Hybrid Synchronous Stepper Motor

Following three types of stepper motors are in common use: 1. Variable reluctance motors. 2. Permanent-magnet motors. 3. Hybrid motors. Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor The variable reluctance motor is based on the principle that an unrestrained piece of iron will move to complete a magnetic flux path with minimum reluctance, the magnetic analog of electrical resistance. The stepper motor like variable reluctance is the basic type of motor and it is used for the past many years. As the name suggests, the rotor’s angular position mainly depends on the magnetic circuit’s reluctance that can be formed among the teeth of the stator as well as a rotor.   Permanent Magnet Stepper Motor   Permanent magnet motors use a permanent magnet (PM) in the rotor and operate on the attraction or repulsion between the rotor PM and the stator electromagnets. This is the most common type of stepper motor as compared with different types of stepper motors available in the market. This motor includes permanent magnets in the construction of the motor. This kind of motor is also known as tin-can/can-stack motor. The main benefit of this stepper motor is less manufacturing cost. For every revolution, it has 48-24 steps.   Hybrid Synchronous Stepper Motor   Hybrid stepper motors are named because they use a combination of permanent magnet (PM) and variable reluctance (VR) techniques to achieve maximum power in small package sizes. The most popular type of motor is the hybrid synchronous stepper motor because it gives a good performance as compared with a permanent magnet rotor in terms of speed, step resolution, and holding torque. But, this type of stepper motor is expensive as compared with permanent magnet stepper motors. This motor combines the features of both the permanent magnet and variable reluctance stepper motors. These motors are used where less stepping angle is required like 1.5, 1.8 & 2.5 degrees.