Motors are the devices which actually provides mechanical power to your bots, it is the most essential part for the movable robots and hence a proper knowledge of motors are very important while choosing a motor for your bots.
Motors are broadly classified into following main types:
1. AC Motors
2. DC Motors
3. Servo Motors
4. Stepper Motors
Among all the following motors, the motor which are mostly used are DC motors because they are very simple to operate and control, so for this tutorial, we concise our study to DC motors only and try to understand about different types of DC motors available in the market and their uses. To know about the uses and importance of other motors, please refer to our Blog Articles.
DC-motors are very easy to use, but like most other motors their usefulness for robotics is very dependent on the gearing available. DC-motors are made much more effective if they have an efficient gear ratio for a particular task. If your priority is to have a fast spinning motor and torque is of little concern a low gearing or even no gearing may be what you need; however, most motors used in robots need torque over top speed so a motor with a high gear ratio could be more useful.
Generally in Robotics we use two types of DC motors, i.e. Brushed and Brushless.
Brushless DC Motors are very light weight motors and have high rotating speed which can be controlled without any power loss. These motors are generally used in the field of RC Airplane, Helicopter, or Hovercrafts where high rpm(rotation per minute) and low weight are the prerequisite.
The most obvious advantage of a brushless motor is its lack of brushes and physical commutator. This difference means that there are many fewer parts that can wear out or break and need to be replaced. A BLDC motors tend to be more reliable, last longer, and be more efficient. In fact, BLDC motors have life expectancies of over 10,000 hours.
Another advantage of a brushless motor is that it can operate at speeds above 10,000 rpm in both loaded and unloaded conditions. It is also capable of operating with less noise and electromagnetic interference than a brushed motor because its internal parts are completely enclosed.
But for our use we are not going to use brushless DC motors because they need very complex mechanism to control them and their cost as compared to a simple geared DC motor is very high. They are only used when their are no option. But still if you want to learn about them then you can follow our blog.
The most obvious advantage of a brushless motor is its lack of brushes and physical commutator. This difference means that there are many fewer parts that can wear out or break and need to be replaced. A BLDC motors tend to be more reliable, last longer, and be more efficient. In fact, BLDC motors have life expectancies of over 10,000 hours.
Another advantage of a brushless motor is that it can operate at speeds above 10,000 rpm in both loaded and unloaded conditions. It is also capable of operating with less noise and electromagnetic interference than a brushed motor because its internal parts are completely enclosed.
But for our use we are not going to use brushless DC motors because they need very complex mechanism to control them and their cost as compared to a simple geared DC motor is very high. They are only used when their are no option. But still if you want to learn about them then you can follow our blog.
Brushed DC Motors are on the other hand are very simple to use, they only needs a positive and a negative terminal of a specified voltage to run, so for our purpose we are going to learn about them.
Brushed DC motors are generally available into lots of shape, size and speed. I think you could easily find a dc motor of your requirement.
But, brushed DC motors are generally available into two types, i.e. Geared and Non-Geared.
A geared dc motor have generally designed and mostly used in Robotics because they provide a high torque output and moderate speed, but a non-geared dc motor have high speed and low rpm so it makes it hard for us to control our Robot.
Brushed DC motors are generally available into lots of shape, size and speed. I think you could easily find a dc motor of your requirement.
But, brushed DC motors are generally available into two types, i.e. Geared and Non-Geared.
A geared dc motor have generally designed and mostly used in Robotics because they provide a high torque output and moderate speed, but a non-geared dc motor have high speed and low rpm so it makes it hard for us to control our Robot.
Some of the Brushed DC Geared Motors you could prefer at the initial phase of your robot designing:
1. A Geared DC Toy Motor: Generally found in remote controlled small cars, hair dryers etc. It can be used for autonomous robots, light weight robots. One unit of this type of motor can cost you around INR 100. Also they are available at different speed starting from 50 RPM.
2. A 4mm/6mm Geared DC Motor from vegarobokit.com: These motors are generally used in Racing bots, are available into two types, one is in white gearbox (means plastic gears inside) and other is black gearbox (means metal gears inside), We prefer Black Gear Box and are easily available at all robotics shops. It may cost you around 200-250 INR. They are generally have higher torque then the toy motors and are used very largely in numerous projects and robotics applications.
3. A Johnson Geared DC Motor: These motors are also available from vegarobokit, available at almost all general speeds. These motors are generally cost you around 500-800 in Delhi, and are very tough motors and are used in Combat/War Robots. These are famous due to their high torque and high RPM capability at the same time.
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