Reaction wheels and more - Update
Added 2019-01-06 12:40:02 +0000 UTCHope everyone has had a merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
Over the holidays, I've become a bit obsessed with reaction wheels and am working on a reaction wheel drone. I was planning on making a progress video for you guys last week, but I'm still waiting for parts.
Reaction wheels are used in small satellites for attitude control and work by accelerating a high inertia wheel to rotate a craft in the opposite direction. I'm not sure how viable this is for controlling a drone, but it's really interesting from a physics perspective. This video is an example of a reaction wheel balancing an inverted pendulum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woCdjbsjbPg
For those of you that are interested in my ebike projects, I think I might be able to implement this reaction wheel concept for another use. After researching inverted pendulums, I've found a method of setting up a control system to adjust a balance point depending on the rotational velocity of the reaction wheel. This could make a wheelie device actually possible as it'll account for my body weight shifting. It's still very early stages of this idea as I haven't done the maths for it yet, but I think it would be awesome to have bike auto balance without having to motorise/brake the rear wheel.
In terms of projects for 2019, I want to try some more complex long term projects. Projects that require science, electronics, 3D printing and CNC stuff (mixed together). I really enjoyed working on projects such as the trebuchet and ebike, rather than small projects that I have to rush to upload on a weekly basis. So I think for the next month or so, I'm going to try working on projects that take more time and will upload progress videos on here.
Thanks once again for all your support!
Tom
Comments
It's similar to the cubes technology on the space station, I like This concept. Impressive build.
James mitchell
2019-01-22 12:46:22 +0000 UTCWhy not use stepper motors? Seems RPM is not an issue (for now) and you can get much better control with steppers. You can even run steppers torque based. If you need info on stepper motors I have some experts in my team :)
2019-01-19 22:29:37 +0000 UTCI was thinking that a rocket flight duration would be short enough that the wheel would not become saturated if it started with a low RPM. I'm so busy I don't have time for this project, but I will definitely do some noodling on it and your suggestions. Good to hear from you! Thanks for the ideas.
U.S. Water Rockets
2019-01-12 23:25:30 +0000 UTCYes that balancing motorcycle is awesome! I've been doing some research on the dual gyro stabilisation and think it's probably the best bet to getting a self balancing wheelie bike. It's impressive how much torque can be produced from relatively small gyroscopes.
Tom Stanton
2019-01-12 11:50:29 +0000 UTCFrom the research I've done on reaction wheels, as well as a small amount of testing, I wouldn't recommend them for water rocket stabilisation haha. I've just completed a test rig and it can produce quite a bit of control torque, but it becomes saturated very quickly (runs out of motor RPM in a certain direction), plus it's quite heavy! Control moment gyros might be a better option, but weight is still an issue. Thanks mate!
Tom Stanton
2019-01-12 11:47:55 +0000 UTCLooking forward to some more CNC stuff, I need some incentive to get mine back up & running.. :)
Stephen Mott
2019-01-11 23:44:02 +0000 UTC+1 for longer term projects. I’d still like to see a short weekly update, if possible. But no need to rush for a conclusion. Just a few words on where you’ve got to, maybe some diagrams. I really find the CAD episodes interesting too.
2019-01-11 16:22:31 +0000 UTCLong projects, short projects, do what you enjoy the most!
Mike Close
2019-01-07 03:10:13 +0000 UTCCheck out the Lit Motors C-1 self balancing motorcycle project.
2019-01-06 23:09:49 +0000 UTCHappy 2019 Tom. Count me in on the longer term projects too. I love watching how you analyze and move beyond the small setbacks along the way. Makes for a more entertaining and enjoyable project. Cheers!
Jeff LaHay
2019-01-06 15:44:00 +0000 UTCI enjoy the long term projects as well. Channels that have a strict weekly schedule sometimes devolve into silly little projects or rehashing work done on other channels in order to meet their promised timeframe. The longer projects without a schedule tend to produce the most interesting videos for me. Channels that hold to strict schedules well are ones that are big enough to have employees to handle editing and animations and music and all the background tasks that would otherwise be a burden for the creator alone to handle. Looking forward to reaction wheel videos. I has always thought they needed a significant mass to work on a heavy object. If you can balance a bike then it might be possible for me to stabilize a water rocket with them. Interesting food for thought. Keep up the awesome content!
U.S. Water Rockets
2019-01-06 13:42:17 +0000 UTC
