Motor cooling (not canned air)

VEX V5 General Discussion Technical Discussion
#41

Can you please show how you made that.

#42

So do you want the files or the whole setup in pieces?

#43

The whole set up in pieces.

#44

I will edit this post later and add pictures and an explanation, but right now I do not have access to the setup currently.

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#45

Hot swapping works well if your motors are in position for it. Unscrew the bottom piece and hold the motor together by zip tie. You can then pull off the motor and slap another one on, tie the zip ties, and you got cold, unused motors. Of course you do need a lot of spare motors to do this

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#46

What if you made like ice packs with velcrow that fit right around the motors?

#47

That’s what I do but like two times the motor casing fell of during a game and one of them were during worlds

#48

sorry for bad quality but here it is…

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#49

Just to add my 2 cents…

  • Canned Air does not cool via moving air but instead by ejecting liquid propellant onto the surface, which will steal heat from the surface as it boils off, which is just open-loop refrigeration (not great for the environemnt)

  • Small portable air compressors will move air fast, but not cold air. In fact, by doing work on the air to pressurize it, it will blow slightly above average temp air.

  • Fans will cool the motors. Bigger fans will cool better. The more air that passes, the better, with diminishing returns.

  • Cold Water Cooled Heat Exchangers will make the fans more effective. This could be as simple as a Cooler and water-cooled PC fan system piped to the cooler of water.

  • Placing cooled metal cubes on the opposite side of the motor from the fan (so on top of the motor) will cool them faster.

  • Swapping motors can lead to mistakes (cartridges, coming loose, wear on the plug/wire), and isn’t passive. Fan stations are pretty passive, and cannot result in any errors. However swapping motors results in the fastest room temp motor.

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