Stepper Motors

Basics of Stepper Motors

Every motor converts power. Electric motors convert electricity into motion. Stepper
motors convert electricity into rotation. Not only does a stepper motor convert electrical
power into rotation, but it can be very accurately controlled in terms of how far it will rotate
and how fast.

Stepper motors are so named because each pulse of electricity turns the motor one step.
Stepper motors are controlled by a driver, which sends the pulses into the motor causing it to
turn. The number of pulses the motor turns is equal to the number of pulses fed into the
driver. The motor will spin at a rate that is equal to the frequency of those same pulses.

Stepper motors are very easy to control. Most drivers are looking for 5 volt pulses which just
so happen to be the voltage level of most integrated circuits. You merely need to design a
circuit to output pulses or use one of ORIENTAL MOTOR's pulse generators.

One of the most remarkable features of stepper motors is their ability to position very
accurately. This will be covered in depth later on. Stepper motors are not perfect, there are
always some little inaccuracies. ORIENTAL MOTOR's standard stepper motors have an
accuracy of ± 3 arc minutes (0.05°). The remarkable feature of steps motors, though, is that
this error does not accumulate from step to step. When a standard stepper motor travels one
step it will go 1.8° ± 0.05°. If the same motor travels one million steps, it will travel
1,800,000° ± 0.05°. The error does not accumulate.

Stepper motors can respond and accelerate quickly. They have low rotor inertia that can get
up to speed quickly. For this reason stepper motors are ideal for short, quick moves.

Stepper Motor System

The diagram below shows a typical stepper motor based system. All of these parts must be
present in one form or another. Each component's performance will have an effect on the
others.
The first component is the computer or PLC. This is the brains behind the system. The
computer not only control the stepper motor system but will also control the rest of the
machine. It might raise an elevator or advance a conveyor. It can be as sophisticated as a PC
or PLC or as simple as an operator push button.

The second portion is the indexer or PLC card. This tells the stepper motor what to do. It will
output the correct number of pulses that motor will move and alters the frequency so the
motor will accelerate, run at a speed, and then decelerate.

This could be a separate component like the ORIENTAL MOTOR SG8030 indexer or a pulse
generator card that slides into a PLC. The form is immaterial, but it must be present for the
motor to move.

The next four boxes make up the motor driver. The logic for phase control takes the pulses
from the indexer and determines which phase of the motor should be energized. The phases
must be energized in a particular sequence, and the logic for phase control takes care of this.
The logic power supply is a low level supply that powers the ICs in the driver. It depends on
the chip set or application design, but most logic supplies are in the 5 volt range. The motor
power supply is the supply voltage to power the motor. This voltage level is usually in the 24
VDC range but can be much higher. Finally, the power amplifier is the transistor set that
allows current to energize the phases. These are continuously turned on and off to move the
motor through its correct sequence.

All of these components will instruct the motor to move the load. The load may be a lead
screw, a disk, or a conveyor.

Types of Stepper Motors

There are currently three general types of stepper motors.

 Variable Reluctance (VR)

 Permanent Magnet (PM)

 Hybrid

ORIENTAL MOTOR only manufactures Hybrid stepper motors.

Variable reluctance step motors have teeth on the rotor and stator, but no magnet. Therefore it
has no detent torque. The Permanent Magnet has a magnet for a rotor but no teeth. Usually,
the PM magnet has crude step angles, but it does have detent torque.

Hybrid stepper motors combine the magnet from the permanent magnet and the teeth from
the variable reluctance motors. The magnet is axially magnetized meaning in the diagram to
the right the top half is a north pole and the bottom half is a south pole. On the magnet are
two toothed rotor cups with 50 teeth. The two cups are displaced 3.6° so that if we look down
the rotor between two teeth on the north pole cup, we would see one tooth on the south pole
cup directly in the middle.
These motors are two phase construction, with 4 poles per phase. The poles 90° apart from
one another make up each phase. Each phase is wound so that the pole 180° is the same
polarity, while those 90° apart are the opposite polarity. If the current in that phase were
reversed, so would the polarity. This means that we can make any stator pole either a north
pole or a south pole.

