STEPPER MOTOR

Abhrajit Ghosh
B.E.E-IV Section-B2 Roll- 001610801123
CONTENT
1:-INTRODUCTION
2:-OPERATING PRINCIPLE
3:-CONSTRUCTIONAL
FEATURES
4:-TYPES OF STEPPER
MOTOR
5:-VARIABLE RELUCTANCE
MOTOR
6:-PERMANENT MAGNET
MOTOR
7:-HYBRID MOTOR
8:-ADVANTAGES AND
 Introduction
• Stepper motor rotates in discrete step angles
• It is a Brushless DC Motor (Electromechanical
device)
• It is more accurately controlled than a normal
motor allowing fractional turns to be easily covered
at lower speed, and lower torque than a
comparable D.C. motor
• The motor operates by accurately synchronizing with the
pulse signal output from the controller to the driver,
achieving highly accurate positioning and speed control.
• Stepper motors feature high torque and low vibration at
low-speeds, ideal for applications requiring quick
 Operating Principle
• Stepper motor works on the principle of
electromagnetism. The magnetic rotor shaft is
surrounded by the electromagnetism stators.
• Rotor and stator have poles which may or may not be
teethed depending upon the types of the stator.
• Whenever the stators have energized the rotor, it
moves to align itself along with the stator.
• In this way, the stators are energized in the sequence at
different poles to rotate the stepper motor.
• Due to the very good control of the speed, rotation,
direction and angular position, these motors are of
particular interest in industrial process control system,
CNC machine, robotics, manufacturing automation
system and instrumentation.
 Constructional Features

• The construction of the stepper motor is quite simple

and consists of a slotted stator equipped with a multi-
pole, multi-phase winding unlike the windings of the
conventional machines.
• Rotor structure carries no winding, they typically use
three and four phase windings, the number of poles
being determined by the required angular change per
input pulse.
• The rotors are either of the permanent magnet type or
the variable reluctance type.
 Step Angle - β
• As small as 0.78o to 90o
• Most commonly used – 1.8o, 2.5o, 7.5o, 15o
β = (Ns-Nr) x 360o = 360o
Ns.Nr mNr
Ns – No. of Stator poles (teeth)
Nr – No. of Rotor poles (teeth)
m - No. of stator phases
• Resolution = No. of steps/revolution
= 360o/β
 Types of Stepper Motor
• Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor - VR
• Permanent Magnet Stepper Motor - PM
• Hybrid Stepper Motor
 Variable Reluctance ( VR)
stepper motor

• It is the basic type of stepper motor that has been in existence

for a long time.
• The angular position of the rotor depends on the reluctance
of the magnetic circuit formed between the stator poles
(teeth) and rotor teeth.
Wound Stator poles
– Single Stack
– Multiple Stack – smaller step angle
• Rotor poles – ferromagnetic material
• Direction – stator current polarity
Single Stack
Multi Stack
VR-Operation
• The rotor aligns in a particular position with the teeth of the excitation pole in a
magnetic circuit wherein minimum reluctance path exist.
• Whenever power is applied to the motor and by exciting a particular winding, it
produces its magnetic field and develops its own magnetic poles.
• Due to the residual magnetism in the rotor magnet poles, it will cause the rotor
to move in such a position so as to achieve minimum reluctance position and
hence one set of poles of rotor aligns with the energized set of poles of the
stator. At this position, the axis of the stator magnetic field matches with the
axis passing through any two magnetic poles of the rotor.
• When the rotor aligns with stator poles, it has enough magnetic force to hold
the shaft from moving to the next position, either in clockwise or counter
clockwise direction.
• Consider the schematic diagram of a 3-phase, 6 stator poles and 4 rotor teeth
is shown in figure below. When the phase A-A’ is supplied with a DC supply by
closing the switch -1, the winding become a magnet which results one tooth
become North and other South. So the stator magnetic axis lies along these
poles.
• Due to the force of attraction, stator coil North Pole attracts nearest rotor tooth
of opposite polarity, i.e., South  and South Pole attract nearest rotor tooth of
opposite polarity, i.e., North. The rotor then adjusts to its minimum reluctance
position where the rotor magnetic axis exactly matches with stator magnetic
axis.
• When the phase B-B’ is energized by closing switch -2 keeping phase A-A’
remain de-energized by opening switch-1, winding B-B’ will produce the
magnetic flux and hence the stator magnetic axis shifts along the poles thus
formed by it. Hence the rotor shifts to the least reluctance with magnetized
stator teeth and rotates through an angle of 30 degrees in the clockwise
direction.
• When the switch-3 is energized after opening switch-2, the phase C-C’ is
energized, the rotor teeth align with new position by moving through an
additional angle of 30 degrees. By this way, the rotor moves clockwise or
counterclockwise direction by successively exciting stator windings in a
particular sequence.
• The step angle of this 3-phase 4-pole rotor teeth stepper motor is expressed
as, 360/ (4 × 3) = 30 degrees (as step angle = 360 / Nr × q).
• The step angle can be further reduced by increasing the number of poles on
the stator and rotor, in such case motors are often wound with additional
phase windings. This can also be achieved by a adopting different construction
of stepper motors such as multistack arrangement and reduction gear
mechanism.
 Modes of operation –VR type
• 1-phase ON – full step operation .
• 2-phase ON.
• Half-step – alternate 1-phase & 2-phase mode.
• Micro stepping mode.
2-phase ON mode Half step mode
Half step operation
 Permanent Magnet (PM)
Stepper Motor
• Wound Stator poles consists of slotted periphery
on which stator coils are wound. It has projected
poles on the slotted structure where the wound
windings are present.
Single Stack
Multiple Stack – smaller step angle
• Rotor poles – permanent magnet
• Rotor Shape - Cylindrical
• Direction – stator current polarity
PM - operation
• The operation of this motor works on the principle that unlike poles
attract each other and like poles repel each other.
• When the stator windings are excited with a DC supply, it
produces magnetic flux and establishes the North and South poles.
Due to the force of attraction and repulsion between permanent
magnet rotor poles and stator poles, the rotor starts moving up to
the position for which pulses are given to the stator.
• When the phase A is energized with a positive with respect to the
A’, the windings establish North and South poles. Due to the force
of attraction, the rotor poles align with stator poles such that the
magnetic pole axis of rotor adjusts with that of stator as shown in
figure.
• When the excitation is switched to B phase and switching off phase
A, the rotor further adjusts to magnetic axis of phase B, and thus
rotates through 90 degrees in clockwise direction.
• Next, if the phase A is energized with a negative current with
respect to A’, the formation of stator poles causes the rotor to move
through another 90 degrees in clockwise direction.
• In the same way, if the phase B is excited with negative current by
closing phase A switch, the rotor rotates through another 90 degrees in
the same direction.
• Next, if the phase A is excited with positive current, the rotor comes to
the original position thus making a 360 degrees complete revolution.
This implies that, whenever the stator is excited, the rotor tends to
rotate through 90 degrees in clockwise direction.
• The step angle of this 2-phase 2-pole permanent magnet rotor motor is
expressed as, 360/ (2 × 2) = 90 degrees. The step size can be reduced
by energizing two phases simultaneously or a sequence of 1-phase ON
and 2-phase ON modes with a proper polarity.
 Modes of Operation – PM type

