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‘Mangles’ VESC’s – Making Brushless Heavyweight Drive a Reality
Professionally produced in static controlled environment.
For the new series of Robotwars, in partnership with Rory Mangles of Team Nuts, we have developed a High-Amperage version of a new type of Electronic Speed controller, the VESC.
Originally developed as an open source design for use on Electric Long Boards by Benjamin Vedder, these uprated ‘Mangled’ versions are designed for use in Combat Robot weapon and drive systems. Two robots in the new series already make use of these controllers; you will find out who when the new series airs.
Until now, sensorless brushless motors have suffered from limited start up torque, and sensored systems are susceptible to failure if any sensors move or get damaged. VESC’s remove this problem by ‘integrating the magnetic flux after the zero crossing instead of adding a delay based on the previous speed’. ‘When the motor is rotating while the controller is off, the commutations and the direction still tracked. The duty-cycle to get the same speed is also calculated. This is to get a smooth start when the motor is already spinning’.
To improve current handling over the VESC’s the following changes were made:
This results in a current rating of ~80A, 130 max (100A Cont. may be possible with active cooling) at 8 – 50V (Safe for 3S to 12S LiPo).
The only thing that was removed from the original design was the CAN Bus, which allowed for real-time telemetry while the controller was running, but that is still possible using UART (Universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter).
Now for the difficult part…
Unlike Brushed controllers, Brushless controllers are not ‘Plug n Play’. They require settings that will be unique to each motor and drive set up to get the most out of them. While you can just upload a generic profile and go for a drive you will find that the vehicle/robot will most likely not be giving everything it can. These controllers are so new, both the Original and ‘Mangled’ variants, that you best option is to just spend time messing with the settings until you find what makes the VESC drive how you want. While it takes time it does ultimately mean that you have a lot more control over the drive in your robot, from acceleration, to breaking, maximum speed, current limiting and even battery regen.
While the technology is still new it shows great promise and the more people that adopt and try it out the better it will get. You can check out some of the links and testing videos for the original VESC’s below, along with some other videos showing off what VESC’s can do.
Official VESC Website - http://vedder.se/2015/01/vesc-open-source-esc/
VESC Forum - http://vedder.se/forums/
VESC Firmware and Config Tutorial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17CSl1iXYE8
Early VESC testing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfNcHmt_avE
VESC Longboard Fitting and Testing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8f0xg7DNmM
4X VESC’s & NTM5060’s Pull a Car - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6vFfcoDARQ
Longboard test + Data Logging Overlay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGb-zt2Jp9k
Special for FRA members (profit neutral for us) Each VESC is £150 ex VAT, including postage to Mainland UK.
We hope to be at Gadget Show Live running from the 31 of March to the 3rd of April so you can pick them up there if you prefer.
Since this was the first run, availability is limited so we have to operate on a first come first served basis.
‘Mangled’ VESC Technical Specifications –
(Stats and information that hasn’t changed between the original VESC and Mangled VESC was compiled from http://vedder.se/forums/ and http://www.enertionboards.com/electr...or-controller/. Check both links for further information.)
‘Mangles’ VESC’s – Making Brushless Heavyweight Drive a Reality
Professionally produced in static controlled environment.
For the new series of Robotwars, in partnership with Rory Mangles of Team Nuts, we have developed a High-Amperage version of a new type of Electronic Speed controller, the VESC.
Originally developed as an open source design for use on Electric Long Boards by Benjamin Vedder, these uprated ‘Mangled’ versions are designed for use in Combat Robot weapon and drive systems. Two robots in the new series already make use of these controllers; you will find out who when the new series airs.
Until now, sensorless brushless motors have suffered from limited start up torque, and sensored systems are susceptible to failure if any sensors move or get damaged. VESC’s remove this problem by ‘integrating the magnetic flux after the zero crossing instead of adding a delay based on the previous speed’. ‘When the motor is rotating while the controller is off, the commutations and the direction still tracked. The duty-cycle to get the same speed is also calculated. This is to get a smooth start when the motor is already spinning’.
To improve current handling over the VESC’s the following changes were made:
- Upgraded to higher current IRFS7530 MOSFETs
- Width of high power tracks increased
- Current shunts were changed from 1mOhm to 0.5mOhm
- Increased decoupling capacitance from 1680 to 3000uF
- Improved mounting points to allow heatsinks to be added more easily.
This results in a current rating of ~80A, 130 max (100A Cont. may be possible with active cooling) at 8 – 50V (Safe for 3S to 12S LiPo).
The only thing that was removed from the original design was the CAN Bus, which allowed for real-time telemetry while the controller was running, but that is still possible using UART (Universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter).
Now for the difficult part…
Unlike Brushed controllers, Brushless controllers are not ‘Plug n Play’. They require settings that will be unique to each motor and drive set up to get the most out of them. While you can just upload a generic profile and go for a drive you will find that the vehicle/robot will most likely not be giving everything it can. These controllers are so new, both the Original and ‘Mangled’ variants, that you best option is to just spend time messing with the settings until you find what makes the VESC drive how you want. While it takes time it does ultimately mean that you have a lot more control over the drive in your robot, from acceleration, to breaking, maximum speed, current limiting and even battery regen.
While the technology is still new it shows great promise and the more people that adopt and try it out the better it will get. You can check out some of the links and testing videos for the original VESC’s below, along with some other videos showing off what VESC’s can do.
Official VESC Website - http://vedder.se/2015/01/vesc-open-source-esc/
VESC Forum - http://vedder.se/forums/
VESC Firmware and Config Tutorial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17CSl1iXYE8
Early VESC testing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfNcHmt_avE
VESC Longboard Fitting and Testing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8f0xg7DNmM
4X VESC’s & NTM5060’s Pull a Car - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6vFfcoDARQ
Longboard test + Data Logging Overlay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGb-zt2Jp9k
Special for FRA members (profit neutral for us) Each VESC is £150 ex VAT, including postage to Mainland UK.
We hope to be at Gadget Show Live running from the 31 of March to the 3rd of April so you can pick them up there if you prefer.
Since this was the first run, availability is limited so we have to operate on a first come first served basis.
‘Mangled’ VESC Technical Specifications –
- The hardware and software is open source. Since there are plenty of CPU-resources left, the customization possibilities are almost endless.
- Voltage: 8V – 50V (Safe for 3S to 12S LiPo).
- Current rating ~80A, 130A peak. (100A may be possible with active cooling)
- Sensored and Sensorless operation
- PPM Signal output for use with RX’s, Raspberry Pi’s and Android devices.
- Full software GUI with lots of configuration parameters
- Improved start up torque over other brushless speed controllers in sensorless mode (and obviously in sensored mode too)
- USB port for programming and telemetry
- Adjustable protection against: Low Voltage, High Voltage, High Motor Current, High Input Current & Regenerative breaking, all of which can be set independently.
- RPM Limiting with soft back off strategy.
- NOTE – there is no CAN Bus on the ‘Mangled’ VESC.
(Stats and information that hasn’t changed between the original VESC and Mangled VESC was compiled from http://vedder.se/forums/ and http://www.enertionboards.com/electr...or-controller/. Check both links for further information.)
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