I've done some research on brushless DC motor and have a few questions what would happen when a constant current is sent to a DC motor.
From my understanding, the current is directly related to the torque that the motor supplies, while the voltage would relate to the RPM. My question is, what would happen when you try to keep the current supplied constant, regardless of the load/rpm.
For example, let's say you have a weight attached to the shaft of the motor, like in this picture:
You set current to be sent to the motor so that the torque applied is 10 in-lbs without any load. In this scenario, this current doesn't change. You attach a weight to the end of the pulley. What happens when the torque from the weight/load is 5, 10, and 15 in-lbs.
I assume, in the 5 in-lb scenario, the motor pull the weight up, at 10 in-lbs the motor would stall, and at 15 in-lbs, the weight would drop and it would actually be acting as a generator.
Now, I'm obviously ignoring the voltage and back-emf in this scenario. How would they play a role? Without any voltage, there won't be any current running through it, so there's no torque applied. But beyond that, would the voltage only affect the acceleration?
Sorry if this question has already been answered, but most of what I found related to a constant NET torque, not a constant applied torque from the generator.
Best Answer
A constant current means, for an ideal motor, a constant torque. This is approximately true for real motors. It doesn't matter what you attach to the motor, or how fast it's turning.
What you seem to be missing is Newton's second law of motion. It states that force is the product of mass and acceleration:
$$ F = ma $$
The constant current you supply to the motor is one force. The weight opposes that force. The difference is the net force, \$F\$ in this equation, and \$m\$ is the mass of the weight, plus the mass of the rotor and the string and everything else the motor must move.
Not possible. There is nothing for the motor to "torque against". This is the mechanical equivalent of trying to develop 10 volts across a dead short. The motor will rapidly spin at its maximum speed, and the back-EMF will rise to the driving voltage such that your driving electronics are unable to supply enough voltage above the back-EMF to make enough current to have that much torque.
Let's just say you determine how much current is required for 10 in-lbs of torque, and you drive your motor with a constant-current supply set to that.
Assuming that the rotor and the string are massless and frictionless, the weight will be accelerated upwards by the net 5 in-lbs of torque (motor's 10 in-lbs, less 5 in-lbs from the weight). The rate of the acceleration is determined by the mass of the weight and Newton's law above.
As the speed of the motor changes (the weight is accelerating), the back-EMF also changes. Your constant-current supply to the motor will have to apply an increasing voltage to maintain the same current. Electrical power thus goes up, as does mechanical power.
Motor torque balances weight torque. However fast the weight is moving (if at all), it keeps doing that. Newton's first law applies.
The weight will accelerate downward, overpowering the motor. However, it won't be a free-fall. The motor cancels some of the force of the weight, resulting in a slower acceleration downwards.
If the weight overpowers the motor, then eventually it can get the motor to run backwards, relative to the way it would run if there were no load. When this happens, the back-EMF now adds (instead of subtracts) from the voltage you apply to the motor. At some point, your controller, which is attempting to maintain a constant current, must apply a negative voltage to maintain that current. In other words, the back-EMF is sufficient to create the necessary torque on its own: your controller must oppose it.
This is perfectly symmetrical with the first case, where the motor was overpowering the weight. In that case, electrical and mechanical power went up (without bound, if you let them). In this case, electrical and mechanical power go down (negative, if you let them). Energy is conserved because you are changing the gravitational potential of the weight.
The need to resist the back-EMF usually means storing electrical energy in a capacitor or battery, or using it to heat a resistor. If you can't do this fast enough, then the motor will create more torque than your desired 10 in-lbs, and you have hit the limits of your "constant current" driver.
Further reading: