Special

p
Motor Drive System
y
By:
Dr. Rosmiwati Mohd-Mokhtar

Stepper motors are special motors that are used when motion
and position have to be precisely controlled.
It is a digital electro-mechanical device where each step
command pulse (electrical pulse input) results in movement of
the shaft by a discrete angle called step angle of the motor.
By varying the pulse rate, the motor can be made to advance
very slowly, one step at a time, or to rotate stepwise (clockwise
& counter clockwise) at speeds as high as 4000 rpm.
rpm
The behavior of a stepper motor depends greatly upon the
power supply that drives it.
Application: Precise positioning device in machine tools, X-Y
plotters, typewriters, tape-decks, valves, robotics and printers.

Simple stepper motor in which each step moves the rotor by 60 is

shown below.

Permanent magnet stepper motor

that advances 30 per step

Stepper motor can be divided into 3 categories:

1. Variable reluctance single-stack & multi-stack
2. Permanent magnet
3. Hybrid
y
Hybrid motor having a 4-pole stator and two 5-pole armatures
mounted on the same shaft. The salient poles on the first armature
are all N poles, while those on the second armature are all S poles.
Each step produces an advance of 18

Advantages:
1.
Compatible with digital systems and do not require D/A conversion at the
input.
2.
Simple open-loop control is good enough to control position and speed.
3.
Wide range of step angles is available (1.8
(1 8 to 90).
90) The range of torque is from
1 Nm (tiny wristwatch motor) to 50 Nm (machine tools application).
4.
Bidirectional control is available.
5.
Max torque occurs at low pulse rate. Thus, stepper motor can accelerate its
load easily.
6.
Low speeds are possible without a reduction gear.
7.
Moment of inertia is usually low.
8.
Starting current is low.
9.
Multiple stepper motors driven from the same source can maintain perfect
synchronisation.
synchronisation
Disadvantages:
1.
Efficiency is low.
2
2.
Proper matching between load
load, motor and its drive is required
required.
3.
Resonance can be a problem with variable reluctance motors.

Torque developed by a stepper motor depends upon current.

The torque that the motor can exert while moving from one
position to the next is called pull-over torque.

As the stepping rate is increased, rotor has less time to drive

the load from one position to the next
next.
Beyond certain pulsing rate, rotor cannot follow the command
g
to miss p
pulses.
and begins

In order to maintain synchronism, the

rotor must settle down before advancing
t the
to
th nextt position.
iti
If the value of load torque and pulsing rate
are such that the point of operation lies to
the left of curve 1, then the motor can
start & also synchronise without missing a
pulse.
Say for torque 2.2 Nm, the maximum possible stepping rate,
without losing count, is 500 steps per sec. Beyond that, motor will
l
lose
synchronism.
h
i
If the motor drives a device having some inertia, the permissible
start
start-stop
stop rate drops to about 400 steps per sec for the same load
torque (curve 2).

Area between curve 1 and 3 or curve 2 and 3 represents various

torque values,
l
the
h range off stepping
i
rate allowable
ll
bl without
ih
l i
losing
step provided that it has already been started and synchronised
before.
Area is known as slew range and motor is said to operate in
slewing mode.
Slew range is useful for speed control but not suitable for position
control.
To
start/stop
the
motor,
it
has
to
be
gradually
accelerated/decelerated. This process is known as ramping.

A stepper motor is usually driven from a low voltage dc source.

In order to maximize torque capability of a step motor,
motor drive
circuit should be such that the current builds up and decay as
fast as possible.
This is important especially when high stepping rates are
required.
The drive circuits are designed to incorporate this requirement.
h a unipolar
l or b
l winding
d
h
Stepper motors use either
bipolar
on the
stator.

Unipolar winding consists of two coils per pole (4-pole stator).

Unipolar
U
i l means that
th t the
th currentt in
i a winding
i di
always
l
fl
flow
i the
in
th
same direction.
Th transient
The
i
response is
i slightly
li h l faster.
f

The pull-out
pull out curve corresponds to
the slewing characteristics; the pullin curve corresponds to the startwithout-error characteristic.

a) Coil arrangement in a 4-pole unipolar winding. b) Schematic diagram of coils,

switches, and power supply in a unipolar drive. c) Current pulses in a wave drive
using a unipolar winding.

