An even greater step to higher performance
An
Oriental Motor product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Dec 9, 2003
The Alpha Step Plus range offers even more functionality than the existing Alpha Step range of stepping motors and drivers.
The Alpha Step Plus range offers even more functionality than the existing Alpha Step range of stepping motors and drivers.
When Oriental Motor's Alpha Step motors first appeared on the market they generated a significant level of interest due to their novel method of operation.
They combined the best of stepper motors with the best of servomotors within the same unit.
Using a special sensor and closed-loop operation, they are able to work without any loss of synchronisation.
They do not require gain tuning and "hunting" is eliminated leading to stable dead-stop positioning.
Thanks to a unique rotational sensor design, which mimics a thin slice of the stepping motor, the motors are also able to offer precision rotor position detection by measuring the change in inductance, due to the distance between the stator "teeth" and sensor "teeth".
The use of a built-in feedback device also removes the need for encoders and resolvers, cutting down on the overall motor package.
Reliability is also enhanced thanks to an inherent immunity to shock and temperature fluctuations that often affect encoders and resolvers.
The new Alpha Step Plus range takes these defining performance characteristics and improves on them further, thanks to enhancements to both the motor and its associated driver.
The Alpha Step Plus drivers have seen significant development thanks to the incorporation of a controller.
The controller, which can be programmed via Hyperterminal on a PC, can accommodate 14 programs, each comprising 64 lines with one command per line.
All commands can be entered using intuitive, easy-to-use PC-based software.
The drive also accepts eight input signals direct from sensors or other devices, so all control and feedback can now be fed to and from a single source.
The accompanying geared motors now come with enhanced backlash characteristics, thanks to the incorporation of a twin planetary gearing system.
Rather than exhibiting two geared stages in series, the gear sets work in parallel, but slightly offset, circumferentially, relative to each other.
One reduces backlash clockwise, the other anti-clockwise, resulting in a combined backlash figure of just three arc minutes.
In addition, this new arrangement not only offers higher levels of torque capability - 5Nm compared with 3.5Nm offered by Oriental Motor's original single planetary arrangement - but it also runs at higher speeds, 600rev/min compared with 360rev/min.
It also enables higher positioning accuracy as well as an extensive range of low gear ratios that would be difficult to achieve with harmonic gears.
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