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Voltage - continued

The voltage applied to the step motor should be higher than the rated motor voltage. It is common to use a voltage that is 3 to 25 times the rated motor voltage. As an example, for a motor that is rated at 3.7V, supply voltages in the range of 11V to 92V are typical. Again, the higher the voltage, the better the performance will be.

Note that the rated motor voltage does not represent the maximum voltage that can be applied to the motor. In fact, the motor will normally not operate properly at the rated motor voltage.

Type

Unregulated power supplies are best suited for step motor applications. Their behavior is superior to other power supplies such as switching power supplies especially in situations where there is a sudden increase in current demand. These instances can occur in step motor applications depending on usage. Nevertheless, switching power supplies are also successfully used in many step motor applications. They tend to be attractive due to their price competitiveness. An important consideration in the design of such power supplies is the buffering capacitor. It needs to be adequately sized to provide the required current during the response time of the power supply.