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Recently almost every medical device I design requires a stepper motor. After working with these motors so frequently, I’d like to share what I’ve learned about medical device stepper motors, the different types of stepper motor configurations, and how to drive stepper motors properly. Stepper Motor Drive Configurations Stepper motors  typically come in two motor winding configurations. Before selecting which configuration is appropriate for your application, you should understand the basic difference between the two. This choice will be important when selecting how to drive the motor. Pro Tip: You can use a unipolar motor as a bipolar motor if you ignore the center tap. This can come in handy if a particular design of motor is only available in a unipolar configuration. Stepper Motor Drive Signals Typically three types of drive signals are used to control the motion of a stepper motor. Each drive type increases in complexity, but adds additional features and options. A ...

Types of Stepper Motors Primarily, there are three broad categories of stepper motors — variable reluctance, permanent magnet, and hybrid. However, we would focus on linear stepper motors, and they are normally of the hybrid type. Linear Stepper Motors Various types of linear actuator stepper motors have been devised by stepper motor manufacturers over the last few years mainly based on requirements such as fitment in compact spaces and more. To further categorize, linear stepper motors are the primary type, and their sub types have mainly evolved from this one. Here are a few types of linear stepper motors: Linear Stepper Motors: These stepper motors with linear motion are open-loop systems with a base and a slider. They provide high speeds and resolutions. The sliders are also called forcers which contain a permanent magnet, teeth, and motor windings. To balance the air gap, bearings are used in these motors because a magnetic attraction is created between the bas...

Inertia mismatch is the difference between the inertia of the system and inertia of the stepper motor. A large inertia mismatch is usually best avoided for machines run by stepper motors ( nema 17 gearbox or nema 23 planetary gearbox ). One, the stepper motor itself has inertia it must overcome, in addition to the inertia of the system it drives. Two, friction further affects inertia, and three, having too much torque from an oversized stepper motor poses its own set of problems. Inertia mismatch greatly affects how stepper motors operate. The motors cannot accelerate and decelerate rapidly with an extreme inertia mismatch. If they have sufficient torque, but an inertia mismatch is present, the load may not start or stop at the proper time or place. At its most extreme, inertia mismatch can cause skipped steps or non-functioning stepper motors … along with noise, vibration, and heat. There are a few ways to handle inertia mismatch. One is simply to size and match motor and loa...

An 8 stator pole design could have an air gap variation of up to twice as much as compared to the 16 pole design even if both motors were built with the same manufacturing capabilities. However there are additional drawbacks to each stator design. Due to space constraints of the 16 pole design, manufacturers are only able to wind half as many turns when compared to an 8 pole design. Therefore, inductance is reduced by about half. Low inductance is mainly good for high speed applications. Torque will also be lower in the 16-pole design due to this constraint in space. With less space, there are less windings per pole (turns per coil). Typical 1.8° step motors use the 8-pole stator design, which explains for the higher torque but lower accuracy when comparing it to a 0.9 degree stepper motor . 0.9° Motor Stator Design 8-POLE 12-POLE 16-POLE # of Teeth per Pole 18 7 5 Total # Teeth on Stator 80 84 80 As shown above with the 12 pole design, more teeth can be added to the ...

Description Nema 17 motor  is not standard for electrical characteristics of the stepper motor. It is just faceplate and mounting holes standard to make it easier to interchange motors. Most likely you have to check from the specification that what is rated current for that motor and is it unipolar or bipolar one. Choose driver based on that. Note: Drive can always be more powerful than the motor, but you have to limit your current from the drive side. It’s also possible to use chopper drives with the less current rating, but then your motor runs underpowered. But one can definitely make assumptions on the motor size that NEMA 17 could use 1A – 2A current and  NEMA 23 motor  could use around 2A – 5A current. How to run a stepper motor without a microcontroller? It’s totally possible since the drive doesn’t care where it gets it’s stepping impulses. You only need some kind of source for pulses and direction. The simplest option would be to use a NE5...