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[Types and Features] Stepping Motors
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A stepping motor is a type of control motor that can achieve positioning without sensors. It is also referred to as a pulse motor, step motor, or stepper motor.
Compared with servo motors that use sensors, stepping motors have certain disadvantages, such as the risk of step-out. However, they enable positioning to be achieved at low cost with simple control. For this reason, stepping motors are widely used in equipment that requires relatively simple positioning to be achieved without increasing costs.
Stepping motors rotate in fixed angular increments (steps), similar to the second hand of a clock. Positioning is achieved by controlling the step angle.
By leveraging their key advantage of low-cost, simple positioning control, stepping motors are used in a wide variety of applications.
Related Article: What Is a Stepping Motor? — Operating Principles, Types, Applications (Driving Methods and Control Methods), and Key Characteristics
This article provides a more detailed explanation of the operating principles and key characteristics of stepping motors.
Although stepping motors are rarely noticed in everyday life, they operate inside numerous machines that support our daily activities.
So where are stepping motors actually used?
Below are some representative examples.
As labor shortages intensify, the importance of mechanization and automation has continued to grow. In factory automation, stepping motors play an important role in industrial robots designed to address these challenges.
A representative example is the SCARA robot (Selective Compliance Assembly Robot). SCARA robots, which primarily perform horizontal motions, are well suited for relatively simple tasks such as material handling, assembly, and screw tightening. A familiar example is the process of packing chocolates into dedicated boxes.
Stepping motors operate without sensors and excel at relatively simple, repetitive motions, enabling low-cost positioning.
These characteristics make them an ideal choice for SCARA robots, which mainly perform horizontal movements.
By contrast, robots that require more complex motions, such as vertical movement and curved trajectories, typically use sensor-equipped servo motors.
In this way, motors—including stepping motors—make a significant contribution to manufacturing by supporting labor saving, improving quality, and reducing costs.
A 3D printer is a device that creates three-dimensional objects by depositing material in layers. It can produce a wide range of designs as envisioned, enabling the development of better ideas while contributing to shorter development times and lower costs. As a result, 3D printers have brought significant innovation to the manufacturing and construction industries. Many people were surprised by the news that the construction period of the Sagrada Família was shortened by more than 150 years through the adoption of IT technologies, including 3D printers.
So, where in a 3D printer are stepping motors actually used?
The answer is the mechanism that drives the nozzle that deposits the resin. As shown in the figure below, stepping motors play a key role in positioning the nozzle.
By using motors on three axes (X, Y, and Z), the nozzle is moved in three dimensions to deposit material layer by layer and form a 3D object.
Precise positioning control is essential for creating complex 3D objects.
Today, nearly 500,000 copiers and multifunction printers (MFPs) are shipped annually in Japan alone. Although paperless practices are increasingly encouraged, these devices remain essential office equipment for efficient business operations. In recent years, multifunction copiers that can, for example, print data directly from smartphones at convenience stores have become more common, and many people have experienced their convenience.
So, while the process of “reading information and outputting it onto paper” may seem quite simple, where exactly are stepping motors used in this process?
As many of you may have already guessed, stepping motors play an active role in the document scanning operation and the paper feed operation.
First is the document scanning operation. To read documents smoothly and without distortion, precise control and positioning are required. Stepping motors provide this control, enabling accurate and stable scanning. Next is the paper feed operation. Inside a copy machine, multiple paper feed rollers are used. The role of stepping motors is to drive these rollers and feed paper quickly and accurately.
Stepping motors contribute to producing clean, distortion-free copies without print errors.
First, let us briefly explain what PCB inspection equipment is.
As the name suggests, PCB inspection equipment is used to inspect printed circuit boards (PCBs). Electronic devices and automobiles that we use in our daily lives all contain electronic PCBs. By mounting numerous electronic components on a PCB and allowing them to function together, products are able to operate properly.
