Igus Chain 254
Pat Fairbank
From our records, it looks like the part we used this year was E045-10-018-0. We order directly from igus using their website.
For future reference when we want to get igus chain. I know the stuff we used for 2019 Robot Charlie was pretty flimsy and could be a lot better.
Swerve Ratios
West Coast Products has released a video of them putting their new Kraken X60 motor head to head against the Falcon 500. However, they changed the gear ratio from 6.53 : 1 on their Falcon robot to 5.14 : 1 on their Kraken robot, which is a much more aggressive gear ratio which would decrease torque and increase speed at the wheels. This would cause a
Since we’re interested in using Krakens on our swerve drive, we should consider swapping out the gear ratio of our swerve modules.
The ILITE Drivetrain Simulator was used to simulate the performance of different motor and ratio combinations, with wheel diameter set to 4 inches, robot inspection weight and auxiliary weight to 120 and 27 pounds respectively, and rest battery voltage at 12.4V. The Kraken motor is not officially in the simulator, so a new motor was added with the FOC specs from WCP’s documentation.
The L1 Falcon was the configuration run on 2023 Robot Misha and Zoey and will be used as a baseline to compare the rest of the results to. The L1 Kraken would be a straight motor upgrade, the L2 Kraken and L3 Kraken configuration
Results are as follows:
| 10ft Time (s) | 20ft Time (s) | 40ft Time (s) | Free Speed (ft/s) | Min Voltage (V) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L1 Falcon | 1.12 | 1.96 | 3.60 | 12.1 | 8.923 |
| L1 Kraken | 1.16 | 2.08 | 3.88 | 11.0 | 9.093 |
| L2 Kraken | 1.08 | 1.84 | 3.32 | 13.3 | 8.430 |
| L3 Kraken | 1.04 | 1.72 | 3.12 | 14.6 | 8.215 |
Based on these numbers, the L2 Kraken looks like the most well balanced between having good performance while keeping the battery at an safe voltage to prevent brownouts. However, a final decision will be made after kickoff so we can get make a more educated decision on which ratio would suit the game best. When it comes time to change our swerve ratios, we will have to buy a replacement double gear and a matching single gear.
- Brandon