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Unread 19-03-2011, 16:58
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Re: Direct drive minibot - output diameter?

Quote:
Originally Posted by buchanan View Post
The rate of acceleration must be taken into consideration if you want to (and you should) optimize elapsed time rather than simply a top speed there may not be time/distance to reach. Improved acceleration from a smaller shaft trades off against reductions in top speed. This is a somewhat harder problem, but certainly solvable, though I'm personally too lazy to do it.
I set up the differential equation and found an analytical solution. You can see the effect of acceleration, which is interesting and instructive.

Quote:
As a practical matter other factors argue for a far more conservative value than this optimization would give anyway.
I tend to agree. Compared to variations in motor performance, friction, battery voltage, and whatever else, it's probably not the major factor in determining what the real-world result will be. But still interesting and instructive.