PLC Controlled Multiple Stepper Motors Using Various Excitation Methods

Stepper Motors (SMs) are precise and exact in generating discrete stationary angular revolutions, and for these reasons it has recently been used in Robotic Devices. This paper introduces a design and implementation of three methods to control a two SMs using Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). These methods are: wave, half, and full Stepping Excitation Method (SEM). The speed, number of rotations, and direction (Bidirectional) of SMs are manipulated in each one of these methods. Experimentally, Siemens LOGO! 230 RC (as a basic PLC unit), with the aide of Digital Module LOGO! DM8 230R (as an expansion module) has been used in our work. LOGO! Soft Comfort Version 8.2 has been used to build our algorithms for the speed, displacement of rotations, and direction control of SMs. Function Block Diagram (FBD) semantic design program is employed to achieve the proposed PLC controller programs for SMs. This paper highlights the simplicity of possibility to control the SMs by using any type of the SEMs based on PLC . Using the PLC will save electronic components used in the drive circuit because it is not required any interface circuit linking the PLC and the SMs, as a result this will minimizing the cost and develop the whole reliability of the controller.