In the diagram, suppose the poles at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock are north poles and the poles at
3 o'clock and 9 o'clock are south poles. When we energize phase A 12 and 6 would attract the
south pole of the magnetic rotor, and 3 and 9 would attract the north pole of the rotor.
Looking from one end we would see the rotor teeth lining up with 12 and 6 while those at 3
and 9 would be right in the middle. If we looked from the opposite end, the rotor teeth of the
north pole would be lined up exactly with the 3 and 9 while the teeth at 12 and 6 would be
right in the middle. Depending on which direction we want to go, we would energize either
the poles at 2 and 7 as north poles, or the poles at 11 and 5 as north poles. This is where the
driver is needed to determine the phase sequencing. (Click image to start animation).

There are 50 teeth on the rotor. The pitch between teeth is 7.2°. As the motor moves, some
rotor teeth are out of alignment with the stator teeth by 3/4 a tooth pitch, 1/2 a tooth pitch,
and 1/4 a tooth pitch. When the motor steps, it is going to take the easiest route, since 1/4 of
7.2° is 1.8°, the motor moves 1.8° each step.

Finally, torque and accuracy are dependent upon the pole (tooth) count. The greater the poles,
the better the torque and accuracy. ORIENTAL MOTOR offers "High Resolution" stepper
motors. These motors have half the tooth pitch of our standard motor. The rotor has 100 teeth
so the angle between the teeth is 3.6°. When the motor moves 1/4 of a tooth pitch, it is
moving 0.9°. The resolution of our "High Resolution" models is double that of the standard
models, 400 steps per revolution versus 200 steps per revolution.

Smaller step angles mean lower vibration since we are not stepping as far with each step.

Structure

The figure below shows a cross-section of a 5-phase stepper motor. The stepper motor
consists primarily of two parts: a stator and a rotor. The rotor in turn is made up of three
components: rotor cup 1, rotor cup 2 and a permanent magnet. The rotor is magnetized in the
axial direction so that, for example, if rotor cup 1 is polarized north, rotor cup 2 will be
polarized south.

The stator has 10 magnetic poles with small teeth, each pole being provided a winding.

Each winding is connected to the winding of the opposite pole so that both poles are
magnetized in the same polarity when current is sent through the pair of windings. (Running
a current through a given winding magnetizes the opposing pair of poles in the same polarity,
i.e. north or south.)

The opposing pair of poles constitutes one phase. Since there are 10 magnetic poles, or five
phases, in this particular motor called a 5-phase stepper motor.
 There are 50 teeth on the outer perimeter of each rotor, with the teeth of rotor cup 1 and rotor
cup 2 being mechanically offset from each other by half a tooth pitch.

Speed-Torque

It is very important the you know how to read a speed-torque curve since it will tell us what a
motor can and cannot do. Speed-torque curves represent a given motor and a given driver.
Once the motor is running, its torque is dependent on the drive type and voltage. The same
motor can have a very different speed-torque curve when used with a different driver.

ORIENTAL MOTOR gives speed-torque curves for reference. If a motor is used with a
similar drive, with similar voltage and similar current, you should get a similar performance.
Refer to the interactive speed-torque curve below:

 HoldingTorque
The amount of torque the motor produces at rest when it has rated current flowing through
its windings.

 Start/StopRegion
The values at which the motor can start, stop, or reverse instantly.

 Pull-InTorque
The values of torque and speed that the motor can start, stop, or reverse in synchronism
with the input pulses.

 PulloutTorque
The values of torque and speed that motor can run in synchronism with the input phases.
The maximum values the motor can provide without stalling.

 MaximumStartingSpeed
The maximum speed the motor can start at measured with no load.