When switch s1 is closed, phase A winding is connected to the dc

source Vd and the phase current builds up.
When it is opened, the phase current decays in the freewheeling path
consist of phase A, DF and RF.
The external resistor RE reduces the electrical constant,
constant thereby
speeding up the current build-up.
Value of external resistor RE is chosen to fix the value of the electrical
ti
time
constant
t t and
d then
th
th source voltage
the
lt
Vd is
i chosen
h
t produce
to
d
th
the
rated current IR in the phase winding.

Vd I R RE R p

Rp phase winding resistance

During the ON period of the switch, phase current also flows

through the external resistor RE causing energy dissipated.
Also, energy
gy stored in the p
phase winding
g inductance during
g ON
period is all dissipated in free-wheeling circuit resistance when
the switch is turned OFF.
Thus, unipolar circuit is highly inefficient, and only suitable for
low power stepper motors.
By using chopper principle, the unipolar drive circuit is capable
on providing fast current build-up and decay.

In a 4-pole stator, the bipolar winding consists of two coils

sets.
The coils can be excited sequentially in three different ways:
1. Wave drive
2. Normal drive
3. Half-step drive
a ed
drive
eo
one
e set o
of co
coils
s is
se
excited
c ted at a ttime.
e
Wave
Normal drive both sets of coils are excited at a time.
Half-step drive obtained by combining the wave drive and the
normal drive.

The pull-out curve corresponds to

the slewing characteristics; the pullin curve corresponds to the startwithout-error characteristic.

Schematic diagram showing how the stator

coils A1, A2 and B1, B2 are connected to
the common dc source by means of
switches Q1 to Q8. The dc source is shown
twice to simplify the connection diagram.

Step

Q1

Q2

On

On

Q3

Q4

On

Q5

Q6

On

Q7

Q8

On

Bipolar circuit Normal Drive

Step

Q1

Q2

On

On

On

Q3

Q4

On

On

Q5

Q6

On

On

On

Q7

Q8

On

On

Step

Q1

Q2

On

On

On

On

Q3

Q4

On

On

On

Q5

Q6

On

On

On

Q7

Q8

On

On

On

The phase winding carries a positive current when semiconductor

switches s1 and s2 conduct and it carries negative current when s3 and
s4 conduct.
The external resistance reduces the electrical time constant allowing
rapid build-up of phase current.
The phase is de-energised by turning off s1 and s2. Winding current
now flows through the path consisting of D3, source Vd and D4.
Major proportion of energy stored in phase winding inductance is fed
back to the source and phase current decays rapidly to zero.
Also inefficient
unipolar.
i l

but

better

than

It becomes efficient when chopper

principle
p
p is employed
p y
to the circuit.

To avoid using the external resistor, the bilevel drives is employed

where it enables to obtain fast rise and fall times of current.

zero b) Equivalent circuit when current in

a) Circuit of a bilevel drive when current in coil is zero.
coil is increasing. c) Rate of increase of current and time to reach 10 A. d) Equivalent circuit
when current in coil is constant. E) Equivalent circuit when current in coil is decreasing.

The pull out curve corresponds to the slewing

characteristic.
The pull-in curve corresponds to the startwithout-error (start-stop) characteristic.

Power developed,

Time constant,

n
P
9.55

L
T0
R

Torque when device have moment of inertia,

Jn

9.55t

A stepper motor has a unipolar winding. It

operates in the start-stop mode at a pulse
rate of 150 per second.
a)) What is the maximum torque it can develop?
b) How
much mechanical power does it
develop?
c) How much mechanical energy [J] does it
produce
in 3 seconds?
p
d) What is the max slew speed in rpm?
e) Calculate the time constant of when it is
rated at 12 V.

a)

b)

At a pulse rate of 150 per second, the pull-in

curve corresponds to the start-stop mode, max =
30 mNm.
N
From specification, step angle = 7.5.
Speed (rpm), n 150

7 .5
60 187.5 rpm
360

9.55 Pm
n
n
187.5 30 10 3
Pm

0.59 W
9.55
9.55

1 sec 150 pulse

60 sec 60/1*150
= 9000 pulse
360 (1 rotation) 9000 pulse
7.5
7.5 7.5/360*9000
7.5/360 9000

c)

The mechanical energy produce in 3 seconds

W Pm t 0.59 3 1.77 J
d)

From the p
pull out g
graph,
p max slew speed
p
= 350 pps
I rotation
In
i
per minute,
i
n 350

e)

7 .5
60 437.5 rpm
360

Time constant
constant,

L 46.8 10 3
T0
8.93 10 4 sec
R
52.4