Hybrid Stepper Motor & Phase

winding Switching
Aruna
 Hybrid Stepper Motor
• Introduction: Hybrid stepper motor combines the features of PM and VR
stepper motor.
• The constructional view of the rotor of the motor is given in the figure in
slide 3. it consists of an axial permanent magnet at two ends of which are
attached two identical ferromagnetic stacks as shown in figure.
• These stacks contains equal number of teeth on each stack in this case 3
teeth.
• One end of the stack attains north (N) magnetic polarity and the other end
stack gets south (S) magnetic polarity.
• The two stacks have an angular displacement of ½ of rotor tooth pitch.
• The stator has salient poles structure which is continuous from one end to
other end of the stator structure.
• The stator poles carry concentrated windings.
To understand the construction north
poles are given in red color and south in
blue color.
When phase A is energized with current I
N pole at A+ and S pole at A- are created
on the stator.
• The pole A+ attracts S poles of far end of the rotor and A- attracts the N
pole of front end of the rotor.
• The equilibrium position of the rotor structure results in maximizing the
flux linkage with the phase winding A. here rotation Ѳ = 0⁰.
• To rotate the rotor in clockwise direction de-energize the phase A winding
and energize the phase B winding. So that N pole at B+ and S pole at B- at
the stator.
• The pole B+ attracts the S pole of rear end and pole B- attracts the N of
front end so the angular rotation of 30⁰ clockwise is achieved. In this
position maximum flux linkages are now linked with phase B winding.
• If the excitation was removed from phase B and reverse the excitation is
applied to the windings of phase A, pole A+ attracts N pole and A- attracts
S pole in this way one revolution completes with a step angle of 30⁰ CW.
• Sequence of excitation for clock wise direction is A+,B+,A-,B-,A+ ….
• Sequence of excitation for clock wise direction is A+,B-,A-,B+,A+ …
• As in PMSM the rotor poles in HSM also tend to align themselves with the
stator when stator excitation currents are absent.
Different configurations for switching the
phase windings
• The commonly used configurations for switching the phases of a step
motor are
1. H-type (or bridge type) connection for each phase, with four switches per
phase. Unipolar supply is sufficient, full winding is used in this case.
2. Bipolar supply with two switches for each phase. Here full winding is
used.
3. Unipolar supply with two switches for each phase but with midpoint
provided for each phase. (such windings are often wound as bifilar
windings). In this case only one half of the phase winding is used.
1. H or bridge type connection with unipolar supply:
• There are 4 switches per phase, if switch 1 and 2 are ON, the current
flows from A1 to A2. when these are OFF the stored energy in the
inductive winding is fed back to the supply via diode D3 and D4. figure a
in slide 4.
• If switches 3 and 4 are ON, the current flows from A2 to A1, when 3 And
4 are off the inductive energy in the winding is fed back via D1 and D2.
2. Bipolar supply configuration:
• The number of switches are reduced to 2.
• When S1 is ON the current flows from A1 to A2, when it is OFF, the
stored energy is fed back via D2 into battery E2.
• When S2 is ON, the current flows from A2 to A1. when it is OFF the
energy is fed back to the battery E1 through D1. Figure b
3. Unipolar supply with centre- tapped windings:
• Two switches are used in this case. If s1 is ON the current flows from A1
to ground (one pole of the supply is also grounded) and if S1 if OFF the
current free wheels through diode D1.
• If S2 is ON the current flows from A2 to ground and if S2 is OFF the
current free wheels through the diode D2.
• Bifilar winding:
• The coupling factor between two windings is unity only when two
windings occupy the same physical space which is not possible.
• The coupling factor is defined as the square root of the ratio between the
converted and the stored energy.
• Bifilar winding is a winding which has centre-tap with two sections of the
winding close to each other.
• Two long wires which are made to run through entire windings to form two
sections. The end of one section is joined to beginning of the second
section by external connection.
• The junction point becomes common or mid-point of the winding.
• The two left over terminals are marked as the beginning and the end of the
winding say A1 and A2. if current flows from A1 to the midpoint the mmf
of the coil is in one direction and if current flows from A2 to midpoint the
mmf is reversed.
• When S1, is closed an mmf is created by A1, when S1 is opened the
recording mmf induce a current in A2 which draws out the power supply
via D2. since A1 and A2 are strongly coupled there is minimal energy loss.
• When S2 is closed, A2 is excited and then S2 is opened, a current induced
in A1 which draws out through D1 to power supply.
 Control Circuit for Stepping Motors
 The control and drive circuit forms an role on overall stepping motor
drives.
 A Large variety of control circuits are possible depending on whether the
motor is operating in open loop or closed loop and whether it is 2-phase or
3-phase motor.
 In open loop control the rotor position is not sensed to find out whether the
motor has actually executed a step or not for the given command.
 Open loop control is quiet satisfactory for many applications, provided the
motor is able to develop enough torque to position the load against external
and frictional torque and the time interval between the input pulses is
sufficiently large.
 If these conditions are met with, the motor does not fail to step (except for
unforeseen mechanical jams), and when once it executes the steps, the
positional error even for a large number of steps is limited only to a
fraction of last step, and that too only if there is some load torque.
• In closed loop control the rotor position is actually sensed by suitable
position transducers like photo sensors or hall sensors, and the command
for the next step is given only if the motor has executed the previous
command.
