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US 4,055,786 AGranted
Control system for time sharing multiple stepper motors with a single controller
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorAlfred W. DiMarzio
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A plurality of stepper motors are energized one at a time in any order by repeating sets of drive pulses generated by a single motor controller. The actual winding state of each motor is stored in a memory unit. Upon selecting the next motor the controller is cycled until the actual motor winding state and controller winding state compare. The selected motor is then switched and moved by steps to a commanded position while entering new motor winding state data into the memory unit.
Claims12
A motor control system for multiple stepper motors comprising
- a plurality of stepper motors each having a rotor movable by discrete steps upon being supplied with sets of drive pulses determining stator winding combinations to be energized sequentially,
- a single motor controller for generating said sets of drive pulses in repeating predetermined forward and reverse sequences representing the sequence of winding states for moving a desired motor to a commanded position,
- a memory unit for each motor for storing drive pulse data representative of said sets of drive pulses and corresponding to the actual motor winding state,
- means for selecting one motor and cycling said controller until the actual motor winding state stored in said memory unit and the controller winding state compare, and
- means for switching the selected motor for energization and successively triggering said controller to move the selected motor to the commanded position while enabling the respective memory unit for entry of drive pulse data.
2 more elements
A motor control system for multiple stepper motors comprising
- a plurality of stepper motors each having a rotor movable by discrete steps upon being supplied with sets of drive pulses determining stator winding combinations to be energized sequentially.
- a single motor controller for generating said sets of drive pulses in repeating predetermined forward and reverse sequences representing the sequence of winding states for moving a desired motor to a commanded position,
- a memory unit for each motor for storing drive pulse data representative of said sets of drive pulses and corresponding to the actual motor winding state,
- means for selecting one motor and for comparing the actual winding state of that motor stored in said memory unit with the controller winding state, and means for cycling said controller until the winding states compare,
- switching means for connecting the selected motor for energization, and
- means for generating motion control pulses for sequentially triggering said controller and moving the selected motor through one step per motion control pulse to the commanded position and for enabling the corresponding memory unit for entry of said drive pulse data.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.