DC Motor Advice for an Arduino-Based Project

Hi,

I’m currently working on a project at college which requires I build an autonomous vehicle capable of carrying a 10kg load and depositing it at the end of a ‘white line’ track. The design itself is a three wheel design, with two drive wheels at the front and a rear caster wheel. However, I am unable to locate a motor anywhere near the kind of specification we appear to require. Via calculation I have determined a torque of 0.6 Nm per motor and approximately 400-500 RPM is necessary to get the thing rolling from a standstill to the required speed. The motor will need to be 12 V

I have been researching brushed & brushless, geared & non geared DC motors but find every motor I encounter either has a very high RPM (2000 and up) and low torque (<0.1 Nm) or vice versa. I really have no idea where to look for a motor which fits this spec and is reasonably priced (our entire budget is £250 for the whole thing). Can you provide me with any specific motor types or general advice on motors which will fulfill these requirements (if they are at all feasible, of course).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

IronWookiee:
… but find every motor I encounter either has a very high RPM (2000 and up) and low torque (<0.1 Nm) or vice versa.

Isn't that just an indication for more reduction; by gear, sprockets&chain or pulleys&belt ? 2000 RPM -> 400 RPM means 0.1 Nm -> 0.5 Nm. Or is it that you don't want anything outside of the (gear) motor ?

I’m unfamiliar with the motors as a whole…would it be possible to reduce the RPM/increase the torque in a manner you described relatively compactly? Space is an issue with our design.

Look up “gear motors” to see what is available in size and power handling.

This link has some good basics for you to study (which is why you are in college):

http://www.micromo.com/technical-library.aspx

maybe you need something like

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/319

just searched “gearbox” at Sparkfun …

-mark

Polulu has a huge selection of motors and unlike a lot of other places they have good specifications on all of their motors. You just might have to convert your nM to oz-in

A quick conversion yields 84oz-in and your speed requirement gives you this guy as an option, if it fits.

http://www.pololu.com/product/1442

steppers and continuous servos are pretty torquey too.