Robot_Current_State
The current robot electrical system is illustrated as below:
Current system diagram
The current motors installed are untraceable. None of the first generation grad students, second generation grad students, and our capstone group could find documentation on this motor. The motors are however installed, and have been proven to be functional in the past.
The specification below is the only information we get from the tag on the current motors.
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Power rating | 250W |
| Nominal voltage | 24VDC |
| Maximum continuous current | 10A |
Since the output voltage of the battery is greater than 36 V and the nominal voltage of the BLDC motor is only 24 V, the usage of the DC/DC step-down converters aims to decrease the voltage to the BLDC motors. But now, the output voltage of the DC/DC converters can only be lowered to around 35 V, which is still higher than the nominal voltage of the motor. This prevents our progress proceeding with the current motors and converters.
The current method of speed control is to generate PWM signals which are then fed into the motor drivers. The system is an open-loop and therefore has no feedback mechanism.
Currently, wires from the motor drivers and Arduino (controller) are plugged loosely into an unmounted breadboard to facilitate the connection between the drivers and the Arduino. In addition, some wires are directly connected to the Arduino headers. Regarding the DC/DC converter connections, the splitter has numerous sections that are exposed. This is unsafe and may cause faults.