STEPPER MOTOR

Stepper motor is a specially designed DC motor that

can be driven by giving excitation pulses to the phase
windings.

They cannot be driven by just connecting the

positive and negative leads of the power supply.

They are driven by a stepping sequence which is

generated by a controller.
The motor moves in steps according to this sequence.
Lets discuss the basic theory behind the stepper
motors
 BASIC CLASSIFICATION OF STEPPER
MOTORS

Based on the type of construction stepper motors

can be classified as,

Variable Reluctance (VR) stepper motor

Permanent Magnet (PM) stepper motor
Hybrid stepper motor
 VARIABLE RELUCTANCE (VR) STEPPER
MOTOR
The variable reluctance stepper motors are those
which have a rotor made of ferromagnetic
substances.
Hence when the stator is excited it becomes an
electromagnet and the rotor feels a pull in that
direction. The ferromagnetic substance always tries
to align itself in the minimum reluctance path.
By exciting the coils, a magnetic fieldis
procured and air gap reluctance is varied. Hence
it is called a variable reluctance stepper motor.
In this motor, the direction of the motor is
independent of the direction of the current flow in
the windings
 PERMANENT MAGNET (PM) STEPPER MOTOR

Here the rotor is permanently magnetized.

Hence , the movement of the motor is due to the
attraction and repulsion between the stator and
rotor magnetic poles.

In this motor , the direction of the motor is directly

dependent of the direction of the current flow in the
windings as the magnetic poles are reversed, changes
the direction of the current flowing through the rotor.
 HYBRID STEPPER MOTOR
The hybrid stepper motor, as the name suggest is a
motor designed to provide better efficiency by
combining the proses of both the permanent magnet
stepper motor and variable reluctance stepper motor.

The VR and PM stepper motors are the most common

type of stepper motors.

The only difference is that, in the variable reluctance

stepper motor [VR] , the rotor is made of a
ferromagnetic substance and in the case of
permanent magnet stepper motor [PM] , the rotor is
permanently magnetized.
 STEPS ANGLE
The angle by which the rotor of the steeper motor
moves when one pulse is applies to the stator [input] is
called steps angle.

This is expressed in Degrees.

The [step number] or resolution of positioning of a

stepper motor is decided by the steps angle.

Smaller the steps angle the higher is the [step number]

or resolution of positioning of the motor.

The steps number or [resolution] of a motor is the

number of steps it makes in one revolution of the rotor.

Resolution =
 APPLICATION OF STEPPER MOTORS
Stepper motors have a wide range of application.
Computer controller.
Tape drives.
Floppy disc drives.
Robotics.
Textile industries.
Ic fabrication.
Electric watches.
Used in production of science fiction movies.
Industrial automation.
To play an integral part in the design of CNC
(computer numeric control)
VAIABLE RELUCTANCE [VR] STEPPER MOTOR

The principle of operation of a variable reluctance

motor is based on the property of flux lines to
carry low reluctance path.

The stator and rotor therefore get aligned such that

the magnetic reluctance is minimum.

A [VR] stepper motor can be of.

single-stack type
The multi-stack type.
 SINGLE-STACK VARIABLE RELUCTANCE
STEPPER MOTOR
A variable reluctance stepper
motor has salient-pole or
[tooth] stator.

The stator has concentrated

winding placed over the stator
poles or[teeth].

The number of phases of the

stator depends upon the
connection of stator coils.

The rotor is a slotted

structure made from
ferromagnetic material and
carries no winding.
 When the stator phases are
excited in a proper sequence
from dc source with the help
of semiconductor switches, a
magnetic field is produced.

The ferromagnetic rotor

occupies the position which
presents minimum reluctance
to the stator field.

Both the stator & rotor are

made up of high quality
magnetic materials having a
very high permeability so that
the existing current required
is very small.
ELEMENTRY OPERATION OF A VARIABLE RELUCTANCE STEPPER MOTOR

It is a 4/2- pole [ 4 poles in stator

& 2 poles in rotor], single stack
variable reluctance stepper motor.

Four phases A,B,C, & D are

connected to dc source with the
help of semiconductor switches
SA,SB,SC, & SD respectively.

The phase windings of the stator

are energised in the sequence
A,B,C,D,A,B,

When winding A is excited, the

rotor aligns with the axis of phase
A. the rotor is stable in this position
and cannot move until phase A is de-
energised.
Next,
Phase B is energised and A is de-
energised.

The rotor moves through 90 in

clockwise direction to align with
the resultant air gap field which
now lies along the axis of the
phase B.

Further steps 90 in the clockwise

direction.
In this position, the rotor aligns
with the resultant air gap field
which now lies along the axis of
phase C .
Thus , as the phases are excited in
the sequence A,B,C,D,A,B, The
rotor moves through the steps of
90 at each transition in clockwise
direction.

The rotor completes one revolution

through four [4] steps.
The direction of rotation can be
reversed by reversing the sequence
of switching the windings, that
A,D,C,B,A,

It is seen that the direction of

rotation depends only on the
sequence of switching the phases
and is independent of the direction
of current through the phase.
The magnitude of step angle for any PM or VR stepper motor is
given by

= 360/ms Nr
= step angle.
Ms =number of stator phases or stacks.
Nr= number of rotor teeth or rotor poles.

The step angle is also expressed as

= Ns-Nr/NsNr *360
The steps angle can be reduced by 90 to 45 by exciting
phases in the sequence A, A+B , B , B+C, C,C+D, D, D+A,
A.

Here A+B means the phase windings A and B are

excited together and the resultant stator field will be
midway between the poles carrying phase winding A and
B.

That is the resultant field axis makes an angle 45

with the axis of pole A in the clock wise direction.

Therefore when phase A is excited, the rotor aligns

with the axis of phase A.
When phase A and B excited together, the rotor
moves by 45 in clock wise direction.

For Anticlockwise rotation by reversing sequence

A, A+D, D, D+C, C, C+B, B , B+A ,A.

This method of gradually shifting excitation from

one phase to another is known as micro-stepping.
PERMANENT MAGNET (PM) STEPPER MOTOR
The stator of this type of
multipolar.
the stator has 4 poles.
around the poles of exciting
coils are wound .
The no of slots per pols per
phase is usually chosen as
one in such multipolar
machine.
The rotor may be silent or
smooth cylindrical .but
generally it is smooth
cylindrical type.
 The voltage pulsates to the stator winding can be
obtained by using driving circuit

The basic circuit for 4 phase permanent magnet

stepper motor is shown.

It is made out of ferrite material which

permanently magnetized . Due to this the motor is
called as permanent magnet stepper motor.
Operation

As soon as voltage pulses are applied to various

phase with the help of driving circuit, the rotor
starts rotating to a step for each in put voltage
pulse.

At first SW1 is closed exciting the phase A. Due

to its excitation we have N pole in phase A As
shown in Fig.
due to electro mech, torque developed, rotor
rotates such that the magnetic axis of par,
magnet rotor adjusts with the magnetic. axis of
the stator as shown in fig