Modeling and design of geared DC motors for energy efficiency: Comparison between theory and experiments

Abstract

a b s t r a c tEnergy efficiency is a growing concern in today's mechatronic designs. In recent years, many works have emerged presenting energy-efficient actuators with electrical motors. However, there is little consistency in the way energy consumption is calculated. Drive inertia, motor efficiency and controller efficiency are often neglected in optimizations, and so are the load-and speed-dependency of the losses and other non-linearities. While this approach works well in stationary circumstances, it can lead to significant errors in highly dynamic tasks with a wide range of operation, such as the ones faced by actuators in the field of robotics. This paper discusses the losses occurring in an actuator consisting of a DC motor and gearbox as it is forcing a swinging motion on a pendulum. From this simple case study, some general recommendations on the modeling of energy losses are formulated. Combining data from manufacturer's datasheets with empirical data, the approach presented in this paper was able to predict the energy consumption for this specific case with an error of less than 10%.

Customizing planetary gear trains for human limb assistance and replication

“…Analog to what was done in subsection 3.2.1, the peak torque difference in this graph (8.4mNm) corresponds to a torque ratio of: t = out / in = 588 / 8.4 = 69.87 (9) This enables us to calculate the efficiency of the quasi-planetary configuration to spin the 0.5kg mass at the peak torque point as: Ƞr = 69.87 / 96.2 = 72.6% (10) Whereas, according to [26] the expected Wolfrom meshing efficiency, based on the efficiency values estimated in (7) should be:…”

“…Hence, to cope with the elevated maximum torques, heavy and bulky actuators are needed. And this also means that, during most of the time, these heavy actuators will be operating at very low and even negative torques, far from their optimal efficiency [9].…”

“…Whereas, in most traditional industrial robotics and conventional industrial applications, motors are optimized for constant speed and continuous power dissipation, in HRI almost-ballistic trajectories are the rule [10]. This, combined with the central role of efficiency in these applications, represents a challenge to select the most suitable actuation system [9].…”

Robust Optimal Design of Energy Efficient Series Elastic Actuators: Application to a Powered Prosthetic Ankle

“…For instance, energy flowing from the load to the battery requires that the load is high enough to backdrive the motor-transmission system. motor terminal resistance, and k t the motor torque constant [23].…”

Dimensional analysis and surrogate models for the thermal modeling of Multiphysics systems

“…The literature offers a large number of correlation laws in heat transfer for simple geometries [3]. The validation of these analytical models is usually carried out on more detailed models (finite element models -FEM) or on experimental or statistical data [4]. This approach requires expertise and becomes difficult for Multiphysics systems.…”