Motor Choice for Belt Movement: Stepper vs DC

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the choice of motor for moving a belt quickly with high torque in a limited space. Participants compare stepper motors, DC motors, and BLDC motors, considering factors such as power, torque, speed, and application requirements.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • One participant believes a DC motor with a gearbox is the best choice for moving the belt quickly and with high torque.
  • Another participant suggests a BLDC motor with a controller, citing its use in electric motorcycles and drones, but requests more information about power and torque requirements.
  • A later reply reiterates the preference for a BLDC motor, arguing that it offers better performance compared to a DC motor, but notes that the drive electronics for BLDC motors can be more expensive.
  • One participant points out that a stepper motor is more expensive due to its complex magnetics and suggests it is only beneficial if stepping features are needed.
  • Another participant emphasizes the need to move the belt at a relatively high speed, specifying a requirement of inches per second.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing opinions on the best motor choice, with some advocating for BLDC motors while others consider DC motors or stepper motors. No consensus is reached regarding the optimal solution.

Contextual Notes

Participants note the importance of specific parameters such as power, torque, and space constraints, but these details remain under-discussed, leaving some assumptions unresolved.

kolleamm
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I want to move a belt quickly with a geared motor and with a high torque. Given a limited space, what would be better?
1.Stepper with a gear box
or
2.DC motor with a gear box? (Both gearboxes would be the same ratio)

I believe the answer is a DC motor with a gearbox but I need someone to confirm this.

Thanks in advance
 
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My choice would be a BLDC motor with controller. They are being sold today to make electric motorcycles and motor scooters.

On a smaller scale, they are used in drone quadcopters.

But you give us little to go on. How much power? torque? space?
 
anorlunda said:
My choice would be a BLDC motor with controller. They are being sold today to make electric motorcycles and motor scooters.

On a smaller scale, they are used in drone quadcopters.

But you give us little to go on. How much power? torque? space?
Thanks for your reply,
We need to be able to pull about 3kg of weight upward. The space allowed is on the order of inches.
Similar to a motor like this :

https://www.omc-stepperonline.com/nema-17-stepper-motor-bipolar-l48mm-w-gear-raio-511-planetary-gearbox-17hs19-1684s-pg51.html?search=17hs19-1684s

The size of the pulley used should be no more than 1 inch in diameter.
 
Last edited:
A BLDC motor and a stepper motor are nearly the same thing. The stepper is more expensive because of the more complex magnetics to allow "steps". So, there's no point IMO of using a stepper unless you want to use the stepping features (i.e. parking at known spots, or counting steps). The drive electronics for steppers is sometimes pretty low performance because many applications don't require high performance, just "move to the next step". It doesn't have to be that way, they can be driven to high performance also.

I agree with @anorlunda, BLDC will have better performance than a DC motor, but that is mostly because you will also want to buy more expensive electronics to run it properly.
 
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I forgot to mention that we need to move the belt at a relatively high speed. On the order of inches per second.
 

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