What are servo drives and servo controls?

There are four main components in a servo system, which include the servo drive and servo control. The servo drive refers to an electronic amplifier device that powers the electric servo systems. The servo control, on the other hand, identifies what the servo motor needs to do and triggers the servo drive to power the motor, so that it operates accordingly. 

How does a servo control work? 

The servo control is essentially responsible for determining the trajectory or path of the motor movement. Once it has calculated the trajectory, the servo control sends low-voltage command signals to the servo drive, which then passes the necessary voltage and electrical current to the servo motor, upon receiving the command signal. The servo motor then achieves the required motion. Servo drives are thus capable of controlling torque, position, and velocity. 

Applications

Servo drives and servo controls are used to provide power and control servo motors, and hence are important in servo systems. As such, they are used wherever servo systems are needed. The most common applications that use servo systems are:

• In robotics to actuate movements.
• In conveyor belts to move, stop and start product movement.  
• In camera to sharpen autofocus with precision. 
• In military applications like bomb detection and robotic vehicle movement. 
• In solar tracking systems to adjust solar panel angles. 
• In precise control of milling, metal cutting and metal forming equipment. 
• In antenna positioning. 
• In industrial weaving and spinning machines.