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What is the best way to make an emergency button to stop the motor from spinning?

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kdomanski
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What is the best way to make an emergency button to stop the motor from spinning?

Hi,
what do you think is the best way to integrating the emergency switch with VESC? I want to make a robot and when it goes out of control safely stop it with an emergency push button. I can think of few solutions, for example, when the button is pushed send a command to the vesc to set velocity to zero but what if vesc in itself will malfunction would it be better to cut off the power from vesc?

skyline1970
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drv's en_buck pin could be connected to gnd, or better motor supply could be breaked via a selenoid contactor

kdomanski
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I thought about relay but is it safe to cut off the esc from power immediately and even if it is then after the cut off would the motor spin freely or would it be stopped?

Duane Degn
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The kinetic energy of the spinning motor and wheel have to be converted to some other form of energy in order for the motor/wheel to stop. The VESC normally converts the kinetic energy into electric energy by dumping power back into the battery. If you're not going to convert it to electric energy, then you'll likely convert it to heat. You can convert it to heat by using some sort of physical brake.

If the VESC is malfunctioning then you'll need some sort of physical braking system. Stopping just a spinning motor shouldn't be too hard but stopping a spinning motor and an adult human will require a substantial braking system.

Duane Degn

kdomanski
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Ok, thank you both for the responses. I have one more question. In vesc 6 MK V there is power on switch, could you tell me if is it possible to switch off the vesc when the motor is spinning? 

skyline1970
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May not be a good idea to shut-off lower mos switcher, the best option is to switch-off  DRV's and next turning on additional low side mosfets on phase arms. These transistors could have a series about 0.5 R high wattage resistors.