Research on a novel permanent magnet spherical stepper motor

A novel permanent magnet spherical stepper motor is studied in this paper. Firstly, the computation of the magnetic field distribution is made by the Integral Equation Method and the 3D Finite Element Method, then the torque characteristics are derived by the Maxwell Tensor Method and the Virtual Work Method respectively, and the correctness of the computation is tested by comparison with other methods. A motion control algorithm based on the weighted graph is presented, by which the path planning can be completed and the spherical motor can be controlled to achieve the expected trajectory. On the basis of the kinematic analysis of the rotor with the gimbal guideway, simulations of actual stepping motions and the outputs of orientation detection system are carried out. Results show the validity of the orientation detection system and the motion control algorithm.