908 Electrical Machines

Let us see how it operates

When switch S1 is closed, winding-1 is energised, the PM rotor is aligned with its magnetic field.
When switch S1 is opened and S2 is closed, winding-2 is energised, the PM rotor is aligned with
its magnetic field and turn through a particular angle. When a number of such phase windings are
energised sequentially, the rotor rotates.
In such motors, the windings can be designed for required voltage and very high speeds, as high
as 40000 rpm.

Advantages
(i) Require little or no maintenance
(ii) Have longer operating life
(iii) Less losses, more operating efficiency
(iv) No sparking, hence can be used in the vicinity of combustible fluids and gases.
(v) These are very reliable and efficient (efficiency is more than 75%).
(vi) They are capable to run at very high speeds (more than 40000 rpm)

Disadvantages
(i) More expressive then conventional DC motors
(ii) Additional electronic circuit and devises are required that increases the overall size of the
machine

Application
Due to high reliability and low maintenance these motors find their applications in aerospace industry.
satellites, gyroscope and high efficiency robotic system. These motors are also suitable for artificial
heart pumps, disc drives, video recorders and biomedical fields.

12.11 Stepper Motors

A motor in which the rotor turns in discrete movements is called a stepper motor.
A stepper motor, as its name implies, turns in discrete movements called steps. After the rotor
makes a step, it stops turning until it receives the next command (or signal).

Principle of Operation
Stepper motor operation can be easily visualised by considering a series of electromagnets or solenoids
arranged in a circle as shown in Fig. 12.16. When these solenoids are energised in sequence, their
fields interact with the rotor, causing it to turn either clock wise or counter clockwise, depending
upon the input commands (or signals). The stepping angle (D) is determined by the design of the
motor, but it should not be greater than 180° in any case.
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Fig. 12.16 Rotor movement

Types of Stepper Motors

There are two basic types of magnetic stepper motors
(i) Permanent-magnet (PM) stepper motor
(ii) Variable-reluctance (VR) stepper motor.

12.11.1 Permanent-magnet (PM) Stepper Motor

A stepper motor in which rotor is made of permanent magnet having even number of poles is called
a permanent-magnet (PM) stepper motor.

Construction
The stator of a permanent-magnet stepper motor carries the similar winding as that of a conventional
two-phase, three-phase or higher poly-phase induction or synchronous motor. The end terminals of
all the windings are brought out to the terminal box for DC excitations. The rotor of this motor has
even number of poles made of high retentivity steel alloy (Alnico) producing a multipole permanent
magnet. Both rotor and stator may employ salient or non-salient pole construction. Usually, the stepper
motors having small stepping angles are of non-salient pole type construction.

Working
Figure 12.17 (a) shows a typical PM stepper motor. With stator winding A1 – A2 energised only,
for the polarity shown in Fig. 12.17(b) the PM rotor is “locked” in the position shown. If stator coil
A1 – A2 is de-energized and B1 – B2 is energised, the polarity of south (S) is produced at B1 and
north (N) at B2, causing the PM rotor to rotate 90° in response to the excitation torque produced
by the winding B1 – B2. The excitation torque is maximum when the angle between the PM rotor
and stator winding is 90°.
Reversing the current in windings A and B, consecutively, in turn, results in continuous clock wise
rotation of the PM rotor. Instead of reversing the supply voltages feeding each phase, a simplified
switching arrangement using two solid-state (transistors or thyristors) switches accomplishes the
current reversals in each phase of the two-phase windings, as shown in Fig. 12.17 (b).
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Fig. 12.17 Permanent magnet stepper motor with switching circuit

The adjoining table shows the switching sequence for the four-step stepper motor. Note that for
a two-pole, two-phase stepper, the pole-phase product is 4. If 360° is divided by this product, we
obtain the stepping length, or stepping angle, for any PM or VR stepper motor.

i.e., D= 360º degrees

nP
where n = the number of phases or stacks
P = the number of rotor poles (or teeth)

