STEPPER MOTORS

UNIT-II
What is a stepper motor?
• A stepper motor, also known as step
motor or stepping motor, is a 
brushless DC electric motor that divides a full
rotation into a number of equal steps. 
 Types of stepper motors
There are three main types of stepper motors:
• Permanent magnet stepper
• Variable reluctance stepper
• Hybrid synchronous stepper
Working principle of stepper motor
After controlling
• Stepper motor is a brushless DC motor that
rotates in steps.
• This is very useful because it can be precisely
positioned without any feedback sensor, which
represents an open-loop controller.
• The stepper motor consists of a rotor that is
generally a permanent magnet and it is
surrounded by the windings of the stator.
• As we activate the windings step by step in a
particular order and let a current flow through
them they will magnetize the stator and make
electromagnetic poles respectively.
• That will cause propulsion to the motor. So
that’ the basic working principle of the stepper
motors.
Permanent magnet motor
• The Permanent Magnet stepper has a
permanent magnet rotor which is driven by the
stators windings. They create opposite polarity
poles compared to the poles of the rotor which
propels the rotor.
Hybrid stepper motor
• Hybrid stepper motors are named because they
use a combination of permanent magnet (PM)
and variable reluctance (VR) techniques to
achieve maximum power in a small package
size.
Two-phase step motor operation
In the center of the rotor, an axial permanent magnet is
provided. It is magnetized to produce a pair of poles as
North (N) and South (S) as shown in the figure below.
At both the end of the axial magnet the end caps are provided, which
contains an equal number of teeth which are magnetized by the
magnet. The figure of the cross section of the two end caps of the
rotor as shown below
Different configurations for switching the
phase windings
• H-type connection for each ph, with 4switches
• Bipolar supply with 2switches for each ph.
• Uni-polar supply with two switches for each
ph but midpoint provided for each ph.
H or bridge type connection
Bipolar connection

E1 S1 D1
A2 A1

E2 S2 D2
Uni-polar supply

S1 A1

S1 D1

D2

A2
Open loop controller for 2-ph stepping motor
Clock pulses
J1 Q1 J1 Q2
Ck FF1 Driver of Ck FF2
Tr A1 Tr B1
K1 Q 1 K1 Q2
Tr A2 Tr B2

Clock pulses
J1 Q 1 Dr A1 J1 Q2 Dr B1
Ck FF1 Ck FF2
K1 Q1 Dr A2 K1 Q2 Dr B2
Variable reluctance motor
• A reluctance motor is a type of electric motor that induces non-
permanent magnetic poles on the ferromagnetic rotor. The rotor does
not have any windings. It generates torque through 
magnetic reluctance.

• the Variable Reluctant stepper motor uses a non-magnetizes soft

iron rotor. The rotor has teeth that are offset from the stator and as
we active the windings in a particular order the rotor moves
respectively so that it has minimum gap between the stator and the
teeth of the rotor
Variable reluctance motor
Single-stack vrm
Multi-stack VRM
 Advantages of stepper motors
• Low cost for control achieved
• High torque at startup and low speeds
• Ruggedness
• Simplicity of construction
• Can operate in an open loop control system
• Low maintenance
• Less likely to stall or slip
 Applications
• industrial Machines – Stepper motors are used in
automotive gauges and machine tooling automated
production equipments.
• Security – new surveillance products for the security
industry.
• Medical – Stepper motors are used inside medical scanners,
samplers, and also found inside digital dental photography,
fluid pumps, respirators and blood analysis machinery.
• Consumer Electronics – Stepper motors in cameras for
automatic digital camera focus and zoom functions.