Stepper motor used for rotating beacon warning light?

Status
Not open for further replies.
treez said:
I understand a bipolar stepper has two coils only
Click to expand...
No, it has two phases. Each of those phases is composed of multiple coils wired in series. Each coil is wound around a pole. The number of poles determines the number of steps per revolution. Although it is possible to make a stepper motor with only one full step per revolution, you don't get very much torque that way.
 
Reactions: treez

    T

    Points: 2
    Helpful Answer Positive Rating
treez said:
Thanks, though with the beacon possibly being on for 20 hours per day, every day, won't the brushed dc suffer too
much wear of the brushes?
Click to expand...

This brings to mind the geared motors that are in old-fashioned clocks. Millions installed. Low power. Not too large. 24/7 continuous use. Lifetime measured in decades.

It's an AC motor, so it has no brushes.



A similar motor might be in disco-ball spinners.

The gears bring rotation down to 1 rpm. The video looks as though the beacon rotates about 60 rpm. It might not be easy to get a gearbox that does this.

Moreover you would need to chop a DC supply into AC.
 
Reactions: treez

    T

    Points: 2
    Helpful Answer Positive Rating
Stepper motors are usually manufactured with more precision
in mind, than a simple universal or PM brushed motor. The
application does not value precision, only durability and cost.
A stepper motor incurs the added cost of a driver board, to
no real benefit.
 
Reactions: treez

    T

    Points: 2
    Helpful Answer Positive Rating
As beacons are used in warning purpose, so reliability is more important than durability. The link from post #23 also explained about reliability. To get better reliable operation, extra cost of driver board sometimes may be tolerable.
 

Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…