Patent ID: 7170254

Claim:
A stepper motor driving apparatus, comprising: a stepper motor, which includes an excitation coil, and a rotor rotating in accordance with change of excitation state of the excitation coil; a driven member, which is interlocked with the rotation of the rotor; a stopper operable to mechanically stop the driven member in a zero position; a controller operable to control the excitation state of the excitation coil; an induced voltage waveform detector operable to detect an induced voltage waveform generated on the basis of change of magnetic flux in accordance with the rotation of the rotor; and a zero position detector operable to detect whether the driven member is stopped in the zero position by the stopper, on the basis of the induced voltage waveform detected by the induced voltage waveform detector, wherein the zero position detector includes: a comparator operable to compare a time T 2 in which each induced voltage waveform exceeds a predetermined threshold value with a predetermined contact determining reference time Tref; and a determinant operable to determine whether or not the driven member is stopped in the zero position by the stopper based on a result of the comparison by the comparator.