1
$\begingroup$

I'm a researcher in a lab that's starting work on some larger humanoid/quadruped robots as well as a quadcopter. Currently, we have several power supplies that have a max rating of 30V/30A and our modified quadcopter easily maxes out the current limit with only half of its propellers running. It seems like most power supplies are meant for small electronics work and have fairly low current limits. I think that I want to look for power supplies that are able to provide between 24-48V and higher than 30A for an extended period of time.

1.) Is this unreasonable or just expensive? 2.) Do most labs just connect PSUs in series to get higher voltages?

Thanks for the input.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
0
$\begingroup$

1) A powersupply with 1kW is definetly not enought for lab tests with mobile robots, especially with quadrotors. If you do naive fallacy your quadrotor is limited to around 4 kg. Take the main frame with the motors, place a decent 2D or even 3D scanner on it and a CPU which can handle some data, and the quadrotor will be more than 4kg. I have seen quadrotors with peak power of around 10kW. I recommend using a power supply which can provide a bit more then the power which is needed to hover the quadrotor (rule of thumb: 250Watt/kg).
The mobile robot should use less then the quadrotor in most cases.

2)Connect them in series for more Voltage... sure no problem at all.
But connecting them in parallel for more current...Don't do this the current flowing across the PSU can fry them easily.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Okay, I'll ask our quadrotor guy what weight his final prototype is and try to give ourselves some headroom based on that. Any idea how much a PSU that supplies 10kW should cost? $\endgroup$
    – wyverniv
    Nov 16, 2015 at 17:20

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.