Stepper Motors, easy to control

With a stepper motor a full rotation of the motor is divided in several steps. The motor can be turned stepwise and allows a stop and hold at a position related to each of these steps. There is no necessary sensor feedback of the position needed. The position can be calculated on the base of counting the steps which were done. Robotics, home automation and 3D printing are the typical industrial applications where stepper motors are used. In automotive light leveling, HVAC flap control and mirror adjustment are applications which are addressed by using stepper motors. 

Infineon’s solution for driving stepper motors consists of several drivers capable to drive bipolar stepper motors. Besides these dedicated drivers other multi-half bridge and H-bridge drivers can be used for driving e.g. more powerful stepper motors.

The Infineon low-current motor bridge family consists of a broad variety of bridges for stepper and DC brush motors including servo motors.

The products are offered with protection features as well as diagnosis. Depending on the product type the protection ranges from basic protection against overtemperature to a full set of protection against open-load, overvoltage, under­voltage, overtemperature and short-circuit. The diagnosis capabilities range from a simple status flag to communica­tion via a 16-bit SPI.

Key Applications:

• Stepper Motors in automotive and industrial applications
• Idle speed control
• Light leveling
• Automotive dashboard (gauge leveling)
• HVAC flaps
• Seat adjustment
• Throttle flap
• Mirror control

Block Diagram of a stepper motor application

Depending on specific circumstances and boundary conditions, customers choose their optimal system-design. Most relevant are:

• Voltage supply
• Uni- or bipolar motor
• Power requirements
• Space constrains