I'm currently in a bit of trouble. I'm designing a SMPS for a robotics project which requires some amperage due to it's..special nature. It's basicly a mobile beer cooler on wheels . It's running on 2 lead acid batteries (12V, 7.2AH) so high effeciency is required to maximize the life-time of the batteries (which is still quite short).
It's a quite delicate project since the bot is supposed to be able to map the appartment where it is operated at. Armed with RF circuitry its features will include remote control so that once you (actually i) thirst for beer it should be able to home in on you anywhere in the appartment.
Among it's features is automatically docking with a recharching mechanism (circuit) to recharge it's batteries once they reach critical levels.
Now that you have gotten a feel for the project you propably realise that feeding a small fridge + motors + control circuitry is a minor headache. The fridge and control circuitry will be drawing pretty stable current but the motors will introduce fast changing loads.
Obviously since it draws it's power from the batteries a SMPS is the most effecient solution. I've been reading up for the last 4-5 weeks or so (smps is such complex topic ) and found the flyback topology a likely candidate. However there is some conflicting information. The power output i need is likely around 60-90W (aprox atm and depending on a few factors).
Wiki and a book i have states that flyback topology is good for between 0-150W requirements. Yet a magazine article from a engineering company specalizing in SMPS states that flyback is only good for about 0-25W esp at higher currents which makes sense due to voltage spikes which supposedly limits it's use above ~25W.
Since i havent had real world experience with flyback smps i'm having trouble deciding which source to actally take seriously. Is anyone able to shed light on this matter. The question is whether i should continue with the flyback design at aprox 60-90W or move up to a half-bridge topology.
Any advice/feedback appreciated
It's a quite delicate project since the bot is supposed to be able to map the appartment where it is operated at. Armed with RF circuitry its features will include remote control so that once you (actually i) thirst for beer it should be able to home in on you anywhere in the appartment.
Among it's features is automatically docking with a recharching mechanism (circuit) to recharge it's batteries once they reach critical levels.
Now that you have gotten a feel for the project you propably realise that feeding a small fridge + motors + control circuitry is a minor headache. The fridge and control circuitry will be drawing pretty stable current but the motors will introduce fast changing loads.
Obviously since it draws it's power from the batteries a SMPS is the most effecient solution. I've been reading up for the last 4-5 weeks or so (smps is such complex topic ) and found the flyback topology a likely candidate. However there is some conflicting information. The power output i need is likely around 60-90W (aprox atm and depending on a few factors).
Wiki and a book i have states that flyback topology is good for between 0-150W requirements. Yet a magazine article from a engineering company specalizing in SMPS states that flyback is only good for about 0-25W esp at higher currents which makes sense due to voltage spikes which supposedly limits it's use above ~25W.
Since i havent had real world experience with flyback smps i'm having trouble deciding which source to actally take seriously. Is anyone able to shed light on this matter. The question is whether i should continue with the flyback design at aprox 60-90W or move up to a half-bridge topology.
Any advice/feedback appreciated