DCMotor

ADCmotorisamotorthatutilizesaconstantpolaritypowersourcetoproducemechanical
work.
AllthismeansisthatyoucanconnectittoasimpleDCpowersourcesuchasabatteryto
powerit.Thismeansnocomplexdrivingcircuitryisneeded,asmostrobotsarepoweredby
batteries.

Beforewegetintohowyoucanusethesemotorsinyourproject,wewilltakealookathow
theseareconstructedandhowtheyworkinternally.

InternalConstructionandWorkingPrinciple
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AsimpleDCmotorconsistsofacoilofconductorswithinthefieldofapairofpermanent
magnets.Theendterminalsofthecoilareelectricallyconnectedtoapairofsplitrings,also
calledcommutators.Thisensuresthatthedirectionofcurrentswitchesdirectioneveryhalf
cycle,sothatthecoilskeeprotatinginthesamedirection.

Weknowacurrentcarryingconductorplacedinanexternalmagneticfieldexperiencesaforce.
Thisforceiswhatcausestheshaftofthemotortorotate.

ThecommutatoristhekeycomponentthatletsthiskindofmotortobepoweredbyaDCsource
ratherthananACsource.

PoweringaDCMotor
Asyoumayhavenoticed,thismotorisatwoterminaldevice.Butthereis
nopolarityindication.Sohowdoyouknowinwhichwaytoconnectthe
batteryorwhateverpowersourceyoureusing?

Takeacloserlookattheconstruction.Reversingthepolarityjustreversesthedirectionofthe
force,andthereforethedirectionofrotation.Soyoucanconnectthebatterywhateverwayyou
want.Ifyouwantthemotortorotatetheotherway,justreversethepolarity.Prettyeasy,eh?

TheSimpleDeal

Sothesimplestcircuitforsuchamotoristoconnectthemotortoabatterywithaswitchin
series,sothatwecanswitchitonanoff.

TheBidirectionalSwitchCircuit,a.k.a.,DPDTCircuit

Butwait,whatifIwanttocontrolthedirectionofrotationofthemotorwithaswitchtoo?

Theresasolutionforthistoo,anditscalledaDPDTswitch,orDoublePoleDoubleThrow
switch.

WerecommendyoutakealookathowaDPDTswitchworksintheswitchestutorialbefore
proceeding.

Thecircuitdiagramisasfollows:


Trytofollowthedirectionofthecurrent.Itflowsinoppositedirectionsinthetwopositionsofthe
switch.Nowwecanchangethedirectionofrotationtoo.Yaay!

Interfacingwithmicrocontrollers
Nowyoucancontrolthemotorusingswitches.Butwhatifyouwanttousethisina
microcontrollerbasedproject?

Youcouldtrytopowerthemotordirectlyfromamicrocontroller(MCU)outputpin.

Therearetwoproblemswiththisapproach:
Mostmotorsusedinroboticsareusuallyratedat9Vor12Vormore.
MCUpinscansourcenomorethanafewmilliamperesofcurrent

Thismeansthatthemotorwon'tgetenoughpower,sowillrotateslowly,ornotworkatall.

TheTransistorApproach

Toovercomethispowerlimitation,wemightusetransistorsasswitches.Thebaseofannpn
transistormaybeconnectedtoanoutputpinofaMCU.Whentheoutputishigh,thetransistor
conducts,allowingthemotortoworkatfulloperationalpower.Whentheoutputislow,the
transistorstopsconducting,andhencethemotorstops.MOSFETsmayalsobeusedforthis
purpose.

ThevalueofRBisdependentontheexactapplication,but500toa1000ohmwouldbeasafe
startingpoint.RCmaybeomittedifVCCislessthan12V.

Thedownsidetousingthismethodisthemotoronlyrotatesinonedirection.

Thesolution?

TheMotorDriverICsetup

ItscalledanHBridgemotordrivercircuit.Fancynomenclatureaside,thiscircuitisavailableas
acommonIC,theL293D.

EndingNotes
Flybackdiode

Insomesources,youmightfindadiodeinparalleltothemotor.Thisdiodeisaprotectiondiode,
knownasaflybackdiode.Becauseamotorisaninductiveload,whenthecurrentstops
flowing,theinductiveeffectcausesalargebackwardsEMF.Thiscouldfrysensitiveelectronics
suchasatransistororamicrocontroller.

SpeedControl

Ifyouwanttocontrolthespeedofrotationofthemotor,onewayistouseapotentiometerin
serieswiththemotor.Adjustingthepotentiometerwillsetthespeed.A100ohmpotentiometer
willworkfine.

Ifthespeedcontrolneedstobedoneinamicrocontrollerinsoftware,aPWMmethodmaybe
applied.Checkoutmorehere:

<PWMtutoriallinkhere>