So I'm a mechanical engineer at Virginia Tech and my senior design team is working on a project that will need some sort of controller/data acquisition equipment. My knowledge is very basic when it comes to this sort of thing so I have been trying to get advice wherever I can. I have been looking at Arduino boards (specifically the Uno R3, Leonardo, and Mega Pro) but I'm unsure of whether or not they will be suitable for our needs.
Our project will have:
A motor whose speed (rotational speeds up to 50 mph) will need to be controlled
Multiple (at least two) solenoids whose force will be controlled and be fired at the same time
One rotary encoder that will measure the speed at which the motor is rotating
One rotary encoder that will measure the angular displacement of a bar around the center axis.
Like I said, my knowledge is very basic (but my team assigned me to this task for some reason) and I'm trying to narrow down my purchasing options to a board that would suit our needs.
That should probably be possible with any of those Arduinos. I don't see anything in what you say that would suggest the need for anything other than an Uno.
HOWEVER ... a great deal depends on the controllers/drivers for the motor and the solenoids which sit between the Arduino and the motors and solenoids. I'm sure you can guess that the Arduino cannot itself provide enough power for any of those.
If you want more specific advice you should post links to the datasheets with the specifications for all the external hardware items.
nilton61:
Rotational speeds up to 50Mph? as far as i know mph is a linear speed. Rotational speed are usually rpm or rad/s
We are spinning a wheel up to a rotational speed that equates to 50 mph at certain points on the disk. Like if you drop the wheel when its spinning, it will be traveling 50 mph on the ground. It was an easy alternative to "launching" and object 50mph. Sorry for the confusion.
Robin2:
That should probably be possible with any of those Arduinos. I don't see anything in what you say that would suggest the need for anything other than an Uno.
HOWEVER ... a great deal depends on the controllers/drivers for the motor and the solenoids which sit between the Arduino and the motors and solenoids. I'm sure you can guess that the Arduino cannot itself provide enough power for any of those.
If you want more specific advice you should post links to the datasheets with the specifications for all the external hardware items.
...R
Thank you for the response. We are narrowing down the solenoids and motors now, and we're starting to see that the wattage for the motor might be close to 100W to power. We have not made final decisions on the other external hardware items. Should that be our first step before choosing a controller?
Also you said "controller/driver for motor and solenoid" as if one controller or driver would be needed for each piece of hardware. Is this correct?
Keiths92:
Also you said "controller/driver for motor and solenoid" as if one controller or driver would be needed for each piece of hardware. Is this correct?
I suspect you are using the word "controller" to mean the Arduino.
What I mean is the device between the Arduino and the motor and solenoid. And in that context each device will need a "thing" (controller/driver) between it and the Arduino. The Arduino sends logic signals to the driver and the driver has the high power electronics to manage the voltages and currents required by the external devices.