Programming Stepping Motors with NI LabView

Undergraduate: Evan Gertis

Faculty Advisor: Hugon Karwowski
Department: Physics & Astronomy

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In this investigation we explore the limitless possibilities of automatizing the motion of programmable stepper motors. A stepper motor is capable of rotating a shaft either clockwise or counter clockwise at a set angular speed. In addition, the motor is capable of keeping track of the angular position of the shaft by tracking the number of degrees of rotation. These features are useful for designing equipment that requires precision mechanical movement, such as rotating a valve a certain number of degrees or moving a linear actuator up and down. However, it is often very difficult to create custom programs that allow users to take full advantage of a motor¿¿¿s features. We wrote several programs that will allow users to communicate more easily with the DMX-ETH-23 stepping motor, a commonly used, generic motor. These programs allow a user to turn on the motor from a remote computer and control its speed and direction of rotation. In future applications, we hope to use these libraries as a basis to develop programs for other motors, which could be used for applications in low temperature nuclear physics.