How Do You Control the Torque on a Stepper Motor?

Experts describe stepper motors as electromechanical gadgets that convert electrical energies into mechanical ones. Specifically, stepper motors are brushless motors that can divide an entire revolution into equal steps and be correctly controlled without a feedback mechanism whenever these motors are appropriately sized to the applications. The significant kinds of stepper motors encompass hybrid synchronous stepper motors, variable reluctance stepper motors, and permanent magnet stepper motors. Torque is a force’s tendency to revolve around a pivot, fulcrum, or axis. Just as a force is a pull or push, people could think about torque as a twist to a thing or the stepper motor rotor’s rotation. Regarding controlling the torque on a stepper motor, a logical and common method to control the torque is to regulate current by directly monitoring it. This torque-controlling method is known as current mode control. This blog section discusses the benefits of using stepper motors below.

Flexibility 

Stepper motors provide flexibility in their use in a broad range of applications as the structure of these highly advanced motors provides a consistent holding torque without the need to power the motor.

Lower Priced than Servo Motors

People often utilize stepper motors in open-loop systems that do not need torque or positional feedback. This makes the stepper motors less costly and simpler to control. Stepper motors feature many poles, magnetic pairs of south and north poles produced either by an electric current or permanent magnet, usually fifty to hundred poles. Each of these poles provides a natural stopping point for the stepper motor’s motor shaft, and with its more significant number of poles, stepper motors can move precisely and accurately between every pole. Due to these natural stopping points, stepper motors could be operated without any position feedback for several applications. One of the largest benefits of using stepper motors are their availability and low cost. These motors are essentially playing and plug, more straightforward to use and set up overall. Stepper motors are less costly than servo motor motion control technologies whenever considering their high holding torque needs and lower acceleration. 

Stepper Motors are Safer

Experts consider stepper motors safer, as if any component of these motors breaks, they will stop.

Stepper Motors Provide a Longer Life

Several of the moving components of stepper motors are frictionless. Therefore, experts believe stepper motors have a long life when assuming that their bearings are the only component that would wear out.

Great Low-Speed Torque

Stepper motors offer great low-speed torque, which tells us that the motor would drive several loads without needing extra gearbox mechanisms or gearing.

Great Repeatability

The inherent abilities of the stepper motors permit the motor shaft to return to the same location, providing accurate repeatability. Steppers offer precise positioning and movement repeatability since excellent stepper motors feature an accuracy of three to five percent. This mistake needs to be revised from one measure to the next.

The Stepper Motor’s Rotation Angle is Proportional to its Input Pulse

Another benefit is that the stepper motor’s rotation angle is proportional to its input pulse. People only need to send the right amount of pulse commands to stepper motors to make them take the right position. Stepper motors might feature two hundred rotor teeth or two hundred to four hundred complete steps per motor shaft’s revolution. If a stepper has two hundred incremental steps and people know that an entire rotation is equal to three hundred and sixty degrees or a circle, then they can divide three hundred and sixty degrees by two hundred. This equals 1.8 degrees of a complete step angle rotation, and four hundred steps divided into three hundred and sixty degrees offer 0.9 degrees of complete step angle rotation. Outputting a digital pulse from a stepper motor’s controller driver equals a single step of rotation. 

Steppers Offer Complete Torque While Standing Still

One of the several benefits of stepper motors is a characteristic of offering full torque at a standstill, whereas the windings are powered, and the rotor of the stepper is stationary or, in simple words, an advantage we know as holding torque, which tells us that the motor could grasp the load in place whenever the rotor is not revolving. But a stepper could also grab a load in place whenever no electric current is applied to its windings or in a switched-off condition. This is often known as the residential torque or detent torque.

Stepper is Overload Safe

The stepper motor is mainly overload safe. Mechanical overload cannot damage the motor, but the positional loss might occur, influencing repeatability and accuracy whenever the load increases beyond the structure. Therefore, steppers are very suitable for consistent load uses.

Very Reliable 

Stepper motors are very dependable as these motors do not feature brushes. Thus, the stepper’s life simply depends on the shaft bearing’s life.

Low-Speed Synchronous Revolution

With stepper motors, it is possible to attain a very low-pace synchronous revolution with a load that is unswervingly coupled to a tube, and a broad range of revolutionary speeds could be realized as the pace is proportional to the input pulses’ frequency.

Excellent Choice for Applications Needing Low Pace with High Precision

Normal direct current motors do not feature much torque at lower speeds; nevertheless, the stepper has a maximum torque while operating at low speeds. Thus, stepper motors are a great choice for applications needing low speed and great precision.

Uses of Stepper Motors

Stepper motors have a broad range of uses, but some of their most common applications encompass

• Textile machine
• Gaming machines
• Printing presses
• Three-dimensional printing equipment
• Medical imaging machinery
• Welding equipment
• Computerized numerical control milling equipment
• Small robotics

While the above uses are common, they represent a fraction of the total uses of stepper motors. Generally speaking, every application that needs low-speed torque, speed control, and highly accurate positioning could benefit from the utilization of stepper motors. Thus, stepper motors are ideal for several applications.