Variable Reluctance Stepper

Motor
Module-01, Lecture-02
Subject: Special Electrical Machines
TE Electrical Sem-VI

Prof. V. A. Sansare
Department of Electrical Engineering
FAMT, Ratnagiri
Outline
• Classification of Stepper motor

• Variable Reluctance (VR) Stepper Motor

• Single Stack VR Stepper Motor

 Types of Stepper Motor

1. Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor.

a) Single Stack VR Stepper Motors

b) Multi-stack Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor.

2. Permanent Magnet Stepper Motor.

3. Hybrid Stepper Motor.

 Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor
• Works on principle that a magnetic material placed in a
magnetic field experiences a force to align it in a path of
minimum reluctance.
• Stator with salient poles
• Stator has concentric windings which form different
phases
• Excited by current pulse to establish a magnetic field
• Rotor has salient structure with projecting teeth
• Rotor has no winding or permanent magnet
 Single Stack VR Stepper Motor
Construction
• Stator is made up of silicon steel stamping
• It has even number of projecting poles
• Pole carries concentric windings
• The winding (Even poles) on opposite poles are connected
in series.
• The currents in winding establish a magnetic flux that aid
each other
• Such type of winding connection forms different phases of
the motor
• Stator with odd pole, number of phases and poles are equal
 Single Stack VR Stepper Motor
Construction
• Rotor and rotor core are made of laminated silicon steel
• Material for stator & rotor should be of high permeability
• Rotor has projecting teeth on outer periphery
• No winding or permanent magnet
• The number of rotor teeth and stator poles should not be
equal
• This is to make the motor self starting and to have
bidirectional rotation of the rotor
 Single Stack VR Stepper Motor
Construction

• Four phase eight pole single stack VR stepper motor is shown in Fig. 1.1
• It has six rotor teeth
• Fig. 1.2 shows switching circuit for stator phase excitation
Picture courtesy: Special Electrical Machines by E. G. Janardanan
 Single Stack VR Stepper Motor
Working

• Rotor teeth can assume any position until the stator winding is energized
• All switches S1 to S4 in OFF position
• If switch S1 is turn ON, so phase A is energized
• This will make stator pole A and A’ as north & south magnetic poles
Picture courtesy: Special Electrical Machines by E. G. Janardanan
• Stator pole attract rotor teeth
• Rotor moves to occupy a position of
minimum reluctance
• Rotor teeth 1 and 4 take rest position as
shown in Fig.1.3

• Switch S1 is turned OFF and S2 is

turned ON
• De-energised phase A and excites phase
B.
• Stator pole s B and B’ get magnetized.
• Rotor move in such direction to occupy
minimum reluctance path by travelling
minimum angular distance
Picture courtesy: Special Electrical Machines by E. G. Janardanan
• This is achieve by movement of the
rotor in clockwise (CCW) direction by
• Rotor will take equilibrium position as
shown in Fig 1.4
• Angle through which rotor moves for
a switching operation is called step
angle.

Where is the number of stator phases

is the number of rotor teeth
Here,

Picture courtesy: Special Electrical Machines by E. G. Janardanan

• With S2 OFF and S3 On rotor moves again by in CCW as shown in 1.5
• With S3 OFF and S4 ON rotor moves by in CCW as shown in 1.6
• By continuing this switching operation in sequence S1, S2, S3, S4, S1, …...
rotor moves in CCW direction with step angle of
Picture courtesy: Special Electrical Machines by E. G. Janardanan
• Final position of rotor corresponds to the last switch in ON position
• Closed swich should remain in ON position to hold the rotor in that
position to prevent further movement due to external disturbances
• Rotor remains in this position till an external torque is greater than holding
torque
• Due to inertia of rotating part certain oscillations are observe in rotor.
• These oscillations are dies out due to bearing friction
• Inertia also increases stepping time
• To get fast response inertia should be as small as possible
• Viscous damping is used to suppress oscillations
• Stepping time can be reduced by increasing stator current
• Limitations due to thermal considerations and copper losses
• Operation of the single stack stepper motor is shown in truth table

S1 S2 S3 S4
1 0 0 0
0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0
0 0 0 1
1 0 0 0

• For reversing the direction of rotation, switching is done in the sequence

S1, S4, S3, S2, S1, ………..
 Multi-Stack VR Stepper Motor
Construction
• It has higher torque to volume ratio and more efficiency as
compared to single stack VR stepper motor.
• Each phase has separate stator and rotor sections called
stack.
• Stator stack consists of salient poles wired winding.
• All the coils in stator stack are connected in series.
• All the poles facing the rotor become north or south.
• The magnetic circuit of each stack is independent that of
others.
 Multi-Stack VR Stepper Motor
Construction
• Stator poles have subteeth.
• The rotor stacks are unwound and have projecting teeth.
• The pitch of rotor and stator teeth is equal.
• The rotor stack are mounted on the shaft in such a way that
their teeth are mechanically displaced by tooth pitch,
where is number of phases.
• The stator stacks are in alignment w.r.t. their teeth.
 • Fig shows three phase,
two pole multi-stack
VR stepper motor with
eight rotor teeth.
• The stator pole has
three subteeth.
• Three stator stacks
carry winding that
corresponds to three
phases.

Picture courtesy: Special Electrical Machines by E. G. Janardanan

• Rotor teeth of stack A is displaced by from stack B and from
stack C.
• Rotor teeth of phase B and C also have mechanical offset.

Picture courtesy: Special Electrical Machines by E. G. Janardanan

• Initial position of rotor stacks is as shown in Fig. 1.10
• This position can be achieved by exciting phase B (by closing
switch) with all other phase unenergized.
• Next, phase C is excited by closing switch S3, while switch S2 is
opened
• This operation magnetises pole of phase C and rotor stack C
moves in CCW by
• Next phase A is excited by closing switch S1 and opening switch
S3
• This switching makes the rotor moves in the same direction again
by in CCW direction.
• The movement of the rotor is illustrated in Fig.1.11
Picture courtesy: Special Electrical Machines by E. G. Janardanan
• For reversing the direction of rotation, the switching sequence is done in
sequence S1, S3, S2, S1,……
• The logic sequence for one-phase ON mode is given in table

Step A B C
1 1 0 0
2 0 1 0
3 0 0 1
4 1 0 0

Picture courtesy: Special Electrical Machines by E. G. Janardanan

Thank You