SLOA293A September   2020  – October 2021 DRV8424 , DRV8426 , DRV8428 , DRV8434 , DRV8434A , DRV8434S , DRV8436 , DRV8436E , DRV8889-Q1

 

  1.   Trademarks
  2. 1Introduction
  3. 2Various Factors Affecting Stepper Accuracy
    1. 2.1 Mechanical Factors
    2. 2.2 Electrical Factors
      1. 2.2.1 Stepper Driver Channel-to-Channel Current Matching
      2. 2.2.2 Stepper Driver Decay Mode
      3. 2.2.3 Microstepping Levels
      4. 2.2.4 Stepper Driver Current Sense Accuracy
  4. 3Conclusion
  5. 4References
  6. 5Revision History

1 Abstract

It is common for most stepper motor systems to operate with an open loop control scheme. Since there is no position or velocity feedback coming back to the stepper motor driver which is controlling the position of the motor, the stepper motor driver is essentially running blind. Traditional stepper motor drivers with poor channel-to-channel current matching, low current sense accuracy and low levels of microstepping result in choppy and inaccurate motion, but state of the art drivers with better current matching and high levels of microstepping can help improve the accuracy significantly. This application report explains how specific motor driver features can improve the quality of motion for a wide variety of stepper motor systems and applications.