
8
STEPPING MOTOR SYSTEMS
INTRODUCTION
Stepping motors have become very popular because they can
be controlled directly by computers, microprocessors or
programmable controllers. Their unique feature is that the
output shaft rotates in a series of discrete angular intervals,
or steps, one step being taken each time a command pulse is
received. When a definite number of pulses has been
supplied, the shaft will have turned through a known angle,
and this makes the motor ideally suited for open-loop pos-
ition control.
The idea of a shaft progressing in a series of steps could
easily conjure up visions of a ponderous device laboriously
indexing