EE3033

Electrical machines and drives III

Dr. A. C. De Silva
Prof. S. P. Kumarawadu
Dr. A. G. B. P. Jayasekara

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 Syllabus
• Stepper motor drives
• Dr. A. C. De Silva (3 weeks)
• DC motor drives
• Prof. S. P. Kumarawadu (3 weeks)
• Burshless DC motor drives
• Prof. S. P. Kumarawadu (3 weeks)
• Synchronous generators for bulk generation
• Dr. A. G. B. P. Jayasekara (4 weeks)

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 Stepper Motors
Construction and Operation

EE3033 – Electrical motors and drives III

Prepared by: Dr. Anjula C. De Silva
Email: adesilva@elect.mrt.ac.lk
Room: 3205, 1st floor, Sumanadasa building
Slideshows: www.projectcuris.com/teaching.html

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 Lecture and assessment plan
• Lectures
– Construction and operation
– Characteristics
– Applications

• Assessments
– Simulation project (PSCAD)
– Report (LaTeX)
– Exam

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 Why stepper motors?
• Brushless
– No frictional losses, no arcing → less hazardous
• Load independent
– Maintain the set speed regardless of the load (provided the load
is < rated torque)
• Open loop positioning
– The position of the shaft is known at all times without the need
of a sensor feedback (provided the load is < rated torque)
• Holding torque
– Can hold the shaft stationary
• Excellent response
– To start up, stop and reverse
• A simple, cheap and a lighter solution
for an accurate positioning system.
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 Categorizing stepper motors
• Types of stepper motors (construction)
– Permanent magnet (magnetized rotor)
– Variable reluctance (toothed soft-iron rotors)
– Hybrid
• Winding configurations (permanent magnet &
hybrid)
– Unipolar
– Bipolar
– Bifilar

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 Permanent magnet (PM) stepper
motor
• The most basic type of stepper
motors.
• The rotor of the PM motor carries a
permanent magnet with 2 or more
poles.
• The operation is based on the attract
and repulse the permanent magnet on
the rotor with the stator poles.
• The rotation direction and the speed
of the shaft is determined by the order
that the coils are activated.

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 Variable reluctance (VR) stepper motor
• The rotor is made of soft iron instead of a PM.
• The operation is based on minimizing the flux path
from one pole to the other.
• Disadvantage:
– The lack of a permanent magnet reduces the
torque.
• Advantage:
– No detent torque.
• The torque generated by the rotor
permanent magnets that are magnetized to
the stator coils, when no current flows
within the coils.
• Feel distinctive ‘clicks’ of each step of the
motor when trying to rotate an unconnected
stepper motor by hand.
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 Variable reluctance (VR) stepper motor

• 300 per step VR motor

One revolution - Clockwise

Steps 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Winding 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1
Winding 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0
Winding 3 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0

One revolution - Counter clockwise

Steps 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Winding 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1
Winding 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0
Winding 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0

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 Hybrid stepper motor
• Combine characteristics from both VR and PM stepper
motors.
• Advantages:
– Excellent hold and dynamic torque
– Can achieve very small step angles: 0.9o – 5o
– Rotate at high speeds
• The PM having such a large number of poles is
constructed as follows:
– The rotor structure consist of two separate disks.
– A permanent cylindrical magnet is used such that these two
disks are welded one on the North and the other on the South
pole.
– Thus, one disk has North pole on its teeth and the other South.
– The speciality is that the disks are placed in a way that the hills
of the first disk, are aligned with the valleys of the other disk.
• Used in high-end CNC and robots.

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Hybrid stepper motor

Disregard the accent!

