Problem summary:
I need to produce about 0.289 Nm with a rack and pinion system and compress 24 mm of a 110 mm x 21.6 mm, 0.99 N/mm steel spring.
I thought about using with a 10mm pitch diameter gear with ten 1mm gear modules at an angular velocity of about 15rpm (or 1.571 rad/s). Ignoring the efficiency losses, and the friction of the gear system a 12 V DC motor consuming 37.8 mA would do the job:
$$E \cdot w=0.454 W$$
$$ V=12 V \quad I =\frac{(E \cdot w)}{V}=37.837 \mathrm{~mA}$$
(I assumed the torque on the gear to be the same as the work done by compressing the spring and set this to be the electrical power consumed.)
However, in the real world, things are more complicated and I have been oriented here. To choose a motor expecting a final efficiency of 25% and, thus, expect using about 4 times more current.
Motor specs:
After some research I found a DC motor with the following specifications:
Supply Voltage 12 V dc
DC Motor Type Geared
Output Speed 14 rpm
Shaft Diameter 6mm
Maximum Output Torque 59 Ncm
Gear Ratio 300:1
Dimensions 39 (Dia.) x 83.2 mm
Current Rating 180 mA
My questions:
Because the output speed is about the same as my rack and pinion uses, I imagine my operating conditions will be the same as the graph Gear ratio 1/300. Is that correct?
Thinking back now, I assumed the torque on the gear to be the same as the work done by compressing the spring and set this to be the electrical power consumed.That's wrong, isn't it?
$$Tangential force \cdot \frac{( pitch diameter)}{2} = torque$$
so if I need about 24N of linear force on my rack, the torque will actually be about 13 Ncm instead of 29 Ncm like I first thought. In that case, is this motor I found still a good choice?
Any corrections, comments and/or suggestions are welcome!
For a more thorough description of my problem go to here