Variable torque control of a stepper motor

• Main Authors: Poulad Navid, Coley Christopher D, Xu Jijie
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 04.10.2016
• Subjects: CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; CONTROL OR REGULATION OF ELECTRIC MOTORS, ELECTRIC GENERATORSOR DYNAMO-ELECTRIC CONVERTERS; CONTROLLING; CONTROLLING TRANSFORMERS, REACTORS OR CHOKE COILS; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER; ELECTRICITY; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; GENERATION; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS ORELEMENTS; PHYSICS; REGULATING

A stepper motor may be controlled by a controller to provide extended revolution of a motor shaft while operating in a first mode and to allow a user to manually intervene with an intended position or rotation of the motor shaft while operating in a second mode. In some embodiments, the controller may adjust a torque applied to the stepper mode during operation of the stepper motor. The controller may reduce a torque applied by the stepper motor to a lower torque while the user intervenes with the intended position or rotation of the motor and increase the torque to a holding torque after the user intervention has ended. Thus, the controller may dynamically adjust a torque of the stepper motor in response to detection of the user intervention.