Motors

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Published: Updated:

Planetary gear train

Main question here is power and torque which is created by series of spur gears called a gear train. It could be simple as 2 gears or planetary gear train (higher gear reduction, very compact)

Planetary gear train

and this can be implemented in non-circular form

Non-circular planetary gear train

"Credit: YouTube channel Rail and Oak"

They are not as compact as round ones, and at specific points they hold higher stalled resistance than in others which makes movement obviously uneven.

Non-circular gears

Credit: Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas Non-circular gears

Epicyclic gearing

Planetary gearing (or epicyclic gearing) is cool, but there is also cycloidal drive, that eliminates a backlash - it's that imperfection between gear teeth that is noticeable when rotation direction has been changed.

Epicyclic gearing

Strain wave gearing

And the last but not least in this list is strain wave gearing that is used in the wheels of Apollo Lunar Rover. It requires a flexible spline, but oversteps advantages of the above systems.

Strain wave gearing

"Credit: YouTube channel Akiyuki Brick Channel"

Micro gearmotors

For the first prototype I will try brushed DC micro gear motors with 75 RPM and 155 RPM.

Microgear motor

Note: voltage defines RPM, not current.

Brushless DC motors VS brushed DC motors. Controlling BLDC is not a trivial task, but Field oriented control (FOC) algorithm is not that hard. Look at this Arduino implementation

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