[xtian999]

This is awesome! I found this on a British site called: Battery Vehicle Society. I can imagine doing it with parts from an old motor and cutting away parts of the commutator to get the same effect.


SimonR



Joined: 03 Sep 2008
Posts: 16

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:47 am Post subject: Mechanical Speed Controller A few years ago (while we were doing Robot Wars in fact) I designed a mechanical speed controller. We needed a controller at the time which would handle 1200A at 24v - and such a thing just did not exist.

As it turned out, I built an electronic one using big IGBT's - but another chap named Steve Davis built and used this.

I thought it might be useful to anyone wanting to build an EV on a non existent budget.



Take a cylinder of PTFE & cut a 'V' in one end (as shown on the left (the white bit) and then take a cylinder of Copper and cut such that the two fit neatly together. Drill an axial hole up the middle to mount the two components on a shaft. Glue the whole lot together.

Put the spindle in a drill chuck to turn and use emery cloth to polish the surface & remove any burrs.



Using the brush assembly from a DC motor (selected such that the brushes will handle the required current), mount two brushes diametrically opposite one another such that their mounting can slide along the length of the commutator (the Copper & PTFE bit), or arrange that the brushes remain stationary and the commutator slides. Connect a small, high speed motor such that the commutator assembly rotates on its axis.

As the brushes move along the length of the commutator, the proportion of the time they are in contact with the copper changes from 100% to 0% changing the power delivered to your drive motors in the same proportion (PWM)

Use an RC Servo to move the brushes with a spring return to the PTFE end such that it will fail safe, although I would recommend using a solenoid switch to engage & disengage the power to the whole system. Reversing is achieved with either a big relay or four solenoid switches acting as a change-over.

A System such as this can be made to handle HUGE currents and the cost and complexity are roughly the same regardless. I would use the brush set from an automotive starter motor (removing the two brushes that connect to ground and separating the contacts which are normally live). The main loss in such a system is the motor which drives the commutator assembly although this should be fairly free running and the losses low. It does not require any special tooling to build (I've built one with nothing more than a hack saw and a drill (although I started with copper & PTFE tube into which the axle fitted neatly. Glue the components together with an epoxy otherwise the glue may melt!

[aeroscott]

that is so simple, whats not to love . tell us how you built the igbt controller .

[Madmac]

Would have thought you would still need a diode across the motor (or a set of shorting contacts) to keep the current flowing in the motor winding and prevent back EMF arcing.

[lazzer408]

Originally Posted by Madmac

Would have thought you would still need a diode across the motor (or a set of shorting contacts) to keep the current flowing in the motor winding and prevent back EMF arcing.

You thought correctly. The arking on that "rotory pwm" would quickly destroy it. Diodes will be needed.

[Madmac]

You could make the system completely mechanical by shorting the motor coil. Would probably need to damp the coil while it goes from one set of contacts to the shorting set.

[xtian999]

I suppose that the smoother the surfaces, the better. So, close machining tolerances and good materials would help performance, but not budget. On the other hand, more brush material and slower rotating speed would help too. Who wants to build one? Raise your hand.