When to Use Steppers for Motion Control
Stepper motors can be the best option, even for precision motion control applications, while avoiding the expense and complexity of servo motors.
To help designers decide whether stepper motors are the best fit for their applications, this white paper examines many stepper motor details, features, and benefits such as:
- Open loop versus closed loop control.
- Step modes and resolution: full-step, half-step, quarter-step, and microstepping.
- Balancing accuracy, smoothness, speed, and force.
- Stepper controllers, and motion types: fixed velocity, absolute step moves, velocity changing linear moves, trapezoidal moves, and S-curve moves.
- Using PLCs, micro-controllers, or PCs with stepper motor controllers.
- Pulse, signaling, and networking protocol types.
- Homing and position verification.
- Using stepper motors with incremental or absolute encoders.
- Stepper motor sizing.
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