Motor Sizing Made Easy

Sizing an AC step motor correctly for an

application is critical for many reasons. AC
motors tend to run hot when they're loaded too
heavily or too lightly. A step motor that's too big
or too small inevitably has vibration or stalling
problems. A motor with too small a rotor inertia
won't be able to get the load moving.
Thankfully, following a few simple steps makes
selecting and sizing a motor the first time easier
than you might think.
When looking for a motor, you'll need
to define values for both torque and speed. Once
these have been established, it's easy to look at
either a torque/speed curve or motor specs and
choose a motor. But how are the torque and
speed values determined?
Torque has two components: constant
torque (Tc) and acceleration torque (TA).
Constant torque -- usually due to friction and
gravity and always opposing the motor --is what
the motor must always overcome. Fortunately,
it's easy to measure: Place a torque wrench on
the load and measure the torque required to get
the load moving. You can also calculate it: The
force due to friction is uW, where u is the
coefficient of friction and W is the loa's weight.
Once this force (or the force due to gravity) is
determined, it's simple to convert it to torque
through some radius. For example, a leadscrew's
constant torque is given in Equation 1.
F
(1)

Calculating system inertia isn't very difficult

because most systems can be idealized into
shapes that have simple formulae for calculating
the inertia.
Let's start with the inertia calculations

Screws
While screws with high thread counts help us
with heavy loads, they kill our high speeds.
When sizing screw applications, you'll have to
calculate two inertias. The first, of course, is the
inertia caused by the nut or table and the load
being moved. The second, less obvious inertia is
that of the screw itself. As seen in Equations 3
and 4, the screw's inertia often dominates the
system.
Lpr4
Jscrew =
where
Jscrew
L
p
r
g

F
P
e

Screw inertia (oz.in.sec2)

Screw length (in)
Screw density (oz/in3)
Screw radius (in)
Gravity constant (386 in/sec2)

2P

Jload =

2Pe
where

(3)
2g

(4)

where
Force due to friction or gravity
Pitch in threads per inch
Efficiency

Jload
W
P
g

Load inertia (oz.in.sec2)

Weight of load + table (oz)
Pitch (threads/in)
Gravity constant (386 in/sec2)

The acceleration component is a bit

harder to determine because it's very hard to
simulate the acceleration profile and hold a
torque wrench on the load at the same time.
Because of this, we have to use arithmetic.
Acceleration torque is a function of the
acceleration rate (A) and the load inertia (j), as
shown in Equation 2.

As seen, a high thread count (e.g., five

per inch or so) reduces Jload. In cases such as this,
the screw inertia becomes very important ---it
can't be left out! You can also see that as the
thread count increases, the top speed decreases.
So while we can move heavy loads with screws,
we may not be able to move them very fast.

TA = J X A

Conveyors

(2)

Conveyors are essentially the opposite of screws.

While we can move loads very quickly, we can't
move large loads. More often than not, we must
insert some sort of gear ratio to get the load
inertia down to a more manageable level. (Gears
reduce the load inertia by the square of the ratio,
or
J
Jref =
Ratio2
Jref the reflected inertia, is what the motor
actually sees. Gear ratios help move larger loads
by reducing inertia and increasing torque by a
factor of the ratio; however, they also reduce the
motor speed by a factor of the ratio.) The
formulae should speak for themselves.
Wr2
Jpulley =

(5)
2g

where
Jpulley
W
r
g

Pulley inertia (oz.in.sec2)

Pulley weight (oz)
Pulley radius (in)
Gravity constant (386 in/sec2)

(6)
g

where
Jload
W
r
g

Load inertia (oz.in.sec2)

Pulley weight (oz)
Screw radius (in)
Gravity constant (386 in/sec2)

Looking at Equation 6, you can see that

even if we have a light load(say, 10 pounds) and
a pulley diameter of 2 inches, the motor sees an
inertia of 0.414 oz.in.sec2, which is quite large.
In this case, we'd probably recommend a gear
ratio of 3:1 or so. Equation 7 gives Tc for a
conveyor application:
Fr2
Tc =
(7)
e
where
TC
F

Constant torque (oz.in)

Force (oz)--usually friction

Screw radius (in)

Efficiency
Okay, we've calculated the system
inertia. N ow it's time to calculate TA for the
different motors. To convert from oz.in.sec2 to
ox.in2, multiply by 386; to convert from oz.in2 to
ox.in.sec2, divide by 386.

