EEL 841 Solid State Controllers of Drives

Prof. Bhim Singh

Department of Electrical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016, India
1

Stepper Motor Drives

2

Stepper Motor
A stepper motor is an electromagnetic incremental actuator which converts digita
l pulse inputs to analog output shaft motion; The shaft of the stepper motor rot
ates in equal increments in response to a train of input pulses. When properly c
ontrolled, the output steps of a stepping motor are always equal in number to th
e number of input pulses.
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Advantages of Stepper Motor

A stepper motor is inherently a discrete motion device, therefore it is more com
patible with modern digital control techniques; It is more easily adaptable for
interfacing with other digital components; The positional error in a stepper mot
or is noncumulative; It is possible to achieve accurate position and speed contr
ol with a step motor in an open loop system; Thus, avoiding the ordinary instabi
lity problems and elimination of feedback transducers;
4

Advantages of Stepper Motor

Power consumption for intermittent operation is reduced during quiescent periods
for a permanent magnet type stepper motor; Design procedure is simpler for a st
epper motor control system
5

Applications of Stepper Motor Drives

6

Applications of Stepper Motor

Stepper motor applications may be divided into following classes: o Instrumentat
ion (low torque applications); o Computer peripherals and office equipments (med
ium torque, high performance, high volume applications); o Numerical control of
machine tools and robotics (high torque applications); o Electro medical (high t
orque applications); o Miscellaneous applications.
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Applications of Stepper Motor

Instrumentation: o Quartz watches; o Synchronized clocks; o Camera shutter opera
tion; o Mechanical converter (D/A). Computer peripherals: o Dot matrix and line
printers; o Floppy disc drives; o Digital x-y plotter; o Magnetic tape transport
; o Paper tape drive.
8

Applications of Stepper Motor

Office Equipments: o Electronic typewriter (serial printer); o Fax machine; Mach
ine tool applications: o Numerically controlled (NC) milling machine; o Index ta
ble; o Robotics; Electro-medical Applications: o X ray machines; o Radiation the
rapy units. o CAT scanners; o Ultrasound scanners.
9

Applications of Stepper Motor

Miscellaneous Applications: o Nuclear reactors; o Aerospace; o Solar panel track
ing. o Constant flow hydraulic pumps; o Tele operated TV camera; o UV spectromet
er etc.
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Classification of Stepper Motor Drives

11

Classification of Stepper Motor

12

Permanent Magnet Stepper Motor

It has permanent magnet on the rotor and also known as canstack motor; Due to it
s low manufacturing cost, it is employed in paper feed motor of printers or head
drive motor of a floppy disc drive.
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Cutaway View of 2 ph PM Stepper Motor

14

Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor

It has no permanent magnet either on the rotor or the stator; The rotor carries
no windings and has salient pole construction; Rotor and stator both are made of
soft iron stampings. The stator also has salient poles and carry stator winding
s. The number of stator poles is an even multiple of the number of phases for wh
ich the stator windings are wound. The number of phases must be at least three f
or bidirectional control of stepper motor. It can have single stack or multi sta
ck construction; The torque developed by the motor shall be more in multi stack
motor.
15

Variable Reluctance (VR) Stepper Motor

6/4 pole
12/8 pole Single Stack
16

VR Multi Stack Stepper Motor

Cross Section Parallel to Shaft
17

VR Multi Stack Stepper Motor

Cross Section Parpendicular to Shaft
18

VR Multi Stack Stepper Motor

19

Hybrid Stepper Motor

It has permanent magnet mounted on the rotor; It provides dtente torque with wind
ings de-energized; Less tendency to resonate; Higher holding torque capability;
Better damping due to the presence of rotor magnet; High stepping rate capabilit
y; High efficiency at lower speeds and lower stepping rates. It suffers from hig
h inertia and weight due to presence of rotor magnets; Performance is affected b
y change in magnet strength.
20

Hybrid Stepper Motor

Cross Section Parallel to Shaft
21

Hybrid Stepper Motor

Cross Section Perpendicular to Shaft
22

Operation of Hybrid Stepper Motor

As long as the stator winding A and B are energised in a particular manner, the
rotor stays put in the corresponding position; The rotor will move further only
when the pattern of energization of the stator windings is changed; Figures a h
in next slide represent programmed sequence; Figures a,c,e,g represent single ph
ase energisation, however, b,d,f,g represent two phase energisation; These figur
es constitute 8 step sequence in which the rotor moves 45 per step; Here one or t
wo phases are alternatively energised, therefore this sequence is known as hybri
d or mixed or 1-2 sequence.
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Hybrid Stepper Motor operation