Listen to the content

Source: http://youtu.be/QPYRuX28SyY, http://youtu.be/t-3VnLadIbc 11

 Driving Modes
1. Single coil excitation (wave drive)
2. Full stepping
3. Half stepping
4. Micro stepping

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 Single-coil excitation (wave drive)
1a

• Only one coil is energized each

time. 2b 2a
• This method is used when
power saving is necessary.
1b
• It provides less than half of the One revolution - Clockwise

nominal torque of the motor. Steps

1a
1
1
2
0
3
0
4
0
2a 0 1 0 0
• This motor will have 4 steps per 1b
2b
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
1

full cycle, that is the nominal One revolution - Counter clockwise

Steps 1 2 3 4
number of steps per cycle. 1a 1 0 0 0
2a 0 0 0 1
1b 0 0 1 0
2b 0 1 0 0

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 Full stepping

• The most often used driving

method.
• The coils are energized in pairs.
• This motor has 4 steps per full
cycle, that is the nominal number One phase ON

of steps per cycle.

Two phases ON
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 Half stepping

• This is a way to achieve double

the accuracy of a positioning
system, without changing
anything from the hardware.
• All coil pairs can be energized
simultaneously, causing the rotor
to rotate half the way as a normal
single-coil excitation
step.
• This method can be single-coil or
two-coil excitation as well.
• With this method, the same
motor will have double the steps
per revolutions, thus double the
accuracy in positioning systems.
two-coil excitation 15
 Micro-stepping

• The idea of micro-stepping, is to power the coils of the

motor NOT with pulses, but with a waveform similar to a
sine waveform.
• Advantages of micro-stepping
– Smoother stepping: making the stepper motor suitable to be used
for high accuracy applications e.g. CNC positioning systems.
– Reduce the stress of the parts connected on the motor and the
motor itself.
– A stepper motor can rotate almost continuous, like simple DC
motors.
• The waveform that the coils are powered with, is similar
to an AC waveform. Digital waveforms can also be used.
• The micro-stepping method is actually a power supply
method, rather than coil driving method. Therefore, the
micro-stepping can be applied with single-coil excitation
and full step drive.
• Although it seems that the micro-stepping increases the
steps even further, usually this does not.
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 Winding configurations
1. Unipolar stepper motor
2. Bipolar stepper motor
3. Bifilar stepper motor

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 Unipolar stepper motor
• 2 identical coils, electrically isolated, each
coil has a center tap
• If the common wire is powered, the
polarity can be changed by switching the
ground to the two ends of the coil.
• Unipolar steppers have 5,6 or 8 wires at
the output
• Disadvantage:
– Each time, only half of the available coil
windings are used.
– Therefore, half the torque generated
compared to Bipolar.

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 Unipolar step sequences
Wave drive (clockwise)
Steps 1 2 3 4 5
1a 1 0 0 0 1
2b 0 0 0 1 0
1b 0 0 1 0 0
2a 0 1 0 0 0

Full step drive (two phase) (clockwise)

Steps 1 2 3 4 5
1a 1 0 0 1 1
2b 0 0 1 1 0
1b 0 1 1 0 0
2a 1 1 0 0 1

Half step drive (clockwise)

Steps 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1a 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
2b 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0
1b 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0
2a 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
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 Bipolar stepper motor
– 4 wires are used to connect
the motor to the controller.
– Advantage:
• High torque produced
– Disadvantage:
• Magnetic polarity can only be
changed by changing the
current direction.
– Need complicated driver
circuit with H-bridge.

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 Bipolar step sequence
Wave drive (clockwise)
Steps 1 2 3 4 5
1a + - +
2b - +
1b - + -
2a + -

Full step drive (clockwise)

Steps 1 2 3 4 5
1a + - - + +
2b - - + + -
1b - + + - -
2a + + - - +

Half step drive (clockwise)

Steps 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1a + + - - - + +
2b - - - + + +
1b - - + + + - -
2a + + + - - -
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 Bifilar stepper motor
• The term bifilar literally means ‘two threaded’
• Two coils are wound in parallel with each
other
• Gives the user maximum versatility
• Driven as either bipolar or unipolar motors
• Using a bifilar motor as a unipolar motor
– The two wires of each winding are connected in
series and the point of connection is used as a
centre-tap
• Using a bifilar motor as a bipolar motor
– The two wires of each winding are connected in
either parallel or series
• Parallel connection → high current operation
• Series connection → high voltage operation
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 Bifilar stepper motor
• Drawbacks of bipolar drive circuits
– H-bridge requires double the transistor/diode pairs compared to unipolar
drive circuits.
• Bifilar windings produces a bidirectional field in the stator poles
• Depending on the field direction, one of the windings is excited by a
unidirectional current
• Implication
– Bifilar winding has twice the volume of a conventional winding