AC Motors
For AC motors, there's a simple formula. If we
plug in the numbers, we can determine TA.
JN
TA =

(8)
9.6t

where
TA
J
N
t

Acceleration torque (oz.in)

Inertia (oz.in.sec2)
Motor speed (rpm)
Acceleration time (sec)

We calculate Ta, add it to Tc, multiply

by a safety factor (usually 1.3 -1.7), and get our
required torque value (Treq). Then we simply
look in a motor catalog to find the specs for a
motor with a starting torque greater than Treq and
a rated torque greater than Tc.

Wr2
Jload =

r
e

Brushless DC Motors
Brushless motors aren't difficult to size.
However, you must be careful not to exceed the
maximum permissible inertia load given in the
catalog. To determine TA, we use Equation 9:
J

VF - V0

Ta =

(9)
9.5

where
TA
J
VF
V0
t

Acceleration torque (oz.in)

Inertia (oz.in.sec2)
Final velocity (rpm)
Initial velocity (rpm)
Acceleration time (sec)

Step Motors
Step motors are a bit more difficult. First, we
have to determine the acceleration rate. All load
motion, whether rotary or linear, must be
converted into motor motion. WE must figure

out how many revolutions or degrees the motor

must rotate. An because we know how much
time we have to make the motion, we can
determine the acceleration rate (A) and the peak
motor speed (V peak).
One thing you should keep in mind is
the rotor inertia. Generally, the ratio of load
inertia to rotor inertia should be less than 10:1.
For short, quick, high-performance moves, this
range should be 1:1 to 3:1. Then, depending on
the system inertia and move parameters, motor
choice will be based on the rotor inertias given in
a motor catalog.
Once the load inertia is calculated,
choose a motor based on the rotor inertia and see
if it has enough torque to make the move.
Because step motors are excellent for position
control, most often their moves are of the form
move X distance in Y time.
There are two types of motion profiles:
trapezoidal and triangular. Typically, triangular
profiles are used for moves of less than a
second's duration, while trapezoidal profiles are
for longer moves. If we use either profile, its
very easy to determine A an Vpeak from the
following formulae.
For triangular profiles:
4X
A =

(10)
t2
2X

Vpeak =

(11)
t
For trapezoidal profiles,

4.5X
A =

(12)
t2
1.5X

Vpeak =

(13)
t

X
t

Total motor movement

Acceleration time (sec)

All load motion must be converted back

to motor motion. Conversion to radians makes
the math easier. One revolution = 360 = 2
radians. Thus, a move of 2.5 revs in 0.75 second
equates to a move of 15.7 radians in 0.75 second.
Similarly, a screw with four thread/inch,
requiring a move of 3.2 inches, would be (3.2)
(4) (2) = 80.4 radians.
So, with A calculated, multiply it by Jref plus JR to
get TA, or
TA = A(Jref + JR)
Now that we've determined TA, we'll
add it to TC and multiply by a safety factor of
about 1.5 (don't forget to use consistent units in
the calculations). Armed with both Ttot and Vpeak
we can now look at a torque/speed curve to find
a motor adequate for the job. You'll want to be
careful not to select one with more torque than is
required. Because excessive torque can cause
vibration problems, the remedy requires
lowering the current, which in turn lowers the
torque. Simple, huh?
Although these procedures may seem a
bit overwhelming, these formulae should help in
motor sizing.