Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris is me
Again, why?
Once you become traction limited, you're pretty much done torque wise. Every gear lower than that just decreases current draw. When you get higher, you get incrementally worse acceleration and greater current draw for incrementally more speed.
Maybe a better track to start on is what about a two speed transmission leaves you unsatisfied? Top speed too low? Not traction limited at the low speed? Want another gear for smoother acceleration?
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The trouble is getting to the point where it's traction limited. This could be around 150 to possibly even 200 pounds of tractive force with the right gripping setup. Even with 4 motors, it'll be difficult to get a usable top speed once it's geared down all the way. Furthermore, a second gear with a higher top speed for this would probably create a useless power well, and would have to be tested for optimization (calculus would come into play and simplify things here, but considering that only about 10% of my school takes a beginning calculus course, it's out of the question). Last, the normal two-speed shifters are simply too expensive for us, and would also require pneumatics, something we've began to abhore due to it's weight and volume requirements.