Torque Calculation for Motor Simulations

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the calculation of torque for motor simulations, specifically focusing on how to animate the behavior of a wheel based on torque data. Participants explore the necessary calculations and equations to model the wheel's motion, considering various parameters such as mass, friction, and initial conditions.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • Jason O outlines the goal of creating an application to simulate wheel motion using torque data and user-defined parameters.
  • One participant suggests starting with the equation τ = I * α, emphasizing the need to account for net torque from external forces.
  • Another participant elaborates on the process of calculating the moment of inertia from the wheel's mass and geometry, and proposes a differential equation to model the wheel's motion based on torque and friction.
  • Jason O expresses gratitude for the suggestions and indicates a willingness to report back on progress or issues encountered.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the approach to calculating torque and modeling the wheel's motion, but there are no explicit statements of consensus on the implementation details or potential challenges.

Contextual Notes

The discussion does not resolve specific assumptions regarding the wheel's geometry or the exact nature of external forces affecting the torque calculations.

Who May Find This Useful

Programmers and engineers interested in motor simulations, torque calculations, and real-time animation of mechanical systems may find this discussion relevant.

Jdo300
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Hello Everyone,

I am a programmer and I am working on an application that can do torque calculations for some motor simulation models that I am working on. What I have is a torque data file wilh data representing the amount of torque on a wheel at a given degree of it's rotation (so if I had 360 lines of torque data, then there would be a number representing the amount of torque for each degree of rotation as the wheel spins 360 degrees around). What I would like to do is to create an application that will create a realtime animation showing how the wheel would move and behave with the given torques on the wheel using the data that I have. The user will have to input any necessary paramiters like the mass of the wheel, friction on the bearings, initial starting position, and any initial force that is applied. Could someone give me an idea of where to start calculation wise to do this? I basically want the program to make the wheel accelerate and declerate based on the torque information and paramiters that I input into the program. Any help/assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jason O
 
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I would start with Tau = I * Alpha ( Moment of inertia * Acceleration ), but before doing that you will need to get the net torque due to external forces and subtract/add it from/to this torque and then use basic equations of motion once you have the Alpha value. Hope this helps.
 
So, you have a data file listing various values of [tex]\tau (\theta)[/tex]

The user submits numbers for bearing friction, mass and initial position, [tex]\tau_{fr}, ~m, ~\theta _0[/tex]

From the mass and the wheel geometry, you calculate the moment of inertia of the wheel, I. Then you use the equation that Gopi suggested. This gives you
[tex]\tau (\theta) - \tau _{fr} = I \frac {d^2 \theta}{dt^2}[/tex]

Solve this differential equation numerically, and use the initial condition [tex]\theta (t=0) = \theta _0~~to~get~~\theta (t)[/tex]
 
Thank you both for the help! I'm going to have to sit down with this one to do it so I'll report back to you two soon if I have any problems. Thanks for the equations and explanation!

- Jason O
 

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