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 Characteristics of stepper motors
• Step angle
• Step angle accuracy
• Static characteristics
– Torque-angle curve
– Torque-current curve
– Position errors
• Dynamic characteristics
– Start-stop mode
– Slewing mode
– Torque-speed curves

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 Step angle
3600
s 
mN r
– number of phases
– number of rotor teeth

• E.g.

3600
s   300
3 4

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 Step angle accuracy
• Usually ± 5,3%. In special cases ±1%.
• Accuracy is determined by manufacturer specifications and
properties of the magnetic and other material used.
• Position error is non-cumulative.
– Steps are independent of each other.
• Position error increases as the motor gets loaded.

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 Static characteristics
Torque angle curve
• At the step position the appropriate
sets of rotor and stator teeth are
completely Aligned
– no torque
• If the rotor is slightly displaced
from the step position
– a torque is developed between the
stator and rotor teeth
• Holding torque (TH)
– The maximum load torque that can be
hold by the energized stepper motor
without slipping from equilibrium
position.

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Static characteristics
Torque angle curve

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 Static characteristics
Torque angle curve
• Detente torque (TD)
– The maximum load torque that can be hold by the
unenergized stepper motor.
• Due to residual magnetism (PM and hybrid motors only)
• 5-10% of TH

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 Static characteristics
Torque-current curve
• Initially linear and later the slop gradually decrease
as a result of saturation of magnetic circuits within
the motor.
• Torque constant (Kt)
– Initial slope of the torque current curve
– aka torque sensitivity

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 Static characteristics
Position error due to load torque
• An estimate of the static position error can be obtained if the
characteristic curve is approximated by a sinusoid.
• The torque developed by the motor T  T sin( p )
H
p rotor teeth
θ rotor displacement

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 Static characteristics
Position error due to load torque

• When a load torque TL is applied the rotor is displaced from

the demanded position by the angle θe
sin 1 (TL / TH )
e 
p

• Improving θe
– increasing the holding torque, either by choosing another motor or by
using a different driving mode
– Increasing rotor teeth; reduces step angle

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 Dynamic characteristics
Mode of operation
1. Start-stop mode
– Rotor comes to a rest after moving through a one step.
– Ripples at each step as a result of inertia.
2. Slewing mode
– Rotor is still moving to the previous pulse when the next pulse
comes in.
– Faster rotation than start-stop mode.
– Tend to over-run by few steps before coming to a stop.

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 Dynamic characteristics
Torque-speed curves
• Pull-in torque (TPI)
– At a given speed (F), the maximum torque the motor can develop in start-stop mode without
losing synchronism.
• Pull-out torque (TPO)
– At a given speed (F), the maximum torque the motor can develop in slewing mode without
losing synchronism.
• Pull-in speed (FPI)
– At a given torque (T), the maximum speed the motor can run in start-stop mode without
losing synchronism.
• Pull-in speed (FPO)
– At a given torque (T), the maximum speed the motor can run in slewing mode without losing
synchronism.
• Response range
– At a given torque (T), the range of speeds the motor can run without losing synchronism in
start-stop mode (Fr ≤FPI).
• Slewing range
– At a given torque (T), the range of speeds the motor can run without losing synchronism in
slewing mode (FPI ≤Fs ≤ FPO).
• Synchronism
– One-to-one correspondence between the applied number of pulses and rotated steps.

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Dynamic characteristics
Torque-speed curves

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 Dynamic characteristics
Mid-frequency resonance
• Mid-frequency resonance is reflected by dips in the dynamic
characteristic curve.
• Caused by mechanical resonance in the motor/load combination.
• Advisable to avoid speeds which causes torque ‘dips’ at the stage of
choosing the motor

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