If there is even a small defect on a PCB—for example, a partial solder short—the product may fail to operate. To detect and prevent such defects, PCB inspection equipment is used during the inspection process.
PCB inspection involves multiple processes, such as printing process inspection, mounting process inspection, and reflow process inspection. In the past, these inspections were performed visually by human operators. However, due to the miniaturization of PCBs and ongoing labor shortages, the role of inspections using PCB inspection equipment has become increasingly important.
So, in which part of PCB inspection equipment are stepping motors used? They are used in the board alignment (width adjustment) mechanism, which aligns the position of the PCB. This may be a little difficult to visualize, so let us explain it using the figure below.
PCBs are placed on a conveyor belt and transported to the next process after undergoing inspection at each stage. If the PCB becomes misaligned or rotated, accurate inspection cannot be performed. By controlling the alignment position, stepping motors ensure that PCBs are inspected in a precisely aligned state.
Stepping motors are also used in automatic ticket gates, which many people encounter when passing through train stations.
Stepping motors are used in the transport mechanism that moves tickets from the insertion slot to the exit.
Inside an automatic ticket gate, tickets are transported using conveyor belts, and these belts are driven by stepping motors. During busy periods such as the morning rush hour, tickets must be transported from the entrance to the exit within one second to avoid causing congestion. In addition, by stopping the motion precisely at the exit, the ticket can be delivered neatly and accurately into the user’s hand.
A wire processing machine is a machine used to process wire materials.
Wire materials refer to long, thin steel materials—similar to what you might imagine as wire or metal thread. Wire processing machines perform a variety of operations on these materials, such as cutting to length, stripping insulation from the ends, twisting wires, and forming screws or springs.
Stepping motors are used in the wire feed section of wire processing machines. As shown in the figure below, the wire is fed to the processing section to the required length. One reason stepping motors are particularly well suited for this application is their ability to rotate at a constant speed. By taking advantage of this characteristic, stepping motors can feed the wire smoothly to the processing section without loosening the wire.
Stepping motors are also used in places that are familiar to many people, such as amusement games. A representative example is the slot machine. So, where exactly are stepping motors used in a slot machine?
The answer is the reels. The reels are the sections where the three symbols are displayed, and they can be considered the true centerpiece of a slot game. When a player presses a button, the reels stop precisely at predetermined positions. Stepping motors are responsible for enabling this motion, as shown in the figure below. The excitement and suspense players feel in slot games are partly created by the precise control of stepping motors.
Next, let us introduce one more example of stepping motors used in amusement games. This example is the arm of a crane game (also known as claw machine).
The movement that allows the arm to travel forward, backward, left, and right is generated by stepping motors.
Here again, stepping motors play a key role in what can be considered one of the most appealing aspects of crane games.
The thrilling moment when the arm stops instantly and precisely the moment the player releases the button is actually made possible by stepping motors.
In this way, stepping motors are actively used not only in industrial machinery, but also in familiar and enjoyable applications in our daily lives.
Surveillance cameras quietly help protect the safety of our cities every day. Stepping motors also play an important role inside these cameras, often without being noticed. The part where they are used is the camera’s movable section (pan-and-tilt mechanism). Due to the nature of surveillance cameras, some models are required to monitor not only up, down, left, and right, but also to provide 360-degree coverage. Stepping motors are often used for this movement and positioning control. However, stepping motors have a drawback in that they tend to produce increased vibration at low rotational speeds. For this reason, countermeasures such as using a gear reducer or replacing the stepping motor with a servo motor may be necessary, depending on the application.
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What Is the Closed-Loop Stepping System That Solves These Challenges?
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Achieving Smooth Curves with a 4-Axis Integrated Closed-Loop Stepping System
In this article, we have introduced how stepping motors are used in various aspects of everyday life. Although these motors are rarely visible, they have the potential to continue being used in a wide range of applications and products in the future. By imagining how they operate behind the scenes, you may find it interesting to take a closer look at the products around you.
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