1-phase ON mode 2-phase ON mode Half step mode

 Hybrid stepper motor
• Combination of VR and PM
• Wound Stator poles – (similar to VR)
– Single Stack
– Multiple Stack – smaller step angle
• Rotor poles – permanent magnet
• Rotor shape – not Cylindrical
• Direction – stator current polarity
 Hybrid Stepper Motor Operation

• When the phase A-A’ is excited with a DC supply, keeping B-B’

unexcited, the rotor aligns such that the south pole of the rotor faces
north pole of the stator while north pole of rotor faces south pole of the
stator.
• Now, if the phase B-B’ is excited, keeping A-A’ switched off in such a
way that upper pole becomes north and lower becomes south, then the
rotor will align to a new position by moving through counterclockwise
direction. If the phase B-B’ is oppositely excited such that the upper
pole becomes south and lower becomes north, then the rotor will turn
clockwise direction.
• By a proper sequence of pulses to the stator, the motor will turn in
desired direction. For every excitation, rotor will get locked into new
position, and even if excitation is removed motor still maintains its
locked condition due to the permanent magnet excitation. The step
angle of this 2-phase, 4-pole, 6-tooth rotor motor is given as 360/ (2 ×
6) = 30 degrees. In practice, hybrid motors are constructed with more
number of rotor poles in order to get high angular resolution.
 Advantages of Stepper Motor
• At standstill position, the motor has full torque. No matter if there is no moment or
changing position.
• It has a good  response to starting, stopping and reversing position.
• As there is no contact brushes in the stepper motor, It is reliable and the life
expectancy depends on the bearings of the motor.
• The motor rotation angle is directly proportional to the input signals.
• It is simple and less costly to control as motor provides open loop control when
responding to the digital input signals.
• The motor speed is directly proportional to the input pulses frequency, this way a
wide range of rotational speed can be achieved.
• When load is coupled to the shaft, it is still possible to realize the synchronous
rotation with low speed.
• The exact positioning and repeatability of movement is good as it has a 3-5%
accuracy of a step where the error is non cumulative from one step to another.
• Stepper motors are safer and low cost (as compared to servo motors), having high
torque at low speeds, high reliability with simple construction which operates at any
environment.
 Disadvantages of Stepper Motors
• Stepper motors having low Efficiency.
• It has low Accuracy.
• Its torque declines very quickly with speed.
• As stepper motor operates in open loop control, there is no
feedback to indicate potential missed steps.
• It has low torque to inertia ratio means it can’t accelerate the
load very quickly.
• They are noisy.
 Applications of Stepper Motors
• Stepper motors are used in automated production equipments and
automotive gauges and industrial machines like packaging, labeling,
filling and cutting etc.
• Widely used in security devices such as security & surveillance
cameras.
• In medical industry, stepper motors are widely used in samples,
digital dental photography, respirators, fluid pumps, blood analysis
machinery and medical scanners etc.
• They are used in consumer electronics in image scanners, photo
copier and printing machines and in digital camera for automatic
zoom and focus functions and positions.
• Stepper motors also used in elevators, conveyor belts and lane
diverters.