Stepper Motors

Introduction:

The actuator is the device that mechanically drives a mechatronic system. Proper selection of actuators and their drive systems for a particular application is of utmost importance in the instrumentation and design of mechatronic systems.

There is another perspective to the significance of actuators in the field of mechatronics.

Stepper motors:

Stepper motors are a popular type of actuators. Unlike continuous-drive actuators, stepper motors are driven in fixed angular steps (increments).

Each step of rotation is the response of the motor rotor to an input pulse (or a digital command). In this manner, the stepwise rotation of the rotor can be synchronized with pulses in a command-pulse train, assuming of course that no steps are missed, thereby making the motor respond faithfully to the input signal (pulse sequence) in an open-loop manner.

From this perspective, it is reasonable to treat stepper motors as digital actuators. Nevertheless, like a conventional continuous-drive motor, a stepper motor is also an electromagnetic actuator, in that it converts electromagnetic energy into mechanical energy to perform mechanical work.

A typical actuator contains mechanical components like rotors, shafts, cylinders, coils, bearings, and seals while the control and drive systems are primarily electronic in nature. Integrated design, manufacture, and operation of these two categories of components are crucial to efficient operation of an actuator. This is essentially a mechatronic problem.

The terms stepper motor, stepping motor, and step motor are synonymous and are often used interchangeably.

Actuators that can be classified as stepper motors have been in use for more than sixty years, but only after the incorporation of solid-state circuitry and logic devices in their drive systems have stepper motors emerged as cost-effective alternatives for dc servomotors in high-speed motion-control applications