Motor Controller - Page Under Construction

Motor Controller (MC) module is responsible for executing instructions from CPU module, correct speed and direction of the motors as well as monitoring battery voltage levels.

Schematic Diagram

Currently being developed.

Circuit Board

Currently being developed.

Microcontroller Firmware

Currently being developed.

Description

I have chosen to use PIC16F876 microcontroller as the heart of the module for one reason, it has 2 hardware PWM pins. This means that two main motors will keep turning simultaneously and independently of software running on the microcontroller. This ability frees up the software to do other things like monitor HO line or wait for serial instructions from the CPU. To complement the microcontroller, after long evaluation of few different motor driver chips I have decided to use SN754410 Low cost Full H-Bridge motor driver readily available from RS-Components. The MC module can control 2 main motors simultaneously and 2 additional Auxiliary motors through software. Since this module is the largest power consumer as well as having 3 I/O ports on the microcontroller it is also responsible for monitoring battery charge level. When the battery charge level falls below acceptable level (around 5min remaining) the module raises a HO and waits for instructions from CPU module. At this time the CPU abandons the mission task, disables unnecessary modules and finds a way back to the charging station.

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