A stepper motor is an electromechanical device which converts electrical pulses into discrete mechanical movements.

The shaft or spindle of a stepper motor rotates in discrete step increments when electrical command pulses are applied to it in the proper sequence.

Whenever discrete steps are required High torque at low speeds When precision positioning is required If torque needs to be held To eliminate closed loop control (stepper motors can operate in open loop)

Machine Tools

X-Y and X-Y-Z Positioning

Process Control
Main Conveyor Drive Assembly Line parts positioning

Business Machines

Copy Machine- lens positioning and paper feed Printer- positioning the matrix print head

Computer Peripherals

Rotation angle is proportional to input pulse Motor has full torque at standstill Precise positioning and repeatability of movement Excellent response start/stop/reverse Open loop control possible Achieve low speed with a directly couple load Realize a wide range of speeds Inexpensive relative to other motion control systems Easy to set up and use Overload safe. Motor cannot be damaged by mechanical overload

Low efficiency. Motor draws substantial power regarldess of load. Torque drops rapidly with speed (torque is the inverse of speed). Low accuracy. 1:200 at full load, 1:2000 at light loads. Prone to resonances. Requires microstepping to move smoothly. No feedback to indicate missed steps. Low torque to inertia ratio. Cannot accelerate loads very rapidly Motor gets very hot in high performance configurations. Motor will not pick up after momentary overload Motor is audibly very noisy at moderate to high speeds. Low output power for size and weight.

Current flows through the coil creating a magnetic field A metallic core channels the field perpendicular to the rotor Depending on the polarity of the field an attraction or repulsion drives the rotor

Current pulses are applied to the motor, and this generates discrete rotation of the motor shaft By controlling the pulses the rotation speed can be controlled

If a coil is energized the closes rotor edges will be attracted to that coil. As long as the coils remain energized the rotor will remain stagnant. By energizing coils the correct sequence the motor will discretely rotate

 Stepping

motors are electric motors without commutators Commutation is handled externally by the motor controller Controller charges opposite coils attracting the center rotor magnets

Open loop
The motors response to digital input pulses provides open-loop control, making the motor simpler and less costly to control.

Brushless
Very reliable since there are no contact brushes in the motor. Therefore the life of the motor is simply dependant on the life of the bearing.

Incremental steps/changes

The rotation angle of the motor is proportional to the input pulse.

Speed increases -> torque decreases

There are two basic winding arrangements for the electromagnetic coils in a two phase stepper motor: bipolar and unipolar.

unipolar

bipolar

A unipolar stepper motor has two windings per phase, one for each direction of magnetic field. In this arrangement a magnetic pole can be reversed without switching the direction of current. motors have a single winding per phase. The current in a winding needs to be reversed in order to reverse a magnetic pole. motors have higher torque but need more complex driver circuits.

Bipolar

Bipolar

Variable-reluctance 2. Permanent-magnet 3. Hybrid

1.

Variable-reluctance motors are not very common but easy to understand Rotor made of soft iron and has multiple teeth Stator wound type stator If the stators are energized with DC current the poles are magnetized and the rotor is attracted to the stator

 Rotor

magnetized with alternating north and south poles situated in a straight line parallel to the shaft Stator wound type stator Characteristics Low Cost Low Precision High Torque

Like the name implies the hybrid motor is a combination of VR and PM motors. The rotor has teeth and axially concentric magnets around its shaft. More Expensive Better step resolution Better torque Better speed

Half Stepping there are 8 stages

Assume two coils are A and B 1. Coil A is set high 2. Both coils A and B are high 3. Only B is high 4. B is high A is low 5. Only A is low 6. Both A and B are low 7. Only B is low 8. A is high B is low

Microcontrollers are often used to control stepper motors because:

Compatible

steppers Fast Can easily be programmed to work with steppers of other types Can produce the waveform used to drive small stepper motors

with the discrete movements of