Motor Control: Case Study: MIT Handy Board
Motor Control: Case Study: MIT Handy Board
• Operating Current
– When there is no resistance to its motion, the motor draws the least amount
of current, and when there is so much resistance to cause the motor to stall,
it draws the maximum current
• Stall current: maximum current a motor can draw at its specified voltage
• Stall torque: torque at stall current
DC Motor Speed Control DC Motor Direction Control
• A DC motor has a two wire connection H-Bridge Motor Driver Circuit 4wire control
• Four transistors form the vertical legs of the H,
• DC motor speed (power) is controlled using a technique while the motor forms the crossbar
named pulse width modulation, or simply PWM.
• In order to operate the motor, a diagonally
– If the DC motor is switched on-off fast, the motor will run
slower than the full-time power on. opposite pair of transistors must be enabled
– Power OFF: motor slows down a little. ON (saturated), while the other two diagonal pair is
– Power ON : motor speeds up a little. OFF disabled (cut-off)
– This makes the motor run weaker, while still having
constant supply voltage. If the power is on only 1/2 of the • Transistors Q1 and Q4 turned ON Q1 and Q4 enabled
time, the motor runs with 1/2 the power of its full-time on. – Starting with the positive power terminal,
– Need fast switching to reduce speed fluctuations current flows down through Q1, through the
motor from left to right, through Q4, and down
to the negative power terminal
– Results clockwise rotation of the motor
• Transistors Q2 and Q3 turned ON
– Results in current flowing through the motor
speed from right to left
fluctuation – Results anti-clockwise rotation of the motor Q2 and Q3 enabled
• Servo motors require a 5~6 V DC power supply. This can be taken from Position
the control board power if the servo's aren't doing too much work. commands
Otherwise, a separate power supply is recommended
control
servo 2
servo 1 5V
6V
control
9.6V
Winch Servo Stepper Motors
• Winch servo rotates continuously
– Can be used for robot’s main drive motors
• Conversion
– Potentiometer is replaced by a pair of fixed resistors, which fixes the
feedback signal to center position irrespective of the shaft motion.
– This methods allows both speed and direction control. the farther the
control signal is away from the center position, the faster the motor
turns
Battery types
• Lead-Acid (normal and sealed)
• Nickel Cadmium
• Nickel-metal-hydride
• Lithium-ion