 MaximumRunningSpeed
The fastest speed the motor will run at, measured with no load.

n order to operate in the region between the pull-in and pullout, the motor must first start in
the start/stop region. The pulse rate is then increased until the desired speed is reached. To
stop, the motor speed is then reduced until it is below the pull-in torque curve.
Torque is proportional to the current and the number of turns of wire. If we want to increase
the torque by 20%, we should increase the current by about 20%. Similarly, if we want to
decrease the torque by 50%, reduce the current by 50%.
Because of magnetic saturation, there is no advantage to increasing the current to more than
2 times rated current. At that point the increase in current won't increase the torque. At
about 10 times rated current you run the risk of demagnetizing the rotor.
All of our motors have Class B insulation and can withstand 130°C before the insulation
degrades. If we allow a 30° temperature differential from the inside to the outside, the case
should not go above 100°C.
Inductance affects high speed torque. Inductance is the reason why motors don't have a high
degree of torque out to infinity. Each motor winding has a certain value of inductance and
resistance. Inductance in henrys, divided by resistance in ohms, gives us a value of seconds.
This amount of seconds (time constant) is the amount of time it takes the coil to charge up
to 63% of its rated value. If the motor is rated for 1 amp, after 1 time constant, the coil will
be at 0.63 amps. After about 4 or 5 time constants the coil will be up to 1 amps. Since
torque is proportional to current, if the current is only charged up to 63%, the motor will
only have about 63% of its torque after 1 time constant.
At low speeds, this is not a problem. The current can get in and out of the coils fast enough,
so the motor has rated torque. At high speeds, however, the current can't get in fast enough
before the next phase is switched. Torque is reduced.

Driver voltage plays a large part in high speed performance. The higher the ratio of drive
voltage to motor voltage, the better the high speed performance. High voltages force the
current into the windings at a faster rate than the 63% mentioned above.
Vibration
When a stepper motor makes a move from one step to the next, the rotor doesn't
immediately stop. the rotor actually passes the final position, is drawn back, passes the final
in the opposite direction and continues to move back and forth until it finally comes to a rest
(see interactive diagram below). We call this "ringing" and it occurs every single step the
motor takes. Similar to a bungee cord, the momentum carries the rotor past its stop point, it
then "bounces" back and forth until finally coming to rest. In most cases, however, the
motor is commanded to move to the next step before it comes to a rest.
The graphs below show the ringing under different load conditions. Unloaded, the motor
exhibits a lot of ringing. A lot of ringing means a lot of vibration. The motor will often stall if
it is unloaded or lightly loaded because the vibration is so high it will lose synchronism.
When testing a stepper motor always be sure to add a load.
The other two graphs show the motor with a load. Loading a motor properly will smooth
out its performance. The load should require between 30% to 70% of the torque the motor
can produce, and the ratio of load inertia to rotor inertia should be between 1:1 and 10:1.
For shorter, quicker moves, the ratio should be closer to 1:1 to 3:1.
ORIENTAL MOTOR application specialist and engineers can assist in proper sizing.
The motor will exhibit much wilder vibrations when the input pulse frequency matches the
natural frequency of the motor. This is called resonance and usually occurs around 200Hz.
In resonance, the overshooting and undershooting become much greater and the chance of
missing steps is much higher. The resonance changes depending on the load inertia, but it is
usually around 200Hz.
2-Phase stepper motors can only miss steps in groups of four. If you are missing steps in
multiples of four, the vibration is causing a loss of synchronism, or the load is too great. If
the missed steps are not a multiple of four, there's a good chance the wrong number of
pulses or electrical noise is causing the problems.
There are a number of ways to get around resonance. The easiest way is to avoid that speed
altogether. 200 Hz is not tremendously fast, for a 2-phase motor that is 60 rpm. Most motors
have a maximum starting speed around 1000 pps or so. So in most cases you can start the
motor at a higher speed than the resonant speed.

