Drive Motor Sizing Tutorial

RobotShop, June 2008 This tutorial is intended to complement RobotShop's Drive Motor Sizing Tool by providing you with a step by step explanation as to the calculations behind the dynamic tool. In the image below hal! a mobile robt is shown. "lthough in this scenario only two out o! the !our wheels are driven the e#uations below can be used !or any number o! passive and driven wheels as well as !or tan$ trac$s. The e#uations are presented without units %units are presented with the drive motor selection tool&.

To calculate the re#uired tor#ue power current and battery pac$ re#uired by a wheeled mobile robot there are several principles that must be understood' concept o! vectors( )D *orce balance( +ower( ,urrent and -oltage. I! you do not understand these concepts you are encouraged to research them prior to reading this tutorial. In order to roll on a horizontal sur!ace a wheeled robot.s motors must produce enough tor#ue to overcome any imper!ections in the sur!ace or wheels as well as !riction in the motor itsel!. There!ore theoretically a robot %small or large& does not re#uire much tor#ue to move purely horizontally. /bviously there will be more !riction and resistance in a large robot than in a small robot though it is still exponentially less than when a robot encounters an incline. In order !or a robot to roll up an incline at a constant velocity %no acceleration or deceleration& it must produce enough tor#ue to 0counteract1 the e!!ect o! gravity which would otherwise cause it to roll down the incline. /n an inclined sur!ace %at an angle theta& however only one component o! its weight %mgx parallel to the sur!ace& causes the robot to move downwards. The other component mgy is balanced by the normal !orce the sur!ace exerts on the wheels.

In order !or the robot not to slide down the incline there must be !riction between the wheel and the sur!ace. The motor in a heavy truc$ may be able to produce )23 horsepower and signi!icant tor#ue but we have all seen %in person or in video& large truc$s simply spinning their wheels as they !all bac$wards on an icy street. It is !riction %f& that 0produces1 the tor#ue.

The tor#ue %T& re#uired is'

To select the proper motor we must consider the 0worst case scenario1 where the robot is not only on an incline but accelerating up it.

4ote now that all !orces %F& are along the x and y axes. 5e balance the !orces in the x6 direction'

Inserting the e#uation !or tor#ue above and the e#uation !or mgx we obtain'

Rearrange the e#uation to isolate T'

This tor#ue value represents the total tor#ue re#uired to accelerate the robot up an incline. 7owever this value must be divided by the total number %N& o! drive wheels to obtain the tor#ue needed !or each drive motor. 4ote that we do not consider the total number o! passive wheels as they have no e!!ect on the tor#ue re#uired to move the ob8ect aside !rom adding weight.

The !inal point to consider is the e!!iciency %e& in the motor gearing and wheel %slip&.

This increases the tor#ue re#uired and compensates !or ine!!iciencies. Total power %P& per motor can be calculated using the !ollowing relation'

T is $nown !rom above and the angular velocity %w& is speci!ied by the builder. It is best to select the maximum angular velocity to be able to !ind the corresponding maximum power. 9nowing the maximum power and the supply voltage %V& which the builder chooses we can !ind an idea o! the maximum current %I& re#uirements'

The two e#uations above are used to produce the !ollowing relation'

*inally the capacity %c& o! battery pac$ re#uired can be estimated using the e#uation'

:ou may wonder why such a large value is needed. This is because when choosing a battery pac$ the rated amp hours are not an accurate indicate o! the maximum current the pac$ can produce !or extended periods o! time. "lso the total charge is rarely retained over time. This way you will ensure the battery pac$ you select will be capable o! producing the current your motors re#uire !or the time you re#uire and with the ine!!iciencies inherent in recharging battery pac$s. 4ote' This is the battery re#uired +;R M/T/R. To obtain a total battery pac$ re#uired !or the robot multiply this value by the number o! drive motors.