Build Your Own Dynamometer: System Design And
Mechanical Construction
by Dennis Feucht
This month, the original "baby dyno" project will be
continued at the next level of detail: the project design and construction
overview. This will give you some idea of the size of such a project and
the technical competencies required to succeed at it. You will need at least
some experience with: analog circuits, very simple digital circuits, basic
power circuits, embedded Cs and their programming, and some basic machine-shop
mechanics for the fixturing. You will also need to have some electronics
project experience building gadgetry that goes in an enclosure. You'll have
a nontrivial enclosure construction task, especially in mounting a fan-cooled
bank of power resistors, no less circuit boards, open-frame power supply,
etc.
Background
A few years ago, Jim, a motor-drive friend of mine from Portland, OR, who now works for Emerson Electric in St. Louis, MO, and I both wanted a dyno but not at commercial prices. While Magtrol and Vibrac build attractive products, the one unattractive feature to us was the high price. We were not prepared to spend $10,000 US out of our own pockets just to have our own dyno. Magtrol's line of dynos, for instance, is based on a magnetic hysteresis brake. A relatively small current in its coil produces dissipative load torque on the motor under test.
...download complete article here (266kb PDF file)
...read Part I here
Contact the author |