Motor Choice for Belt Movement: Stepper vs DC

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the optimal motor choice for moving a belt quickly and with high torque in a limited space. Participants agree that a Brushless DC (BLDC) motor with a controller is superior to both a stepper motor and a standard DC motor, particularly for applications requiring high speed and the ability to lift approximately 3kg. The consensus highlights that while stepper motors offer precise positioning, their complexity and cost do not justify their use in this scenario, especially given the performance advantages of BLDC motors.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of Brushless DC (BLDC) motors and their controllers
  • Knowledge of stepper motor mechanics and applications
  • Familiarity with gear ratios and their impact on torque and speed
  • Basic principles of motor performance metrics such as torque and speed
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the specifications and applications of BLDC motors for robotics and automation
  • Learn about the advantages and disadvantages of stepper motors versus BLDC motors
  • Explore gear ratio calculations and their effects on motor performance
  • Investigate the electronics required for driving BLDC motors effectively
USEFUL FOR

This discussion is beneficial for engineers, robotics enthusiasts, and hobbyists involved in designing systems that require efficient motor selection for applications such as belt movement, lifting mechanisms, and high-speed operations.

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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