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H-Bridges and Stepper Motors

Eric Taseski, Yihe Huang, Ronak

Mehta

Standard DC Motors
Speed determined by voltage level.
Vcc

-+

Motor

+-

GND

Stopping
No movement, holds position.
Vcc

STOP
Motor

GND

Free Spinning
Disconnected, does whatever it wants.
Vcc

Motor

GND

What if you want precision?

Stepper Motors!
Precision movement via
stepping
Can count revolutions
Can rotate continuously unlike
a standard servo

How Stepper Motors Work

Divides a full rotation into a number of steps.
Move one step at a time.

Stepper Motors
1. The horizontal pair is
driven with power in one
direction. This pulls the
oppositely polarized teeth
to align with them.
2. The horizontal pair is
de-energized, and the
vertical pair is energized.
3. The vertical pair is deenergized, and the
horizontal pair is energized
in the opposite direction.
4. The horizontal pair is deenergized, and the vertical
pair is energized in the
opposite direction.

How Stepper Motors Work

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Stepper Modes: Wave Mode

A

C
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Drive.png
(codeproject.com)

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Stepper Modes: Full Step Mode

A

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Drive.png
(codeproject.com)

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Stepper Modes: Half Step Mode

A

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Drive.png

C
(codeproject.com)

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepper_motor

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Stepper Motors Contd.

http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1205/specs

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How do we power them?

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H-Bridges!
Allows low voltage logic
while driving external
power to motors.
Easily control current in
both directions, allowing
motors to move forwards
and backwards.
Useful for DC motors,
stepper motors, servos,
solenoids, etc.
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H-Bridges
Each half bridge is a transistor with an
enable. Motor Voltage
Logic Input
Logic Enable

Motor

LOW Voltage Input Control Logic

HIGH Voltage Output
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H-Bridges

Vcc, Motor Supply Voltage

Input 1
Output 1
EN 1,2
Input 2
Output 2

Input 3
Output 3
EN 3,4
Input 4
Output 4

GND

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H-Bridge Pinout
-EN pins enable output (1 EN pin per pair)
-As are control inputs
-Ys are outputs
-Vcc1 is circuit logic voltage
-Vcc2 is the motor supply
-Grounds go to ground

http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/l293d.pdf

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Full-Bridge with DC Motor

Input
1
0 A

1
Enable

+-

Input
0
1 B

Motor

+-

ENABLE

Input A

Input B

Result

Motor turns CW

Motor turns CCW

0 or 1

0 or 1

Fast Stop

0 or 1

0 or 1

Free Spin

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How to wire up a stepper motor

and the L293D
Left side can be adapted to our SmartFusion kits.

(codeproject.com)

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Protips #1-4
1. Heatsinks, or drive low to all pins to not drive current
2. Non-negligible voltage drop across H-Bridge
3. Varying PWM Duty Cycles can be used on ENABLE to
control voltage supplied (speed control)
4. Frequency response of motor

Low PWM frequencies may create audible buzz or hum

High PWM frequencies waste power

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References
L293D explanation with Stepper Motor details:
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/151763/Motor-Primer-and-the-L293D-Quad-Half-H-Driver
Stepper motor configurations with microcontroller pins:
http://www.8051projects.net/stepper-motor-interfacing/stepper-motor-connections.php
Microstepping (not covered):
http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/step/micro.html
Different types of stepper motors explained:
http://www.wimb.net/index.php?s=motion&page=52
Stepper wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepper_motor
H-Bridge wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H_bridge
Adafruit stepper with arduino tutorial:
http://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-arduino-lesson-16-stepper-motors/breadboard-layout
L293D Datasheet:
http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/l293d.pdf

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Backup Slides

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H-Bridge with DC Motor

S1

S2

S3

S4

Result

Move CW

Move CCW

Free Spin

Brake

Brake

Shoot-through

Shoot-through

Shoot-through

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H_bridge

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Microstepping
Half stepping with sinusoidal transitions between steps allowing theoretically
infinitesimally small step sizes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepper_motor

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