How to Make a Stepper Motor Control and Driver Circuit?

Stepper motors are motors that operate with a 4-phase signal and move one step with each input pulse. The steps of a stepper motor can vary depending on the type of motor. Stepper motors are motors that can rotate both forward and backward and have high torque. In this week’s blog post, we will share information about the driver circuit and stepper motor control.

Stepper Motor Driver Circuit

Below you can see how the stepper motor driver circuit is made.

Step Driver Circuits

Stepper motor driver circuits operate on three principles. In this section of our article, we will examine these principles.

L/R Driver

You can operate stepper motors at the specified voltage and current values. Therefore, even if the inductive effect in the motor coils is small, it cannot reach the specified current at an increase in speed. The motor cannot be driven efficiently except at low speeds.

Ln/R Driver

To reduce the time constant (t= L/R) in the current increase, resistance is connected to the motor coils. This increases the voltage for the motor to n times the value. This allows the motor to operate efficiently at high speeds. However, since too much current will pass through the connected resistance, unnecessary power consumption will occur.

Chopper Driver

The motor consumes 10-20 times more voltage than the specified voltage value. The current rise rate is quite fast compared to other drivers. There must be a specific value for the rising current. Otherwise, the motor will draw more current than necessary and burn out. Current limitation is the basic principle of chopper drivers.

Current Limitation

Current limiting methods can be examined under three headings.

The current can be limited by placing an external resistor. This is the simplest way to limit the current. An external resistor is placed on the source.

The chopper technique is also a good option. It can be reused for over-excitation of the high-voltage motor. It is switched off when the current reaches a certain level. The advantage of this application is that high efficiency can be achieved.

You can also limit the current using dual voltage technology. Two sources are used in this application. When the current reaches a certain level, high voltage switching is performed. The existing current value is maintained.

The disadvantage of this application is its high cost. You can control the stepper motor by selecting a stepper motor driver. You can purchase stepper motor drivers with the guarantee of Şahin Rulman. Please contact us if you have any questions about stepper motor drivers.