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Open-loop control of hybrid stepper motor with two phases using voltage to
frequency converter

Conference Paper · May 2013

DOI: 10.1109/ATEE.2013.6563389

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THE 8 INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ADVANCED TOPICS IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
May 23-25, 2013
Bucharest, Romania

Open-Loop Control of Hybrid Stepper Motor with

Two Phases Using Voltage to Frequency Converter
George Mihalache, Andreea Zbant (Adam), Gheorghe Livint
Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi” of Iasi Romania
g30ny_geo@yahoo.com, z_deea@yahoo.com, glivint@tuiasi.ro

Abstract- Positioning systems are powered by different types of This study refers to a hybrid stepper motor controlled by
electric motors. A special category of electric motors, which are the pulse train coming from a voltage-frequency converter
increasingly used in systems, are hybrid stepper motors (the
most common example are with two phases). Due the simplicity (V/F converter) simulated in Matlab-Simulink software using
of construction, command and control, they are used even in full step sequence (one-phase-on).
other electric drive systems. This paper presents a new method II. THE MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF THE HSM
of Matlab simulation of a controller driver for a hybrid stepper
motor with full step sequence, using a voltage to frequency The mathematical model of HSM used is described in [1-
converter. The results of the simulation of the proposed control 5]. Motor differential equations are:
scheme are quite satisfactory.
Keywords: full step, combinational logic, hybrid stepper motor dia 1
I. INTRODUCTION
= [U a − Ra ia + k m ω sin( N R θ )] ,
dt La
The Hybrid Stepper Motors (HSM) are motors that convert dib 1
a digital pulse train in precise incremental movements [1-5].
= [U b − Rb ib − k m ω cos( N R θ )] ,
dt Lb
The above properties show that HSM motor is compatible dω 1
with digital command and control systems[3-4]. = [− k m ia sin( N R θ ) + k m ib cos( N R θ ) − Bω − k D − Mr ] ,
dt J
Most popular HSM are composed of a stator and two
dθ
rotors. The motor stator has two control windings, each is =ω . (1)
placed on two diametrically opposed statoric poles. Rotors dt
are spaced axially by a permanent magnet at the periphery,
which shows teeth uniform distributed and the first rotor is where: ia and ib are the phase currents, Ua and Ub are the
radially shifted with on tooth [3]. phase voltages, La and Lb are the phase inductances, Ra and
The HSM develops mechanical torque higher than the Rb are the phase resistances, Nr are the number of rotor teeth,
torque produced by stepper motors with variable reluctance J is the rotor inertia, B is the viscous friction constant, km is
[3][4]. the rotor torque constant, ω is the rotor speed, θ is the rotor
The HSM is commanded in the following modes: wave position and Mr is the load torque. [1],[3-5]. The
drive, normal full step, half step[3-5]. Wave drive mode kD·sin(4Nr·θ) represents the produced torque due to the
involves a single phase power sequential alternating voltage permanent rotor magnet interacting with the magnetic
phases. Normal full step mode involves of two phases power material of the stator poles and kD is typically 5% to 10% of
alternating voltage phases. Half step mode involves alternated the value of km·i0, where i0 is the rated current [3],[5].
one phase - two phases-one phase power [3-4]. Implementation of differential equations described in (1) in in
Matlab-Simulink is illustrated in Fig 1.

Fig. 1.Implementation in Matlab-Simulink of the mathematical model.

978-1-4673-5980-1/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE

 III. THE SIMULATED CONTROL SYSTEM Through combinational logic circuits, the problem can be
Over the years there have been a number of systems solved by implementing logic functions with a minimum
designed for command and control in wired logic. Today, logic gates. [8].
these systems are partially or fully replaced by Truth table of minimized logical functions shown in
microprocessors. The system control implemented in Matlab- TABLE 1.
Simulink is illustrated in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. System control implemented in Matlab-Simulink.

The simulated control system is composed of controller TABLE I
driver, hybrid stepper motor and load torque (Mr). The TRUTH TABLE
controller driver generates pulses for driver command wave A B C Phase
drive mode. The driver powers motor phases. Motor phases 1 1 1
are energized bipolar voltages pulses. In this case the voltage B1
0 1 1
pulses frequency for steady state also illustrates the property 1 0 1
of the operation motor in stepping mode. A2
0 0 1
The simulated controller driver is composed of V/F
1 1 0
converter and pulses generator for wave drive mode. B2
0 1 0
A. Voltage to Frequency Converter 1 0 0
V/F Converter is intended to convert the voltage into a A1
0 0 0
digital pulse train with frequency equal to that of voltage
input [6]. This can be done using timer 555, operational where: A-is the output signal from the converter, B and C are
amplifiers and circuits specialization. For example, one V/F signal A divided by 2 and 4. This is illustrated in Fig. 4.
converter commonly is used LM331 [3][6-7].
Control voltage may come from resistive divider
(potentiometer) or a controller. If the simulated converter has
a variation input voltage of 1V then after it will have to get a
variation of digital pulse frequency of 1Hz.
Pulse train at the output converter is shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. Pulse train at the output converter.

