Patent · US Expired

Direct current command generation for a stepper motor drive

US5914579A · kind A · utility

3Cited by
15References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateOct 2, 1997
Grant dateJun 22, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 2, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH02P8/12
  • WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system for controlling a stepper motor is disclosed that includes a microprocessor for directly generating current command signals. The microprocessor is of the type having memory wherein the memory includes two transfer tables. The microprocessor, in accordance with software-selectable current magnitude parameter values and microstepping parameter values, determines a sequence of digital words to populate a first one of the tables. The stepper motor is a two-phase motor and the digital words correspond to the phase current commands are generated by the microprocessor using sine, and cosine law function tables. A DMA (Direct Memory Access) controller in the microprocessor outputs the populated transfer table to a drive circuit to energize the stepper motor while the main control software executing in the microprocessor populates the second-transfer table. Once the first transfer table has been completely output to the drive circuit, the roles of the transfer tables are reversed and the process is repeated.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.