Stepping motor controller
First Claim
1. Apparatus for generating signal pulses for controlling a stepping motor, comprising:
- a pulse generator effective for producing a substantially constant frequency pulse signal;
a memory having a multiplicity of successively addressable memory locations, each of said memory locations having a content;
addressing means responsive to said pulse signal for successively addressing said memory locations;
said memory comprising output means responsive to the respective contents of said memory locations as they are addressed successively by said addressing means for producing electrical signals having frequencies to control said stepping motor; and
said contents being arranged to produce in response to said addressing at least one of an increase in the frequency of said electrical signals for starting of said stepping motor and a decrease in said frequency thereof for stopping of said stepping motor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Pulses from a fixed-frequency pulse generator are counted in a pulse counter to produce a binary number. The binary number is employed to access successive memory addresses which contain data for producing drive pulses for a stepping motor. The memory contents are arranged so that the number of pulses from the pulse generator required to produce a drive pulse decreases during starting and increases during stopping so that smooth acceleration and deceleration of the stepping motor are achieved. In one embodiment, successive locations store "0" or "1" to produce a motor drive signal. In another embodiment, successive locations store numbers which control the length of time until the next drive signal is produced.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. Apparatus for generating signal pulses for controlling a stepping motor, comprising:
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a pulse generator effective for producing a substantially constant frequency pulse signal; a memory having a multiplicity of successively addressable memory locations, each of said memory locations having a content; addressing means responsive to said pulse signal for successively addressing said memory locations; said memory comprising output means responsive to the respective contents of said memory locations as they are addressed successively by said addressing means for producing electrical signals having frequencies to control said stepping motor; and said contents being arranged to produce in response to said addressing at least one of an increase in the frequency of said electrical signals for starting of said stepping motor and a decrease in said frequency thereof for stopping of said stepping motor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of producing signal pulses for controlling a stepping motor, comprising:
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storing a content in each of a multiplicity of memory locations in an addressable memory; successively addressing said memory locations; and producing from certain sets of said memory locations as they are addressed, according to respective contents of said sets, output signals for driving said stepping motor; said sets of memory locations including first sets thereof having a first signal state alternating with second sets of memory locations having a second signal state, at least one of said first sets and second sets containing in the respective sets thereof numbers of said memory locations which change progressively with increasing address whereby said output signals are produced at a frequency that changes with increasing address for correspondingly changing the speed of said stepping motor.
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13. A method of producing signal pulses for controlling a stepping motor, comprising:
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storing a content in each of a multiplicity of addressable memory locations; said content in each memory location having one of at least first and second possible signal states; generating control pulses at a predetermined frequency; counting said control pulses in an UP/DOWN counter and producing from it signals for successively addressing said addressable memory locations; the contents of said memory locations being arranged in first sets of contiguous addresses having said first signal state alternating with second sets of contiguous addresses having said second signal state, with the number of addresses in the respective sets of at least one of said first sets and said second sets changing progressively with change in said addresses; applying said signals from said UP/DOWN counter to said memory locations successively in the one of the up and down directions in which said number of addresses decreases; and producing in response to the respective signal states of said sets of addressed memory locations output signals at increasing frequency whereby the speed of said stepping motor is increased during starting thereof. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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Specification