Linear Or Switching Power Supply

[edbo68]

What woulod be better to use a Linear Power Supply or a Switching Power supply for stepper motor control?

Wouldn't the Switching power supply be more efficant and be able to put out a continuously steady current and voltage as the load increases compared to the linear power supply or am I still buggin on dope I did in the eight grade?

Would the PWM switching cause problems with the stepper control?
I may be answereing my own question on this one but I would think not, as most printers use switching power supplies. But I would appreciate some feed back on this anyway.

It's amazing how much more thinking I do when I'm on the crapper!


Ed-

[lerman]

IMHO, a switching supply would be lower cost, lower weight, higher efficiency, better in just about every way.

It would also require more time to design and debug. It would be harder to build in single quantity, and possibly more expensive in single quantity, depending on how good a scrounger you were and how you valued your labor.

Ken

[H500]

A switching supply has many theoretical advantages, but in practice a linear supply is superior for stepper motor control, for the following reasons:

1. Better stepper controls use PWM to limit the current. This produce lots of electrical noise. Many switching supplies will go beserk unless you design additional filters.

2. It is difficult to find cheap surplus switcher capable of putting out the 30-70 volts required by high performance systems. The cheapest switcher is a computer PS, but they're only 12V, which is not nearly enough.