You may be asking yourself, “New stepper motors? Haven’t servo motors replaced stepper motors?”
Not exactly, as there are certain benefits from having a Stepper motor instead of a Servo motor depending on your application! We are now connected with the top innovative stepper manufactures in the world: Nanotec, JVL and RTA. (Stay tuned for a blog on their servo offerings!)
Advantages of Stepper motors over Servo motors include:
Lower cost
Size – miniature sizes at no additional price premium
Easy to commission – simpler to apply and easier to maintain than a comparable servo system
Higher torque per given frame size.
No dithering – servo motors never truly stop moving under power, instead move back and forth in small increments.
And with the proper drive and encoder you can operate a step motor as a servo combining a stepper motor’s benefits with servo accuracy.
Stepper motors excel in application such as:
Desktop equipment, particularly in the life sciences.
Printing and microscope scanning.
Any point-to-point application not requiring coordinated axis.
Ink jet applications.
Nanotec offers cost effective integrated motors (combining motor, drive, encoder and controller into one package. In addition, they offer separate motors and drives.)
Smart motors (Integrated motor/encoder/drive)
Cost effective stepper motors and drives.
CanOpen and Ethernet IP protocols
JVL also offers integrated stepper motors (Step/Servo) -with over 15 communication protocols! JVL integrated motors are easy to commission and many include a sequential controller (Soft PLC) for single axis applications.
Multiple protocols
Nema 17 to 34 integrated stepper motors (Step/Servo).
Soft PLC.
RTA specializes in stepper motors and drives. They offer 100 to 240 VAC powered step motor drives. Stepper motor drives are available with pulse and direction input or programmable.
220 VAC powered drives with matching motors
Cost effective
Programmable controllers
Contact us for solutions for your motion control applications, or for help crossing older systems to newer ones!
J.R. Cover
APPLICATION ENGINEER