Summary How does a servo work?

The simplicity of a servo is among the features that make them so

reliable. The heart of a servo is a small direct current (DC) motor, similar
to what you might find in an inexpensive toy. These motors run on
electricity from a battery and spin at high RPM (rotations per minute) but
put out very low torque (a twisting force used to do work you apply
torque when you open a jar). An arrangement of gears takes the high
speed of the motor and slows it down while at the same time increasing
the torque. (Basic law of physics: work = force x distance.) A tiny electric
motor does not have much torque, but it can spin really fast (small force,
big distance). The gear design inside the servo case converts the output
to a much slower rotation speed but with more torque (big force, little
distance). The amount of actual work is the same, just more useful. Gears
in an inexpensive servo motor are generally made of plastic to keep it
lighter and less costly (see Figure 1 below). On a servo designed to
provide more torque for heavier work, the gears are made of metal (see
Figure 2 below) and are harder to damage.

Figure 1

Figure 2

With a small DC motor, you apply power from a battery, and the motor
spins. Unlike a simple DC motor, however, a servo's spinning motor shaft
is slowed way down with gears. A positional sensor on the final gear is
connected to a small circuit board (see Figure 3 below). The sensor tells
this circuit board how far the servo output shaft has rotated. The
electronic input signal from the computer or the radio in a remotecontrolled vehicle also feeds into that circuit board. The electronics on the
circuit board decode the signals to determine how far the user wants the
servo to rotate. It then compares the desired position to the actual
position and decides which direction to rotate the shaft so it gets to the
desired position.

Figure 3
Servos are controlled by sending an electrical pulse of variable width, or
pulse width modulation (PWM), through the control wire. There is a
minimum pulse, a maximum pulse and a repetition rate. A servo motor
can usually only turn 90 in either direction for a total of 180 movement.
The motor's neutral position is defined as the position where the servo has
the same amount of potential rotation in the both the clockwise or
counter-clockwise direction. The PWM sent to the motor determines
position of the shaft, and based on the duration of the pulse sent via the
control wire the rotor will turn to the desired position. The servo motor
expects to see a pulse every 20 milliseconds (ms) and the length of the
pulse will determine how far the motor turns. For example, a 1.5ms pulse
will make the motor turn to the 90 position. Shorter than 1.5ms moves it
to 0 and any longer than 1.5ms will turn the servo to 180, as
diagrammed below.
When these servos are commanded to move, they will move to the
position and hold that position. If an external force pushes against the
servo while the servo is holding a position, the servo will resist from
moving out of that position. The maximum amount of force the servo can
exert is called the torque rating of the servo. Servos will not hold their
position forever though; the position pulse must be repeated to instruct
the servo to stay in position.

Servos take commands from a series of pulses sent from the computer or
radio. A pulse is a transition from low voltage to high voltage which stays
high for a short time, and then returns to low. In battery devices such as
servos, "low" is considered to be ground or 0 volts and "high" is the
battery voltage. Servos tend to work in a range of 4.5 to 6 volts, so they
are extremely hobbyist computer-friendly.

Your servo must be connected to a source of power (4.5 to 6 volts) and the
control signal must come from a computer or other circuitry. Each servo's
requirements vary slightly, but a pulse train (as in Figure above) of about
50 to 60 Hz works well for most models. The pulse width will vary from
approximately 1 millisecond to 2 or 3 milliseconds (one millisecond is
1/1000 of a second). Popular hobbyist computers such as the Arduinos
have software commands in the language for generating these pulse
trains. But any microcontroller can be programmed to generate these
waveforms. A system that passes information based on the width of
pulses uses pulse width modulation (or PWM) and is a very common way
of controlling motor speeds and LED brightness as well as servo motor
position.