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Other Motors

Other Motors

Stepper motors

  • Rotates only by fixed amounts, and controlled by a sequence of digital outputs. 

  • Stepper motors typically (for bipolar steppers) have 4 wires, two each for adjacent coils.

  • Other, more complicated drive patterns such as full-step drive (two phases on), half-stepping etc. possible.

  • Step angles of 1.8o, 3.6o, 7.2o etc. are typical.

  • Positioning is relative - you can make it move by a certain angle (certain number of steps x step angle) from the current position. This is unlike servo motors which do absolute positioning where you don't need to know the current position to control the final position).



A page with good explanation and figures : https://howtomechatronics.com/how-it-works/electrical-engineering/stepper-motor/

Another good website with animations: http://www.pcbheaven.com/wikipages/How_Stepper_Motors_Work/

  • Open loop control – no feedback-based correction built into the motor unlike servos. You can only give pulses / commands and hope for the best.

  • Good for positional control where turn angle is not limited and where the torque required is relatively constant.

  • Used in printers, 3D printers, rack and pinion (see the animation below) based actuators.

To do : Lookup and go through Arduino Stepper Library

Other Motors

  • Brushless DC (BLDC) motors

  • Similar to DC motors, but an electronic circuit replaces the brush + commutator. Used in electric scooters etc.

  • Induction / synchronous motors

  • Used in fans etc, works on AC; the mechanism of operation is somewhat different from that of DC motors