Quote:
Originally Posted by nighterfighter
The back of the CIM motor is (mostly) flat, however most of the heat isn't dissipated from that location, but it does get hot after a lot of continuous use. Some thermal paste will definitely help instead of direct contact.
Anecdotal story: Last year the students were doing a demo, for several hours. Eventually the performance of the robot was quite abysmal. I noticed the motors were hot...REALLY hot. I took some damp paper towels and wrapped them around the motor...you could hear the water sizzle and evaporate off. So maybe CoolerMaster could make a water cooling block for CIM motors! 
Edit: I see that Samuel had the same idea as me, and we posted at the same time.  |
Well let's think about this. The motor gets hot and it needs a way of dissipating the heat. I can think of 2 ways I would try to go about this based on skill, time, space, etc.
1- Take a heat-sink similar to this and drill out the middle. Slide it on the motor. The fins will carry heat away. Not the greatest, but it will help.
http://www.coolermaster.com/cooling/.../x-dream-p115/
2- Take a liquid cooling system (closed loop) and disconnect the part that goes against the processor. Swap it out for a hallow cylindrical sleeve that fits around the motor. This would definitely take some effort and custom parts but it sounds like it might be worth it if it can be used every year.
Keep in mind I have never built a robot and have no idea what I'm talking about