Switching step Switch 1 Switch 2 Angle of rotation

1 1
2 3
3 3
4 1
1 1
4 90°
4 180°
5 270°
5 360° (0°)
4 90°

Since the number of teeth (or poles) on a rotor of given diameter is limited, it might appear
that the solution to smaller stepping lengths is to increase the number of phases. But, as shown in
Fig. 12.17 (b), increasing the number of phases (or stacks) results in a corresponding increase in the
number of solid-state driven circuits. Since increasing the number of phases produces no particular
performance advantages, steppers are rarely found having more than three phases or stacks.
Finally, if reversal of the stepping motor is desired, the switching steps shown in the table (reading
from top the bottom) may be reversed by performing the sequences steps 4-3-2-1 (reading from
bottom to top).
A new type of PM stepper motor has overcome the rotor size and weight problems that limit the
maximum speed which motor can achieve. The rotor of this new type of stepper motor is a disc
rather than the more typical cylinder. The rotor is a thin disc made from rare-earth magnetic material
 Special Purpose Machines 911

(Fig. 12.18). Because the disc is thin, it can be magnetised up to a hundred individual tiny magnets,
evenly spaced around the edge of the disc. Conventional PM steppers are generally limited to a
minimum step angle of 30°, for a maximum of 12 steps per revolution. The new thin-disc motors
are generally half the size of the ordinary stepper motors and weigh 60% less.

Fig. 12.18 Permanent magnet stepper motor

The disc of the stepper motor is supported on a nonmagnetic hub, the disc and hub together form
the rotor. The disc magnets are polarised with alternating north and south poles, as shown in Fig.
12.18. A simple C-shaped electromagnet forms the field poles. When one of the phases is energised
the rotor will align itself with the electromagnetic field generated. Then, when the first phase is
turned off and the second is turned on, the rotor will turn by one-half of a half (or one-quarter) of a
rotor pole to align itself with the field from the second phase. So that the rotor keeps turning in the
same direction, the second phase is turned off and the first phase is turned on again.

Example 12.1
Determine the stepping angle for a 3-phase, 24 pole PM stepper motor.

Solution:

Stepping angle, D= 360º

nP
Where n = 3 and P = 24

? D= 360 º = 5°/step (Ans.)

3 ¥ 24
Example 12.2
To obtain a stepping angle of 7.5° for a 3-phase PM stepper motor, how many poles should the
rotor have?
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Solution:

Stepper angle, D= 360º

nP
where, n = 3 and D= 7·5°/step

? 7·5° = 360 º or P = 360 º = 16 (Ans.)

3¥P 3 ¥ 7·5º

12.11.2 Variable-reluctance (VR) Stepper Motor

A stepper motor in which rotor is made of soft iron (low retentivity alloy) having teeth at the outer
periphery to obtain variable reluctance is called a variable reluctance (VR) stepper motor.
The essential difference between the VR stepper motor and the PM stepper is that the VR rotor uses
soft-iron or low-retentivity alloy and the rotor torque is developed as a result of reluctance torque. That
is, the rotor moves to that position where reluctance is minimised, and air-gap flux is maximised.

Construction
Variable-reluctance (VR) stepper use a ferromagnetic multi-toothed rotor with an electromagnetic
stator similar to the PM stepper. A typical three-phase design (Fig. 12.19). has 12 stator poles spaced
30° apart; the rotor has eight poles spaced at 45° intervals.

