Using a stepper motor as a low-power, low-rotation DC generator for renewable energy harvesting

Electrical Engineering Department, Science and Technology Faculty, Sanata Dharma University, Sleman Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: Joko_unt@usd.ac.id

Abstract

Currently, the need for renewable energy is getting bigger; studying renewable energy generation requires a small-scale or miniature generator with a low rotation that can produce power for lamp loads. The selection of generators is not as appropriate as using DC motors with high rpm, as generators still produce a small voltage (<12V) and a small current. The use of DC motors equipped with gears requires a large torque to rotate the rotor. The solution offered to overcome this problem is the use of stepper motors as a DC generator with low rotation. The stepper motor has a multi-pole coil and permanent magnet that qualify it as a generator. This study uses the nema23 stepper motor as a DC generator. The stepper motor used is a 6-wire stepper motor (two pairs of coils), a half-wave rectifier, and a capacitor to buffer the voltage. The load is a 12VDC lamp. The results obtained indicate that the stepper motor generator can turn on the lights with a manual hand rotation.