If you have to start at a speed below the resonant speed, accelerate through the resonant
range quickly.
Another solution is to make the step angle smaller. The motor will always overshoot and
undershoot more for bigger step angles. If the motor doesn't have to travel far, it will not
build up enough force (torque) to overshoot a large amount. Anytime the step angle is made
smaller, the motor will not vibrate as much. This is why half-stepping and microstepping
systems are so effective at reducing vibration.
Make sure the motor is sized properly to the load. By choosing the proper motor you can
improve performance.
Dampers are also available. Dampers fit on the back shaft of a motor and absorb some of
the vibrational energy. They'll often smooth out a vibrating motor inexpensively.
5-Phase Stepper Motors
A relatively new technology in stepper motors is 5-phase. The most obvious difference
between 2-phase and 5-phase (see interactive diagram below) is the number of stator poles.
While 2-phase motors have 8 poles, 4 per phase, the 5-phase motor has 10 poles, 2 per
phase. The rotor is the same as that of a 2-phase motor.
While the 2-phase motor moves 1/4 tooth pitch each phase. The 5-phase, because of its
construction, moves 1/10 of a tooth pitch. Since the pitch is still 7.2°, the step angle is
0.72°. Simply based on construction, the resolution of the 5-phase has 500 steps per
revolution versus the 2-phase with 200 steps per revolution. The 5-phase offers a resolution
2.5 times better than that of the 2-phase.
With a higher resolution you get a smaller step angle, which in turn reduces vibration. Since
the step angle of the 5-phase is 2.5 times smaller than the 2-phase the ringing, vibrations,
are much lower. In both 2-phase and 5-phase, the rotor must overshoot or undershoot more
than 3.6° to miss steps. Because the step angle of the 5-phase is only 0.72°, it is almost
impossible for the motor to overshoot or undershoot by 3.6°. The chances of losing
synchronism with a 5-phase stepper motor are very low.

Drive Methods

There are four different drive methods for stepper motors:

 Wave Drive (Full Step)

 1-2 Phases On (Half Step)

 Microstep

Wave Drive

In the diagram below, the wave drive method has been simplified to better illustrate the
theory. In the illustration each 90° turn is representing 1.8° of rotor rotation in an actual
motor.

In the wave drive method (also called the 1-phase ON method), only one phase is turned on at
a time. When we energize the A phase a a south pole, it attracts the north pole of the rotor. We
turn off A and turn on B, the rotor rotates 90° (1.8°) and so on. Each time only one phase is
energized.

The wave drive has a four step electrical sequence to rotate the motor.

2 Phases On

In the "2 phase on" method, two phases are always energized.

Once again in the illustration below, every 90° represents a 1.8° rotation. If both phases A and
B are energized as south poles, the north pole of the rotor will be equally attracted to both
poles and line up directly in the middle. In sequence as the phases are energized, the rotor
will rotate to line up between the two energized poles.
The "2 phase on" method has a four step electrical sequence to rotate the motor.

ORIENTAL MOTOR's standard 2-phase and 2-phase M type motors use the "2 phase on"
method.

What advantage does the "2 phase on" method have over the "1 phase on" method? The
answer is torque. In the "1 phase on" method, only one phase is turned on at a time, so we
have one unit of torque acting on the rotor. In the "2 phase on" method, we have two units of
torque acting on the rotor, 1 at the 12 o'clock position and 1 at the 3 o'clock position. If we
add those two torque vectors together, we get a resultant at 45° and the magnitude is 41.4%
greater. By using the "2 phase on" method we can get the same step angle as the "1 phase on"
method, but with 41% more torque.

Five phase motors are a bit different. Rather than using the "two phase on" method, we use
the "four phase on" method. Each time we turn on 4 of the phases and the motor takes a step.

The five phase motor goes through a 10 step electrical sequence.

The "1-2 phase on" method or half stepping combine the two previous methods. In this case,
we energize the A phase. The rotor lines up. At this point we keep the A phase on and
energize the B phase. Now the rotor is equally attracted to both an lines up in the middle. The
rotor has rotated 45° (0.9°). Now we turn off phase A but leave on phase B. The motor makes
another step. And so on and so forth. By alternating between one phase on and two phases on,
we have cut the step angle in half. Remember that with a smaller step angle, the vibration is
reduced.

(For a 5-phase motor, we alternate between 4 phases and 5 phases on.)

The half step mode has an eight step electrical sequence. For five phase motor in "4-5 phase
on" method the motor goes through a 20 step electrical