Electronic – DC motor in vacuum, heat generation

dc motorheat

I am designing a motor system that has to run in a vacuum chamber (sub mbar). I am a little bit worried about the heat that would not dissipate at all in the vacuum. Therefore, I want the least amount of energy wasted to heat(high efficiency). Some people advised me to get a big motor that is much more capable so that it can withstand the heat generated under low load.

The rpm I need ranges from 30 rpm to 600 rpm. So I need PWM on top of gearbox+motor. PWM and speed input will be controlled using Arduino. Also I realised that there are brushless and brushed motors. I figured that brushless motors are a bit more efficient which means less wasted as heat.

So in conclusion, I want a setup that is, big brushless motor + gearbox + PWM. Am I thinking correct? I have never gotten a chance to do any electrical engineering so I might be missing obvious flaws. Please let me know if there are any better ways to achieve this.

Additional info) I chose dc motor because the important part is to run continuously and smoothly at a set constant speed without bumps or jittering.
One session of running time would be ~10 minutes. Torque is not so much of a problem, probably maximum of 1000gcm needed I guess.

Best Answer

Interesting question!

Your worst case is that you have a perfect vacuum and no heat path out of your chamber. 600 rpm at 1000 gcm is about 6 watts of mechanical power. I wouldn't choose a big motor because it would be less efficient; rather, choose a "right-sized" brushless motor and gearbox for your speed and load. You should be able to achieve at least 50% efficiency, meaning that 6 watts will be going into your load and 6 watts will be lost as heat. If you run for 10 minutes (or 600 seconds), 6 watts will produce 3600 joules or 860 calories. You only need to attach a heat sink capable of absorbing 860 calories. Aluminum has a specific heat of 0.215 calories/gram-Kelvin. Do the math, and 200 grams of aluminum heat sink will have a temperature rise of 20 degrees K. So attach a heat sink and you can play around with the time, losses, and thermal mass until you get what you need. Of course, you must cool it after each run by allowing air in for convection or some other heat path out of your chamber. Otherwise the temperature will continue to rise with each run.

Good luck!