B. Pulse Generator for Full Step Sequence Fig. 4. Out signals A, B and C.
The motor is powered using one phase only [3-4]. Supply In practice this can be done easily using two D-type
phase sequence is: B1, A2, B2, A1, B1…. bistabiles or a count [9].
For microcontroller, the command pulses for the driver are Minimization function was accomplished using the
generated according to the power phase sequency. diagram Karnaugh [9-10]. Simulink Implementation of the
Determination drivers command pulses was achieved using minimized functions for the driver command pulses are
combinational logic [3]. They are comprised of basic logic illustrated in Fig. 5 and also in fig. 6. Is illustrates control
gates whose operation is described by Boolean algebra. signals for the driver full step sequence.
 V. SIMULATION RESULT
The HSM used has the following parameters (described in
[3]): La=Lb=12 mH, Ra=Rb=11 Ω, B=0.025 Nm/rad/s, Nr=50,
J=1.125×10-4 kgm2, km=0.22 Nm/A, Mr=0.07 N, kd=0.022
Nm.
Performance simulation was done at different input
voltages (input voltage frequency converter is HSM speed).
Fig. 5. Functions to minimize the driver command pulses. Below are presented the experimental results of the motor
with a frequency of 20Hz.
Fig. 8. illustrates the waveforms of the current through the
motor phases. From Fig. 8. it can seen that the current has the
same form as the supply voltage.

Fig. 6. Control signals for the driver full step sequence.

IV. THE DRIVER

The HSM motor phases are supplied with alternating
voltages. Bipolar voltage is obtained using two H-Bridge
inverters [1][3-4]. As switching elements H-bridge inverters Fig. 8. Current in phases.
using bipolar, MOS-FET and IGBT transistors [1]. These
Motor speed varies at each step executed by the HSM.
switching elements are controlled by pulses from the
Evolution rotor speed is shown in Fig. 9. Rotor speed
controller driver.
increases, reaching a maximum value and then decreases. The
Each H-Bridge has one bridge of four diodes, connected in
speed takes the value zero when the rotor reach steady state.
reverse parallel with the switching transistors, provides the
path for freewheeling currents. The freewheeling path
includes the dc supply and therefore some of the energy
stored in the phase winding inductance at turn-off is returned
to the supply [4].
Supply voltage of phases is shown in Fig 7.

Fig. 9. Angular velocity of the rotor.

Torque developed by HSM is dependent on the rotor
position, this is illustrated in Fig. 10. From the figure we can
see that the motor develops high torque at low speeds
compared to other motors. Also, the motor torque is higher
Fig. 7. Spply voltage of phases. than the resistent torque.
 VI. CONCLUSIONS
This paper presented the HSM control with full step
sequence using combinational logic in Matlab-Simulink.
Also, can be implemented and control half-step and one-
phase-two-phase-one-phase-on.
Using the model in Matlab-Simulink, the maximum
frequency command can be verified experimentally in the
steady state of the HSM. In addition, it can illustrate the
variation of current, speed and torque for each step.
Proposed system is easy to implement and has a practical
low cost. It can be used for teaching and for understanding
the hybrid stepper motor operation by students.
Hybrid stepper motor operation in this mode has the
following disadvantages:
Fig. 10. Mechanical torque. - torque developed by the motor shows ripple;
Each transition from low to high of command pulses (V/F -engine speed has high oscillations;
converter) cause the rotor to move one step, as illustrated in -executed step motor is not sufficiently amortized;
Fig. 11. We see that the control pulses are synchronous with The system can be implemented on closed-loop, in this
steps. case the voltage control is given by a Controller (eg PID,
Fuzzy Controller).
REFERENCES
[1] Q. S. AL-Sabbagh, A. S. Mahdi, PULSE WIDTH MODULATION
HIGH PERFORMANCE HYBRID STEPPER MOTOR, Journal of
Engineering, Number 4, Volume 16 December 2010.
[2] A. Kelemen, M. Crivii, Motoare electrice pas cu pas, Editura Tehnica,
Bucuresti,1975.
[3] A. Morar, Comanda inteligentă a acţionărilor electrice cu motoare pas
cu pas, Editura Mediamira, Cluj Napoca, 2007.
[4] P. Acarnley, Stepping Motors - A guide to theory and practice, 4th
Edition, The Institution of Electrical Engineers, London, 2002.
[5] M. Zribi, J. Chiasson, Position Control of a PM Stepper Motor by
Exact Linearization, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AUTOMATIC
CONTROL, Vol 36, NO 5, MAY 1991.
[6] LM 331 V-F Converter (www.fairchildsemi.com)
[7] S.D. Anghel, Amplificatoare Operaţionale în sistemele de masură.
[8] S.D. Anghel, Bazele electronicii analogice si digitale.
Fig. 11. Steps executed by HSM. [9] Z. F. Baruch, Arhitectura calculatoarelor, Editura TODESCO, Cluj-
Napoca, 2000, ISBN 973-99780-7-x (pp. 56 – 64, 117 – 125).
[10] D. O. Overfield, United States Patent, Patent number: 4417189, Nov.
22.1983 (www.google.com/patents/US4417189).

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