Hello,
I’m new to the forum. I’m more of a hobbyist mechanical engineer, and software isn’t really my thing. Is it possible to use a BLDC motor with a Simple-FOC as a servo motor? The input signals should be step and direction. Can anyone help me?
What Simple-FOC parts would I need to assemble, and which software version would I need to use?
Thanks for any help.
Hans
Suppose every step turn a specified RAD, then everytime you get a step signal add or minus a specified RAD to total RAD depends on dir signal, then set the total RAD to position of the contorller, that is ok.
You’ll need a motor, position sensor, driver, and microcontroller to run SimpleFOC and control the driver. Supported Hardware | Arduino-FOC
You can use step/dir. SimpleFOC tracks the position as floating point radians, so you can use any step size you want. There’s even a class to make it easier: Arduino-FOC/src/communication/StepDirListener.h at master · simplefoc/Arduino-FOC · GitHub
BLDC motors do have a natural step size, but it’s coarse (6 steps per electrical revolution, 3x the number of rotor magnets per mechanical revolution). Some motors have strong cogging torque and won’t hold position between steps. Usually gimbal motors are better than high speed drone motors in that respect.