Please help me planning my G-seat

[Bergison]

Thanks again to both of you for the hints!

Before I now buy the rest of the parts, could you give me your opinion on them? Thats because I just THINK they might fit the requirements, but as I already said, I'm quite new to all of this!

ARDUINO UNO (1 for each pair of motors)

MOTOR CONTROLLER (1 for each pair of motors):
http://www.elechouse.com/elechouse/inde ... ts_id=2179
(does it really work, fittet directly on the arduino as a shield?)

POWER SUPPLY (one of these for each pair of motors): http://r.ebay.com/zPzf45

The controller and power supply seem to be from China. According to your experience, is the quality OK? Or might it be better to spend a few € more and buy a product in Europe/US?

Thanks for your help guys!

[vicpopo]

Thanks again to both of you for the hints!

Before I now buy the rest of the parts, could you give me your opinion on them? Thats because I just THINK they might fit the requirements, but as I already said, I'm quite new to all of this!

ARDUINO UNO (1 for each pair of motors)

Ok right.Arduino nano v3 should work also.Look at the xpid thread on this forum.

MOTOR CONTROLLER (1 for each pair of motors):
http://www.elechouse.com/elechouse/inde ... ts_id=2179
(does it really work, fittet directly on the arduino as a shield?)

I don't know this controller, maybe someone else could answer.I watched it and my question was (using as shield or not )where I must connected the pots?

POWER SUPPLY (one of these for each pair of motors): http://r.ebay.com/zPzf45

Seems to be ok.

The controller and power supply seem to be from China. According to your experience, is the quality OK? Or might it be better to spend a few € more and buy a product in Europe/US?

Thanks for your help guys!

Fast all stuff come from china now ??!!For my first simulatorwith dc motors I bought a psu in Germany from Groupner.But I'm quiet sure that the parts were coming from China.
As I said You can put a car baterry paralell to the psu and test with and without

[yokoyoko]

all stuff come from china now ??!!

+1. Shenzhen seem to be very active if my wife would not entirely disagree, I would like to make holiday times there. With breathing protection course

Arduino:
Yes as vicpopo said the cheaper nano should work too. Does anybody know if (for our applications) the nano and the uno differntiate in performance?

H-Bridge:
The specs of your choosen h-bridge sound good. But some users reported bad experience with "these type" of cheaper hbridges. I know the "burned" were not identical with yours...
but I trust more in pololou hbridges although these are significantly more expensive.
If this would be my build I would probably go with these:
http://www.pololu.com/product/758/ but 50 dollars per motor is also something hard in the number of motors ...

Alot of users use this hbridge and seem to be pleased with it:
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10182 original from sparkfun
http://www.dx.com/p/monster-moto-shield-for-arduino-red-161274 ---> copy? from dx - I think considering the price I would go with these!

The moto monster shield is proven to work with arduino and wiper motors...
All about hbridges from my side is a bit of guessing as I dont have personal experience with all of the above posted items!!!

Power supply:
As vicpopo said.
If you search around ebay - the "meanwell" power supplies are often recommended comparing performance to price. They look quiet the same like your choosen part. As said perhaps they come from the same factory in china

Personal I use a spectron power supply - but these are very expensive and big+heavy. I had this lying around.
A car battery is never a bad idea...

[Bergison]

Ok, thanks yokoyoko and vicpopo for your help so far! I've now ordered the parts and am planning the mechanics of the seat. However I think I'll set up and test the electronics first, as this is going to be the tougher part for me. Chances are high, that I'll have to ask you a lot more questions...

Do you think I should post this build in the "Motion simulator Projects in progress" section?

[vicpopo]

Ok, thanks yokoyoko and vicpopo for your help so far!

It's a pleasure !

Do you think I should post this build in the "Motion simulator Projects in progress" section?

Of course !

[RacingMat]

Hello Bergison!

Here is a post about a DIY Gseat. You may find it interesting despite the fact it's written in french
http://www.racingfr.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=40582

I found the original patent US3983640 "Advanced G seat for aircraft simulation"
(have a look at drawings) http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicat ... &KC=A&ND=5

How is progressing your work?
Mat

[Bergison]

Bonjour Mat,

and 'merci beaucoup' for the information. I already was aware of this DIY G-Seat but the patent sure sounds interesting.
This week the last of my ordered parts arrived. Now I think I've got everything I'll need to get started:
2x Arduino UNOs, 2x 50A dual motor controllers, 2x 40A power sources, 2x 10kOhm pots and 4x 40W wiper motors and a whole lot of wires and circuit brakers and such stuff left over from my simpit building.

I'm not quite sure about how to solve the mechanical part yet. My goal is to have two moving flaps under the seat (G-load), two in the back (G-load and forward accelleration), as well as a seat-belt tensioning device for the shoulder harness (decelleration) and for the waist strap (negative G-force).

As my professional background is in aviation, I pretty much know how it SHOULD feel in the end. I even have a rough idea of how to achieve all this but I am still not convinced it will actually work. Since I'm neither an engineer, nor a technician, this electronic motor controlling stuff is very, very new to me!

I downloaded the x-sim software yesterday and am now working through the documentation. I think I'm going to start with trying to actually get my motors to turn a bit without burning down the house

[RacingMat]

Hi!

You could start by posting pictures of what you have bought.
Can you draw some sketches of your mechanical design? We could discuss about it!

- 4 flaps and tensionning device : don't you need a fifth motor?!

- pots? maybe you should consider using load-cell! As it would require to drive the flaps in torque and rather than in position... no?

Some commercial products can be found here :

• www.gekosystems.com 2,000$

customer feedback GS105with pictures (in french)

• GS4 G-seat 2,500$

• Acme-worldwide.com

• cranfieldaerospace.com

• stirling-dynamics.com

a pdf specification can be found here

• MOOG

http://www.moog.com/literature/ICD/G-Seats.pdf‎
Simulates positive and negative G-forces by changing shape of the seat pan, altering the tension on the seatharness straps and raising or lowering the height of the seat bucket.

[Bergison]

Thanks for the links Mat, I'll check them all.
Here are some pictures of my parts:



I've also come up with a mechanical solution and scetched it out, like you suggested:



The idea is to move two levers with one motor, one raises and loweres the flap, the other is connected to the corresponding seat harnes.
If the flap raises (simulates G), then the seat belt loosenes. If it is lowered, then the belt tightenes. It will be a matter of adjusting the correct length and angle of the levers, so that for negative Gs, the flap loweres just a bit, whereas the belt tightens more in relation to the lowering motion of the flap.

[RacingMat]

Great! Looks good!

- Don't forget to isolate the ground of your wiper motor!

- Harness and flaps: I've looked at your sketch. At the first test, watch out with your balls!