• The pulse input rate is not constant but increases automatically as the
motor picks up speed. At the same time, the closed loop operation prevents
the motor from losing a step.
• From physical considerations, it is obvious that even in open loop control
the input pulse rate can be gradually increased as the motor picks up speed.
But , it is difficult to adjust the pulse rate manually as there is always the
danger of losing synchronisation, resulting to total failure. So it is safe to
apply minimum stepping rate throughout the operation.
• In closed loop control this disadvantage is overcome by automatic
adjustment of the pulse input rate.
• The final speed attained in closed loop control may be so high that after the
application of last pulse the motor may not come to rest within that step but
overshoot the target.
• So, the equality between the number of pulses sent and the number of steps
made is lost, it is therefore necessary to brake the motor just before it
reaches the final position and to reverse the direction in case of overshoot.
 Closed loop control of stepper motor
• Closed-loop control scheme was developed by T R Fredriksen of IBM in 1967
for hybrid stepper motor. With slight variations other typed of stepper motors
can be operated.
• A new command is not given until the previous command is fulfilled.
• Depending on the inertia and the load, the first step may take more time, but
the command for the next step will be given only when the first step is
finished.
• The time taken for the rotor to move through the second step will be less,
for the third step even lesser. So the main initial criteria is to identify the
rotor position by suitable means. The part that accomplishes the rotor
position sensing is called discriminator.
• The command for switching come from discriminator or position sensor
mounted on the shaft of the rotor.
• The position sensor consists of a thin (opaque) plastic disc which has as
many small holes drilled along the periphery as the number of rotor tooth.
• Depending on the rotor position and external signals like CW, CCW and
STOP, the phase of the stepper motor A1, A2, B1, B2 are switched ON and
OFF. The logic circuit which accomplishes this function is known as
Translator. The translator, step motor and discriminator form a minor
closed loop.
• Signals like CW, CCW and STOP comes from comparator which compares
the number of steps the motor is desired to move with the actual number of
steps it has already completed based on the count obtained from
discriminator.
• Depending on the comparator output is positive, zero or negative, signal
CW, STOP or CCW are generated and fed to the translator.
• The discriminator, the counter and the comparator form a major feedback
loop.
• The rotor position is actually sensed by suitable position transducers like
photo sensor or hall sensor and the command for next step is given only
when the motor executes previous steps.
 Advantages and Disadvantages
1. PM stepper motor:
Advantages:
a) Simple construction
b) Less maintenance
c) No contamination
d) Provide detent torque
e) Position error is not accumulated
f) Both closed and open loop control is possible
Disadvantages:
g) High Inertia
h) More weight
i) Output power and size are limited
j) Response has overshoot and oscillations
k) Friction loss increases position error
l) Performance may be affected by change in magnetic strength
2. VR Stepper Motor:
Advantages:
a) Low inertia
b) No permanent magnet on rotor
c) Able to free wheel
d) Can be operated with high stepping rate and slew with high speed
Disadvantages:
e) Low efficiency at low voltages and low stepping rates
f) Provides no detent torque
g) Mid-frequency resonance may be present
h) Step angle is between 3.6 and 30
3. Hybrid stepper motor:
Advantages:
a) Provides detent torque
b) High stepping rate and holding torque
c) Gives high efficiency even at low speed and low stepping rates
d) Better damping
e) Less tendency to resonate
Disadvantages:
f) Higher inertia
g) More weight
h) Performance may be affected by change in magnetic strength
 Applications of Stepper Motor
• The major advantages of stepper motors have non-cummulative position error,
open loop control and compatible with digital equipment. These advantages
together with availability of fast switching semiconductor devices and digital
controllers at low cost are the reason that stepper motors are used in various
fields.
I. Medium torque (1 to 2 kg/cm) stepper motor:
1. Stepper motors are extensively used in computer peripherals:
a. Floppy / hard disc drivers.
2. In printers:
a. Graph plotters
b. In dot matrix and line printer they are used in paper advance mechanism.
3. Office equipment:
a. Facsimile machine and photocopier: they are used for driving drum and
recording pen.
4. Photocopier:
a. Laser beam scanner polygon mirror
b. Photosensitive drum
c. Development roller and print unit
5. Automobiles:
Motors are used in mechanical operations like closing and opening of glass
windows, door latching, wiper moment etc..
6. Clocks: step frequency of 1 step/sec
a) Tiny motor in wrist watches
b) Synchronized clocks in railway platform: there is one crystal controller
clock which sends pulses to other clocks. On receiving the pulses motor in
other clock moves in synchronism.
c) Factories
d) Office buildings
7. Milling machines: high torque
a) Three motors are used for independent position control in X-Y-Z
directions.
b) for automatic assembly and machining operations motors are used for
moving index table.
c) Industrial and home sewing machines.
8. Robots:
d) For actuating joints
e) Picking and placing the jobs
9. Semiconductor technology:
a) Goniometer used to determine structure of crystal
b) Electron beam microfabricators for mass production of largescale
integrated circuits.
c) X-ray scanning machines used for quality control of printed circuit boards
and wafer chips use stepper motors for positioning the scanning head.
10. Medical field:
a) Dispense units
b) Chromatography auto injector
c) Digital dental photography
d) X-ray machines
e) Ultrascanners
f) Radiation therapy units
g) Blood analysis machinery
h) Respirators
11. Artificial satellites and space vehicles
12. Hybrid stepper motors designed for operation in high vacuums