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- Newsgroups: rec.models.rc
- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!sbbrown
- From: sbbrown@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Stephen B. Brown)
- Subject: Re: ESCs - brake transistors - why?
- Message-ID: <1992Aug20.162518.23039@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
- Sender: news@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
- Nntp-Posting-Host: top.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
- Organization: The Ohio State University Radio Observatory
- References: <1992Aug19.213712.25560@proton.llumc.edu>
- Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 16:25:18 GMT
- Lines: 27
-
- In article <1992Aug19.213712.25560@proton.llumc.edu> borodin@hope.llumc.edu (Sergi Borodin) writes:
- > Since the law of the conservation of energy still applies,
- > the current supplied by the motor cannot exceed the current had been
- > applied to it by the drivers, e.g A&D or B&C. So transistors cannot
- > be damaged (besides the pulse current is much higher).
-
- These two sentences seem to contradict one another. More
- importantly, the law of conservation of energy doesn't apply because
- current is not energy. It's an energy rate. True, you can't get more
- energy out of the motor than is stored in it (as magnetic field in the
- windings, and as rotational inertia in the rotor) but you might get it
- out faster than you put it in. Consider the batteries you use, which
- you might charge in hours (unless you have a fast charger) but will
- discharge in a few minutes of heavy use.
- Fortunately, the motor windings are inductive rather than
- capacitive, so the inductance will try to discharge at constant
- current. However, they can generate very high voltages to try to
- maintain this current, so they might exceed the safe ratings of the
- FETs.
- My education about DC motors as generators is lost in the mists
- of antiquity (perhaps another net reader is more current?), but I think
- that the mechanical energy will be dissipated in a similar
- manner--i.e., it will try to generate constant current, proportional to
- rotor speed, but the voltages are unknown.
- --
- Steve Brown, N8HFI sbbrown@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
- Chief Engineer, The Ohio State University Radio Observatory ("Big Ear")
-