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Is it possible perhaps with an Arduino to control the speed and number of revolutions on a brushless DC motor or a worm gear DC motor?

I'm asking because I know steppers and servos can do that but they make too much noise for my application.

I liked the DC motor as it was much quieter when being active.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ You need an encoder on the motor, or at least a sensor that produces one indexing pulse per revolution (like an LED/Phototransistor combination to see a dark notch on the shaft as it spins). \$\endgroup\$
    – DKNguyen
    Commented Nov 25, 2019 at 21:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ acceleration, velocity, range of speed , torque, noise , cost and size are all tradeoffs. What colour would you like?? \$\endgroup\$
    – D.A.S.
    Commented Nov 25, 2019 at 22:03
  • \$\begingroup\$ You can know the speed and position of a BLDC motor if you invariably drive it synchronously - either with hall sensors or sensorless control. Motor speed is easily determined by either method. Of these Hall sensors are the closest to providing certainty in position. HOWEVER it is easy enough to lose synchronous drive momentarily and it is then not possible with the above methods to know how far "out of step" the motor is. As DKNguyen says - adding an absolute or per position sensor greatly helps. In the case of a geared motor the sensor would usually be on the output shaft. \$\endgroup\$
    – Russell McMahon
    Commented Nov 25, 2019 at 22:11
  • \$\begingroup\$ Knowing more about the end application will allow a better answer. \$\endgroup\$
    – Russell McMahon
    Commented Nov 25, 2019 at 22:13

1 Answer 1

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You can know the speed and position of a BLDC motor if you invariably drive it synchronously - either with hall sensors or sensorless control. This is the usual mode of operation.

Motor speed is easily determined by either method.

For position determination, of these Hall sensors are the closest to providing certainty in position. HOWEVER it is easy enough to lose synchronous drive momentarily and it is then not possible with the above methods to know how far "out of step" the motor is.

As DKNguyen says - adding an absolute or per position sensor greatly helps. In the case of a geared motor the sensor would usually be on the output shaft. Depending on what you are trying to achieve a sensor that operates once per evolution may be adequate or if this is not adequate an absolute encoder can be used.

Knowing more about the end application will allow a better answer.

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