function of the forward signal
path and H is the transfer function of the feedback signal path.

Copyright 2003 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved

 Circulating current The current flow in armature conductors that are
short-circuited during commutation.
Cogging The nonuniform rotation of a motor armature caused by
tendency for the armature to prefer certain discrete angular
positions.
Computer simulation The representation of an actual or proposed
system by mathematical models with a computer.
Corner frequency See ‘‘break frequency.’’
Coupling ratio A general term to define the relative motion between
motor armature and the driven load.
Critical damping A critically damped system’s response to a
disturbance is a return to its equilibrium state without overshooting
its equilibrium state.
Crossover frequency The frequency at which the magnitude of the
product of the forward path gain and the feedback path gain is unity.
Damping The amplitude decay of an oscillatory signal.
Damping ratio A measure of system damping expressed as the ratio
between actual damping to the value for critical damping.
Dead band A range of input signals for which there is no system
response.
Decibel (dB) A measure of system gain in units of 20 log10(gain).
Dielectric test A high-voltage test of the motor insulation system’s
ability to withstand an AC voltage. Test criterion limits leakage
current to a specified maximum with the test potential at a specified
magnitude and frequency applied between the motor case and
insulation.
Dynamic breaking A method for braking a DC servo motor by
controlling armature current during deceleration.
Efficiency The ratio of power output to power input: n ¼ Po =Pi .
Electrical time constant The electrical time constant of a DC servo
motor is the ratio of armature inductance in henries to armature
circuit resistance in ohms: te ¼ La =Ra .
Fall time The time for the amplitude of system response to decay to
37% of its steady-state amplitude after the removal of the steady-
state forcing function.
Feedback A function of the directly controlled variable in such form
as to be used at the summing point.
Field weakening A method of increasing the speed of a wound field
by reducing field strength by reducing field current.
Figure of merit (FOM) The ratio of the square of peak available
motor torque to armature inertia: FOM ¼ Tpk 2 =Ja . ‘‘Maximum
power rate’’ is a term used interchangeably with FOM.

Copyright 2003 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved

 Flux biasing A method for controlling the torque constant of a servo
motor by varying the field strength of a separate wound field
assembly.
Form factor The form factor of a current is the ratio of its root mean
square (rms) value to its average value.
Full load current The armature current of a motor operated at its full
load torque and speed with rated voltage applied.
Full load speed Armature speed of a motor operated with rated
voltage and full load torque.
Gain The ratio of system output signal amplitude to system input
signal amplitude.
Gain margin The magnitude of the system characteristic equation at
the frequency for which the phase angle of the product of the
forward path and feedback path gain function is
180 degrees.
Hard servo A machine servo drive where the position loop gain is
higher than 2 inches per minute per mil (33/sec).
Hunting Oscillation of the system response about zero error
condition due to insufficient damping.
Incremental motion system A control system that positions the load
in small discrete steps rapidly and repetitively.
Inertial match An inertial match between motor and load is obtained
by selecting the coupling ratio such that the load inertia referred to
the motor shaft is equal to the motor inertia.
Lag network An electrical network that increases the delay between
system input signal and system output signal.
Lead network An electrical network that decreases the delay between
system and system output signal.
Lead screw A device for translating rotary to linear motion
consisting of an externally threaded screw and an internally
threaded carriage (nut).
Linearity The maximum deviation from a straight line between zero
and output at specified speed expressed as a percentage of the
output at the specified speed.
Loop gain The gain product of the forward path and feedback path
gain function.
Machine servo compensation The use of an analog filter technique or
digital algorithm to stabilize a servo drive.
Mechanical time constant The time for a motor to reach 63.3% of its
final velocity after applying armature excitation:

tm ¼ JT Ra =Ke KT

Copyright 2003 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved

 No-load speed Motor speed with no external friction load.
Nonlinearities A term used to identify components of a servo drive or
servo plant (machine) that have an output characteristic that does
not have a continuous linear relation between the output and the
input.
Phase lock servo A digital control system in which the output of an
optical tachometer is compared to a reference square wave to
generate a system error signal proportional to both shaft velocity
and position.
Phase margin The phase angle of the loop gain minus 180 degrees at
the crossover frequency.
PID An abbreviation for types of servo mechanism compensation
(proportional, integral, and differential).
Poles Terminology of root locus plotting for the frequency at which
system gain goes to unity.
Reflected inertia Inertias of machine components reflected to the
drive motor shaft.
Regulation An expression for the amount of drop in motor speed as
load torque is applied to the motor:

Regulation = (no-load speed full-load speed)/no load speed

Resonance A condition evidenced by a large oscillating amplitude,

which results when a small amplitude of a periodic input has a
frequency approaching one of the natural frequencies of the drive
system.
Ripple torque The cyclical variation of generated torque at a
frequency proportional to the product of motor speed and the
number of commutator segments.
Safe operating area curve The boundary on the speed curve inside of
which the motor may be operated continuously without exceeding
its thermal rating.
Servo A learned borrowing from Latin where it meant ‘‘slave.’’ A
feedback control system in which the output (controlled variable)
follows the input (command) within the bandwidth of the servo.
Servo loops Elements of a servo drive, which include a forward loop
and summing junction of an amplifier, and a feedback loop.
Multiple servo loops can have one servo loop inside another to
improve performance and accuracy.
Soft servo A machine servo drive where the position loop gain is
between 0.5 and 2.0 inches per minute per mil (Kv is between 8 and
33/sec).

Copyright 2003 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved

 Speed regulation For a speed control system, the variance in set speed
expressed as a percentage of set speed.
Stability A condition where the output of a servo oscillates or is
oscillatory for an input that is constant, consistent, and is not
oscillating.
System order The degree of the system characteristic equation.
System stiffness A measure of system accuracy when subjected to
disturbance signals.
System type The number of poles located at the origin of the loop-
gain function.

Copyright 2003 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved