New Industry Products

Oriental Motor Debuts AlphaStep PLUS

October 02, 2001 by Jeff Shepard

Oriental Motor USA Corp. (Torrance, CA) announced the new AlphaStep PLUS, which combines a two-phase, closed-loop stepping motor with an integrated programmable motion controller and driver. The controller and driver have been combined into the compact size of the original AlphaStep driver.

The new driver-controller platform can be programmed in four operation modes: positioning, mechanical home-seeking, continuous motion and electrical home-seeking.

User-friendly software allows the user to control and link up to 14 motion profiles in either incremental mode (relative distance specification) or absolute mode (absolute distance specification). The program command structure uses 26 program variables with one command per line. Each program can contain up to 64 lines. A PC or dumb terminal can be interconnected to the driver via an RS-232C communications port to select and program distance traveled (-8,388,608 to +8,388,608 pulses) and operating speed (10Hz to 500kHz pulses per second in 1Hz increments).

The AlphaStep PLUS possesses the "no loss of synchronism" operation of the original AlphaStep via the built-in, rotor position detection system. If synchronism nears possible instability conditions, the AlphaStep control system uses a closed-loop control feature to maintain motion integrity. The AlphaStep PLUS system is available with round-shaft AlphaStep motors ranging from 1.65insq to 3.35insq frame sizes.