A Second Generation Speed Controller
| By: Chuck McManis |
August 9th, 2002 |
Introduction
I needed to replace the speed controller in my BattleBot KillerB. That meant I had to do something that was some what intimidating, build a speed controller that could handle a 200 amp motor running at 24 volts. Trust me, this isn't the type of project you take on lightly :-). The result was my high current speed controller that the KillerBotz team used to compete with in the May 2002 BattleBots event. I feel it sort of bookends my speed controller experience. First I built a speed a controller that could control nothing, and then I built one that could control anything.
The design is available for licensing under extremely reasonable terms. Contact me if you're interested.
Description
Like any good project the trick is learning from your experience and this project provided a lot of learning opportunities...
Starting Out - My first steps in the design.
Level 2 - Getting the design working for BattleBots.
FET Power - What I learned about the power carrying capacity of power MOSFETs.
Snubbing - So getting rid of voltage is much more important than switching current.