Fig. 12.19 Variable reluctance stepper motor

Working
The stator poles are energised sequentially by the three-phase winding. When current is supplied
to phase-1, the rotor teeth closest to the four energised (magnetised) stator poles are pulled into
alignment. The four remaining rotor teeth align midway between the non-energised reluctance
between rotor and stator field.
Energising phase-2 produces an identical response. The second set of four stator poles magnetically
attracts the four nearest rotor teeth, causing the rotor to advance along the path of minimum reluctance
into a position of alignment. This action is repeated as the stator’s electromagnetic field is sequentially
shifted around the rotor. Energising the poles in a definite-sequence produces either clockwise or
counterclockwise stepping motion.
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The exact increment of motion (step angle) is the difference in angular pitch between stator and
rotor teeth, in this case 30° and 45°, respectively, for a net difference of 15°. The VR stepper’s step
angles are small, making possible finer resolution that can be obtained with the PM type. Maximum
stepping rates generally are higher than that in the PM stepper. Also, because of the non-retentive
rotor, VR steppers do not have detent torque when unenergised.
A typical VR stepper uses a stator with 12 fields. Poles are set about 30° apart and grouped for
three-phase operation where each phase has four coils set 90° apart. The rotor has eight teeth spaced
45° apart. VR steppers have a maximum stepping speed of about 18,000 steps/s, much higher than
the PM stepper can produce. At high speeds, however, the VR stepper tends to overshoot and must
be damped.

Applications
Stepper motors are often used as output devices for microprocessor-based control system as in paper
drives on printers and X – Y graphical plotters. For example, (i) in a graphical plotter pen driven
by X-axis and Y-axis steppers is controlled by a microprocessor whose phase-controlled signals
operate the drive circuits producing phase currents for each stepper motor. (ii) These motors are also
used in closed-loop servo-systems, replacing conventional DC servomotors in DC-operated servo-
mechanisms, to position machine tools and valves. (iii) Further, since the signals fed to a stepper
consist of a digital pulse train (of 0s and 1s), at a given repetition rate, the stepper may also serve as
a digital-to-analog converter.

Example 12.3
Calculate the stepping angle for a 3-stack, 16-tooth rotor VR stepper.

Solution:

Stepping angle, D= 360º

nP
where n = 3 and P = 16

? D= 360 º = 7·5° / step (Ans.)

3 ¥ 16

Section Practice Problems

Numerical Problems
1. Determine the stepping angle for a 2-phase, 18 pole PM stepper motor. (Ans. 10 °/step)
2. To obtain the stepping angle of 10° for a 3-phase PM stepper motor, how many poles should the rotor
have? (Ans. 12)
3. Calculate the stepping angle for a 3-stack, 20 pole rotor VR stepper. (Ans. 6 °/step)
 914 Electrical Machines

Short Answer Type Questions

Q.1. Why brushless synchronous generators (or DC generators) are developed?
Ans. To eliminate the problems associated with commutation (like sparking at the brushes, excessive heating,
wear and tear, maintenance etc.) and brushes, brushless synchronous generators (or DC generators)
have been developed.

Q.2. What is a third-brush generator?

Ans. It is a DC generator which contains three brushes instead of two. The third brush provides a regulated
(constant) voltage irrespective to the speed.

Q.3. What do you mean by brushless DC motor?

Ans. A motor that retains the characteristics of a DC motor but eliminates the commutator and brushes is
called a brushless DC motor.

Q.4. What do you mean by a stepper motor?

Ans. A motor in which rotor turns in discretc movement is called a stepper motor.

Q.5. What are the factors on which the angular movement of the rotor of permanent magnet stepper
motor depends?
Ans. The angular movement of a stepper motor depends upon (i) number of phases or stacks (n) and (ii)
the number of rotor poles (P)

q = 360∞
nP
Q.6. Why a thire-disc stepper motor is preferred over a conventional PM stepper motor?
Ans. Because in these motors the size and weight of the rotor is very less comparatively.

12.12 Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM)

Construction
The schematic diagram of a switched reluctance motor (SRM) is shown in Fig. 12.20. Both stator
and rotor of the motor have salient poles. Exciting coils are placed on the stator poles wherein the
diametrically opposite coils are connected in series to from a pair of poles. In Fig. 12.20. Four coils
are grouped to form two phases (or pair of poles) A and B. The laminated stator poles are attached
to a laminated yoke. The rotor is also laminated and made of some magnetic material.

Operating Principle and Working

The operating principle of a switched reluctance motor is the same as that of a variable reluctance
motor. When stator coils are energised sequentially with a single pulse, a reluctance torque is developed
due to the attraction between the rotor and stator poles. To obtain continuous rotation, the position
of rotor and sensor’s timings are well synchronised (designed). High speeds can be developed by
using high frequency pulses.