No, an armature winder can’t repair a servo motor. Servo motors are vitally important tools in any automated industrial infrastructure, and getting these repairs exactly right should always be the purpose of any servo motor repair job. In this article, we explain what servo motors are, why armature winders can’t repair servo motors correctly, and why Motion Tronic is the best-equipped partner to handle any servo motors repairs in South Africa.
Servo motors and feedback devices
Servo motors are permanent magnet motors with feedback devices mounted onto the back of the motor. These devices are generally called encoders and they vary in terms of feedback signals. The different types of feedback signal devices include incremental encoders, absolute encoders, optical encoders, resolvers and tachos.
These small devices play an extremely important part in the operation of each servo motor, and one cannot work without the other. A common industry misconception is that these signal feedback devices can just be removed from the servo motors and the motors can then be sent to armature winders for repairs – as if they were normal motors. The servo motor is very likely to fail when reinstalled into the machine after the ‘repair’ job is complete.
This is because these feedback devices require electrical alignment in order to provide the drive with accurate position and speed information. This is critical for the machine’s accuracy, operation and overall efficiency.
Why can’t armature winders repair servo motors?
Armature winders do not carry the necessary specialised equipment to test and retrieve the correct alignment angle from these feedback encoders before stripping them. Armature winders will reassemble rewound motors and then install the encoder back onto the motor with no alignment performed.
Sometimes an armature winder can install the feedback device back onto the motor and, by sheer luck, it is close enough to the original position relative to the rotor. The problem is that the motor no longer runs efficiently and can even burn out over time.
3 reasons you can rely on Motion Tronic for servo motor repairs
- We carry specialist imported repair and diagnostic equipment to test and align encoders as well as carry out full services on any servo motors.
- We also check the integrity of magnets on each servo motor rotor by running back EMF tests on our back EMF test stand.
- Besides having the best equipment to tackle your servo motor repairs in South Africa, we also back this up by offering a 12-month warranty on all servo motor repairs carried out.
If you’d like to get your important servo motors repaired professionally, and avoid taking risks that could cost you, contact Motion Tronic today. Our world-class servo motor repair lab in Durban is skilled and capable of executing expert servo motor repairs for any South African company.
