August 10, 2018…Applied Motion Products introduced a series of stepper drives that support a range of industrial Ethernet and Fieldbus network protocols including EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP, CANopen, Modbus, Ethernet and RS-485, as well as a proprietary Serial Command Language (SCL) for network communications over Ethernet (UDP or TCP) and RS-485.
By accepting high-level commands via a network connection, STF Stepper Drives are designed to provide system designers and machine builders flexibility to control step motors using the network protocol of their choice. These stepper drives consolidate motion control functions into the application software of the primary logic or machine controller, rather than in individual axes.
These DC-powered microstepping drives also run stored programs created with Applied Motion Products’ Q Programming language. Q Programming provides a range of motion profiles, multi-tasking, math functions, conditional processing, data register manipulation and more in a text-based programming language. Operators can configure drives and create Q programs using STF Configurator software available as a free download from Applied Motion’s website.
Designed to work with a range of 2-phase step motors, STF Stepper Drives offer current control with an anti-resonance algorithm that electronically dampens motor and system resonances. Torque ripple smoothing decreases motor noise and vibrations.
Applied Motion Products offers the STF Stepper Drives in three power ratings:
- STF03: 12 to 48 VDC input, up to 3.0 A/phase (peak-of-sine) current output.
- STF06: 12 to 48 VDC input, up to a 6.0A/phase (peak-of-sine) current output.
- STF10: 24 to 70 VDC input power, up to a 10.0 A/phase (peak-of-sine) current output.
Lowest power of the series; for smaller motors starting at NEMA 8 frame size.
Mid-range power within the series.
Highest power for largest step motors including high torque NEMA 34 frame size.
All STF Stepper Drives feature two communication ports (dual-port) for daisy-chain connections of multiple drives to the central processor, HMI or PLC.
