I am building a force feedback wheel using a hoverboard motor and a VESC. To power this I am currently using an ATX power supply but will probably upgrade to a 36v psu as the need for more torque comes.
My problem is that for this to work I need to brake the motor, but this means that the VESC will push current back into my psu. I need a way to somehow bleed off the current or in some other way protect the psu as it can not handle the regenerative braking.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Best way is to buy a supercap and run it parallel with the power supply.
How large would this have to be?? Isn't this very expensive in comparison to running a battery in parallel or some other solution?
First you could try and estimate the max power you may regen (product of speed in m/s times force in newton, possibly measured at the wheel periphery). I assume it will be low (a few watts, and probably only during a few seconds). Adding a dump load in parallel with your PSU might do the job (ok, not very energy efficient solution, better would be to power something usefull from this PSU instead)
Karl,
How far have you gotten on this project. I have built the same, without braking and it is working well, i just added a bit of friction to the wheel. Would like to hear more details of your solution.