Quote:
Originally Posted by Japper
During last year's competition I saw a few teams use 2 motors on 1 Andy Mark transmission and their bots were fast and a couple of them were only 2 wheel drive....
What is the benefit of using 2 motors on 1 Andy Mark transmission?
...
If you used this type of configuration on your robot last year, what was your rationale?
Thanks
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The total current used on the drive train is roughly the same whether it's 2 motor or 4 motor. The difference is that with 4 motors, the current to each individual motor is half of a 2-motor drive train. This also means that each motor in a 4-motor drive train has half of the load that a 2-motor does. Upon viewing the motor curve graphs, you can see that at the lower load the motor has more torque and an overall higher efficiency.
In the end, 4 motors have the same maximum speed as 2 motors. However, 4 motors have much more acceleration and can take a beating whereas two motors have much shorter lifespans. The advantage of using only two motors is that you can use the 2 other CIMs somewhere else on your bot -- most commonly on elevators/telescopic arms.
This is all easy to see when using
JVN's calculator. The biggest use of this spreadsheet I've found is to design a drive train that's capable of pushing someone while also having enough current leftover in the overall system to use other motors on the bot.