步进电机的发展历程

今天本文将和大家讨论一下步进电机的发展历史。

其原始模型是起源于1830年至1860年间。1870年前后开始以控制为目的的尝试，应用于氢弧灯的电极输送机构中。这被认为是最初的步进电机。

电机的应用不仅在动力应用方面不断扩大，而且在控制领域的使用范围也在不断扩大。随着控制电机重要性的增加，控制电机的使用量也逐年增加。步进电机是一种控制电机，不使用反馈回路，就能进行速度控制及定位控制，即所谓的电机开环控制。其应用主要以处理办公业务能力很强的OA（Office Automation，办公自动化）机器和 FA（Factory Automation， 工厂自动化）机器为核心，并广泛应用于医疗器械、计量仪器、汽车、游戏机等。就数量来讲，0A机器方面的应用约占步进电机使用总数的75%。

虽然步进电机最近被大量应用，但其原理早已有之。步进电机与电磁铁和柱塞泵同一时期开发，法国人佛罗曼提出了将电磁铁的吸引力转化为旋转力矩的方法。当时，激磁相的切换用机械式凸轮的接触点来完成，这就是步进电机的原型。现在还有旋转线圈式的应用方法。1920年步进电机的实际应用才开始，称为VR（Variable Relutance，变磁阻）型步进电机，被英国海军用作定位控制和远程遥控。

混合式HB（Hybrid的缩写，是VR与PM复合的意思）型步进电机的产生，大约在1952年，由美国GE公司（通用电气）的Karl Feiertag开发的发电机演变而来。与现在的两相HB型步进电机结构相同，取得了US专利。当初作为低速同步电机使用，其后，由美国的Superior Electric公司和Sigma Instruments公司开发出两相1.8°步距角的HB型步进电机。当时因为电流小、电感大、恒电压驱动的关系，换相脉冲只有300pps(现在为10~20kpps)。

另一方面，从驱动电路方面看，步进电机的发展与晶体管半导体元件的发展密不可分。1950年研制出二极管半导体，1964年开发出MOS半导体，1965年出现IC，1967年LSI实用化。特别是经过1950~1965年间半导体材料的高速发展，进入20世纪70年代，由于价格便宜，可靠性高的逻辑数字电路得到广泛应用，使步进电机的使用量急剧增加。

如此发展到八十年代后，廉价的微型计算机开始出现，凭借着有多种功能的微型计算机步进电机的控制方式更加灵活多样，如此一来电机的技术及品质水平得到了有效的提升，应用也越来越广泛。

广州福得电子科技有限公司主营产品：步进电机、直线电机、减速电机、空心电机、编码器电机等，欢迎定制！ 电话：020-3690-7671

The Development of Stepper Motor

Today, this paper will discuss the development history of stepping motor with you.

Its original model originated from 1830 to 1860. Around 1870, it began to try for the purpose of control, which was applied to the electrode conveying mechanism of hydrogen arc lamp. This is considered to be the original stepper motor.

The application of motor is not only expanding in power application, but also expanding in the field of control. With the increasing importance of motor controlling, the use of controlling motor is also increasing year by year. Stepper motor is a kind of controlling motor, which can carry out speed control and positioning control without using feedback loop, that is, people call it open-loop controlling. Its application mainly focuses on OA (Office Automation) machines and FA (Factory Automation) machines. Also it is widely used in medical devices, measuring instruments, automobiles, game consoles, etc. In terms of quantity, the application of OA machine accounts for about 75% of the total number of stepper motors.

Although stepping motor has been widely used recently, its principle has long been known. Stepping motor was developed at the same time as electromagnet and plunger pump. Frenchman - Frohman put forward the method of converting the attraction of electromagnet into rotating torque. At that time, the switching of excitation phase was completed by the contact point of mechanical cam, which was the prototype of stepping motor. Now there are application methods of rotating coil. The practical application of stepping motor began in 1920. It is called VR (variable reluctance) stepping motor, which is used by the British navy for positioning control and remote control.

Hybrid HB (abbreviation of hybrid, meaning the combination of VR and PM) stepper motor that evolved from the generator developed by Karl feiertag of Ge in 1952. It has the same structure as the current two-phase HB stepping motor and has obtained US patent. It was originally used as a low-speed synchronous motor. Later, the HB stepping motor with two-phase 1.8 ° step angle was developed by ‘Superior Electric’ and ‘Sigma Instruments’ in the United States. At that time, due to the small current, large inductance and constant voltage drive, the commutation pulse was only 300pps (now it is 10 ~ 20kpps).

On the other hand, As for the driving circuit, the development of stepping motor is inseparable from the development of transistor semiconductor components. Diode semiconductor was developed in 1950, MOS semiconductor was developed in 1964, IC appeared in 1965 and LSI became practical in 1967. Especially after the rapid development of semiconductor materials from 1950 to 1965, in the 1970s, the use of stepping motor increased sharply due to the wide application of logic and digital circuits with low price and high reliability.

After the 1980s, cheap microcomputers began to popularize. With microcomputers with multiple functions, the control methods of stepping motor are more flexible and diverse. In this way, the technology and quality level of motor have been effectively improved and its application is more and more widely.

(Casun company is manufacturer of Stepper Motor for 15years. Tel:  020-3690-7671 )