Practical Considerations in DC Motor and Amplifier Selection

Many consider the selection of a dc motor and amplifier for a given application as something of a black art. An attempt is made to unveil some of the mystery and to provide greater insight to the potential user and less experienced engineers into the practical techniques useful in selecting the basic motion control components. Discussed are such things as dc motor characteristics, equations of motion, amplifier characteristics, and the impact on component selection of such devices as lead screws and gear trains. Nomographs are presented which will aid in selection of the motion control components. Finally, a Basic computer program is given which will allow determination of the power requirements and temperature effects for a motor with assumed characteristics. The potential user should gain an awareness of the information needed by the application engineer for motor and amplifier selection. Both users and application engineers should be able to select these components with greater facility.