Stepping motor

Typical stepping motors

Stepping motor a.k.a. stepper is a popular electric motor type for low cost positioning applications.

Operation principle

Steppers are technically permanent magnet brushless or AC motors that have high magnetic pole count. High pole count allows the stepping operation of motor without any feedback devices. Typical stepping motor has 100 magnetic poles which yields motor resolution of 200 full steps per revolution. Resolution can be further increased by using half-stepping or microstepping.

Properties

Pros

• Cheap motors and drives available
• Can provide smooth motion with microstepping
• Sufficient accuracy for many uses
• Long life time

Cons

• Risk of motor stalling due to resonance or overload
• Vibration and resonance
• Non-linearity of steps (angle between microsteps not constant)
• Heating and energy usage even at stand still

Suggested drives

IONI drive has been designed for servo and stepping motors. It offers three operating modes with steppers including closed loop mode and open loop mode with resolution of 25600 steps/revolution. For more information, see Using stepping motor with IONI.

See also

• Motor types
• Wikipedia:Stepper motor

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