Determining the key parameters to qualify a stepper motor’s performance and reliability

Hi everyone,

I’m currently studying a stepper motor and would like to analyze it in more depth — ideally by visualizing its main characteristics to properly qualify its performance and reliability.

My goal is not to test it using an oscilloscope or a purely experimental setup, but rather to understand which parameters are most relevant to analyze (either by simulation or measurement) in order to assess the motor’s behavior accurately.

Here are the parameters I’m considering:

• Current
• Voltage
• Rotational speed
• Torque / Load
• Electrical power
• Winding resistance (R)
• Inductance (L)

In your experience, which of these parameters are essential to determine a stepper motor’s quality, stability, and reliability over time?

And if you have any recommendations for modeling or visualization techniques in MATLAB/Simulink, I’d love to hear them (for example, to plot relationships like torque vs. speed, or current vs. load).

Thanks a lot for your insights and experience!

— Karl

Answer 1

[Sabin]

All these parameters are important for characterization of a stepper motor. In addition, rotor inertia is important.

Simscape Electrical is a good starting point if you decide to get the characteristics in simulation first. These examples show the characterization against the manufacturer datasheet which can give a good answer to your question.

https://www.mathworks.com/help/sps/ug/stepper-motor-pull-in-characteristics.html

https://www.mathworks.com/help/sps/ug/pre-parameterized-stepper-motor-block-validation.html

[Karl]

Hi,

Thanks a lot for your reply!

Would it be possible to study and model a specific motor from a manufacturer, for example one from Nanotec?

https://www.nanotec.com/fileadmin/files/Handbuecher/Plug_Drive/PD2-C/PD2C_CANopen_Technical-Manual_V2.0.1.pdf

Here’s its technical manual — since, from the examples you shared, it seems that using the manufacturer’s data for characterization is usually preferred.