Hello, I am new to arduino with not a lot of electronic experience. I have a code that works to acuate a solenoid using a MDD10A motor driver. I am using a 12v battery supply connected directly into the motor driver then motor driver connected to a 24v solenoid. I was told that a buck boost converter or a capacitor could help produce more power to the solenoid. I was wondering if this is true and if so how should I hook up the capacitor or converter? Any help would be appreciated
A mechanical engineering student should be able to define a vague term like "hit kind of hard" in terms of physical quantities, and come up with a meaningful number, with measurement units.
It would be an excellent idea to read the technical specifications of the solenoid, and to determine whether the solenoid is even capable of providing the required impulse (the change in momentum) to the ball.
Look man I was just trying to put a general idea out there. I am not able to predict how hard the solenoid needs to hit the ball, because I have to attach the solenoid to the robot I designed and play a mini golf course with different holes with different lengths. I just need more power going to the solenoid than what I have now. My estimate is that the solenoid is getting about 12v right now. Once, I figure out how to increase the power to the solenoid then I can figure out how much power I need. I am sure that the 24v solenoid is capable of providing the required impulse to the ball.
Two 12V batteries in series provide 24V. Have fun!
Obviously Thanks for the great help
I would use a bigger solenoid and battery. I assume you understand the basic premise that electronic components have ratings and exceeding them can damage them. Guesses do not work in engineering. That voltage can be measured as can the voltage drop along the wire.
The problem with a solenoid is that the amount of pull (or push) it can generate is not only related to the supply voltage, but to how much of the magnetic slug is in the coil. The longer the throw of the solenoid the less of the slug is in the coil and that reduces the initial pull in force.
Also there are two types of solenoid active pull or active push. Normally they each have a spring as a restoring force. Make sure you are not using the spring as your hit mechanism.
Most of the buck converters you see on the internet are only able to produce at best 0.7A. The actual output current depends on the base voltage and the multiplication factor. Data sheets on buck converters can be misleading because they always give the best case example, not the real world case.
link?
You can provide extra initial impulse to a solenoid if you decouple the supply with a big capacitor.
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