Stepper Motor: A Review on Theory and Fundamentals

Stepper motors are different from all other types of electrical drives and it is also called as step motor. Stepper motor basically follows the principle of discrete control pulse fundamental during its working this is the reason it rotates in discrete steps. On the other hand ordinary electrical a.c and d.c drives are analog in nature and rotate continuously depending on magnitude and polarity of the control signal received. The basic advantage of discrete nature of operation of a step motor makes it easy and suitable for directly interfacing with a computer and direct computer control. These motors are having wide applications in industrial control, specifically for CNC machines, where open loop control in discrete steps are acceptable. These motors can also be adapted for continuous rotation. In this paper we have discussed about the construction, principle, theory and operations of stepper motors.

Keywords: Stepper motor, electrical drives, discrete control, magnitude, computer control.