24

1.8 Rotation Hybrid Stepper Motor

It carries a cylindrical permanent magnet sandwiched between two rotor discs; Th
e stator and rotor both are made of soft iron stampings; Each rotor disc has 50
teeth and the stator has 8 poles with 5 teeth per pole; There are 40 poles on th
e stator which can be in perfect alignment or misalignment depending on the swit
ching.
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1.8 Hybrid Stepper Motor

26

1.8 Hybrid Bifilar Stepper Motor

27

Characteristics of Stepper Motors

28

Static Characteristics
Torque Angle Curve
Torque Current Curve
Hybrid motor torque and detente torque profile
29

Dynamic Characteristics
Pull in curve: corresponds to start-stop or single stepping mode; Pull out curve
: corresponds to slewing mode;
Start Stop Mode
Torque speed characteristic
Slewing Mode
30

Dynamic Characteristics
Start-stop Mode: rotor comes to rest after one step; Slewing Mode: rotor still m
oves in response to previous pulse when next pulse arrives; Therefore motor can
overrun by several steps before stopping. Mid Frequency Resonance : Pull in curv
e of stepper motor suddenly dips very low in particular range of stepping rates;
This phenomenon os a manifestation of instability of motor operation.
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Some Definitions
Step angle (s) : It is the angle through which an unloaded stepper motor rotates
for every step of the energization se uence; i.e. s = 360/Z Steps/revolution (Z) :
For hybrid motor : Z=Nr.kws, Kws = 4 for 4 step se uence (i.e. 1 ph on or 2 ph
on) Kws = 8 for 8 step (i.e. 1-2 or hybrid) se uence of energization of stator w
inding; For single stack VR stepper motor : Ns = Nr p where p is no. of teeth pe
r phase (minimum 2) Z = p.m(m-1) for Ns > Nr; p.m(m+1) for Ns < Nr where Nr and
Ns are number of teeth in rotor and stator respectively; m is number of phases (
minimum 3)
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Some Definitions
Holding Tor ue (TH) : It is the maximum load tor ue which the energized stepper
motor can withstand without slipping from e uilibrium position; Detente Tor ue (
TD) : It is the maximum load tor ue which the un-energized stepper motor can wit
hstand without slipping; Dtente tor ue is due to residual magnetism and is theref
ore present in PM or hybrid stepper motor only; Tor ue Constant (Kt) : It is the
initial slope of the tor ue-current curve of the stepper motor, and also known
as tor ue sensitivity; Pull-in Tor ue (TPI) : It is the maximum tor ue that the
stepper motor can develop in the start-stop mode at a given stepping rate Fs (st
eps/sec), without losing synchronism;
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Some Definitions
Pull-out Tor ue (TPO) : It is the maximum tor ue that the stepper motor can deve
lop at a given stepping rate Fs (steps/sec), in the slewing mode, without losing
synchronism; Pull-in Rate (FPI) : It is the maximum stepping rate at which the
stepper motor will start or stop, without losing synchronism, against a given lo
ad tor ue T. Pull-out Rate (FPO) : It is the maximum stepping rate at which the
stepper motor will slew, without missing steps, against a load tor ue T. Respons
e Range : It is the range of stepping rate at which the stepper motor can start
or stop, without losing synchronism, at a given tor ue T. Response range spans s
tepping rates Fs FPI;
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Some Definitions
Slewing Range : It is the range of stepping rate FPI Fs FPO at which the stepper
motor can run in the slewing mode, against a given load tor ue T, without losin
g synchronism; Synchronism : This term means strict one to one correspondence be
tween the number of pulses applied to the stepper motor and number of steps thro
ugh which the motor has actually moved; Stiffness : It is the slope of the stati
c tor ue / rotor position characteristic at the e uilibrium position.
35

Analysis of Stepper Motors

36

Static Tor ue Production

For a motor with p rotor teeth and a peak static tor ue TPK at a rotor displacem
ent from the step position, the tor ue developed by the motor is approximately T
= - TPK sin p; When a load tor ue TL is applied the rotor is displaced from the
demanded position by the angle e, at which the load and motor tor ues are e ual,
i.e. TL = T = - TPK sin pe; The static position error is e = {sin-1 (- TL /TPK)}/
p; Therefore, static position error can be reduced either by increasing the peak
static tor ue or by increasing the number of rotor teeth. A motor with high sti
ffness develops a large tor ue for a small displacement from e uilibrium.
37

Static Tor ue Production

Considering a 4 phase motor with two-phases-on excitation which gives approximat
ely sinusoidal tor ue/position characteristic as shown; The first step command c
hanges excitation to phases B & C and the static tor ue at the position e then ex
ceeds the load tor ue, so the motor accelerates in positive direction; Assuming
that the motor has moved to 1 with phase BC excited, the average tor ue produced
is:
1 TM = 1 e

1
e
TPK sin ( p 2 ) d =
TPK [sin
1 sin
e ]
(1 e )
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Static Tor ue Production

The e uation of motion for the system inertia (J) is TM TL = Jd 2 / dt 2 which, a
fter solving, gives
= (TM TL ) t 2 / J + e ;
After one
eriod of escitation t
the rotor is at
osition 1 , therefore
1 = (TM TL ) t / J + e or t
= [ J (1 e ) /(TM TL )]
2

1/ 2
So the starting rate for the four
hase motor is a

roximately : Starting rate =
1/t
= [ (TM TL ) / J (1 e )]
1/ 2
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Converter To
ologies for Ste

er Motor Drives

40

3
hase Uni
olar Drive Circuit

+Vs Forcing Resistance R Free wheeling Resistance Rf 1 2 3
Phase 1 control Signal
Base Drive
41

Bi
olar Drive Circuit (one
hase)

+Vs
Phase 1+ control Signal
Base Drive
T1
D1
D2 Forcing Resistance R
T2
Base Drive
Phase 1control Signal
Phase 1 winding
Phase 1control Signal
Base Drive
T3
D3
D4
T4
Base Drive
Phase 1+ control Signal
42

Uni
olar Drive Circuit for one
hase of Bifilar Wound Ste

er Motor
+Vs Rf R 1
Phase 1+ control Signal Phase 1control Signal
Rf
Base Drive
Base Drive
43

Uni
olar Bilevel Drive (one
hase)

Circuit Phase Current
H 2
2
1
L 1
44

Uni
olar Cho

er Drive Circuit

(one
hase)
D2
T2
1 VH D1
T1
Rc
Vc
45

Control Schemes for Ste

er Motor Drives

46

Micro
rocessor based O
en Loo
Control for Ste

er Motor

47

Constant Ste

ing Rate O
en Loo
Control

48

Closed Loo
Control for Ste

er Motor

49

Micro ste

ing Control of Ste

er Motors

50

Micro Ste

ing Control

Micro ste

ing control enables the ste

er motor to move through a tiny micro st
e
of size << s in res
onse to in
ut
ulse; This overcomes the limited resolution
and mid fre uency res
onse
roblems; The
ull out curve of micro ste

ing contro
l is shown
51

Micro Ste

ing Control

In micro ste

ing control, the stator magnetic field is made to rotate through a
small angle << 90 in res
onse to an in
ut
ulse; This is achieved by modulating
currents through windings B2 and A1 in such a way that IB2 = IR Cos , while IA1 =
IR sin ; The resulting stator magnetic field will be at an angle (elect.) w.r.t.
the
ositive real axis; The
hasor diagram and the se uence table for micro ste


ing control is given in next slides. The tor ue develo
ed is same as develo
ed
under one
haseon se uence, as the resultant current remains IR; However, if the
tor ue re uired is as under two
haseon se uence then the magnitudes of the cu
rrents should be such that IA2 + IB2 = 2.
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Micro Ste

ing Princi
le

53

Circuit for Micro Ste

ing Control

Current Controller A Current Controller B
Power su

ly
IA
IB
Phase A
Phase B
1
2
3
4
54

Micro Ste

ing Table

55

Block Diagram of Microste

ing Controller

56

Block Diagram of MicroFriend II Kit

57

Advantages of Micro Ste

ing

Im
rovement in resolution by the factor MSR (micro ste

ing ratio) i.e. MSR = s / i
n as much as the smallest angle through which the motor rotates
er in
ut
ulse
is : = (1/MSR). s usual values of MSR are 5, 10, 125 and
owers of 2 u
to 128; Ra

id motion at a micro ste

ing rate MFs = MSR.Fs where Fs is full ste

ing rate;
DC motor like smooth
erformance; Elimination of mid fre uency resonance.
58

References
1. 2. 3. 4. A.C. Leenhouts, The art and
ractice of ste
motor control, Intertec c
ommunications Inc., 1987. B.C. Kuo, theory and applications of step motors, west p
ublishing co., 1974. P.P.Acarnley, Stepping Motors : a guide to modern theory and
practice, Peter Peregrinus Ltd., 1982. V.V. Athani, Stepper Motors: fundamentals
, applications and design, New age international (P) ltd. publishers, New Delhi,
1997.
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