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Build a Real Robot – Part 6 – Power Distribution

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This is part six of an ongoing series about building a full-sized, 90% 100% 110% 120%
intelligent robot. You can view the entire series here if you missed
anything.

Introduction
Last time we looked at the modules mounted on the rear of the
DB1 Robot chassis. One of those modules was a power
distribution board, its function was to provide fused 12-volt and
5-volt power to the other modules. It also had fuses for the
motors as well.

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This time we are going to talk about the power distribution within
the robot chassis, the wiring of the 12-volt and 5-volt DC that the
robot will require.

Eventually we will be placing batteries in the robot, however,

during development, an external power supply will be used. There
will need to be a way of connecting this external supply to the
robots power distribution system.

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A series of terminal strips and connectors will be used to Tools for Your Workshop
distribute the power and make it easy to attach and disconnect
devices from the robot. Arduino GIGA Display Shield

Power Distribution
The DB1 robot will require power, both 12 and 5 volts, to several
different sections:

 To the Power Distribution board that we discussed last time,
to power all of the Navigation Layer modules.
In the front, for sensors and future expansion (i.e a robot arm
or two)
On the lower shelf of the tower, for the Intelligence Layer
On the middle shelf, for the Sensor Layer and the turntable.
On the top shelf, for sensors such as LIDAR.

Each section will have its own Power Distribution board, similar
to the one used earlier for the Navigation Layer modules. Each of
those boards will have fuses so that if a component or wiring Table of Contents
failure occurs it will be isolated to the individual section.
1 Introduction
Wiring Diagram 1.1 Power Distribution

Here is the complete wiring diagram for the power distribution 2 Wiring Diagram
system. 2.1 Voltage Sources

2.2 Base Rear

2.3 Base Front

2.4 Tower

3 Power Distribution Components

3.1 Connectors

3.2 Wiring on DB1

3.2.1 Rear Power Connector

3.2.2 Base Terminal Blocks

3.2.3 Base Front

The diagram shows the power sources and the terminal strips
3.2.4 Top Tower
that serve as distribution points. It does not show the connectors
used between the base and tower of the robot. 3.2.5 Mid Tower and Low
Tower
It’s not that hard to follow as it’s just electrical connections,
however it might make a bit more sense if we break it down into 3.2.6 3-Pin Tower Connectors
sections.
4 Conclusion

Voltage Sources
The voltage sources are marked as 5-volts and 12-volts, and that
they have a common ground. 
Initially these voltages will be provided using an external power
supply. Once that supply is replaced by batteries a series of
regulators and/or converters will be used to create these
voltages.

Although I’m showing just one supply for each voltage it is quite
possible that the final, battery powered, design will have multiple
sources. This is especially true of the 5-volt sources as it may be
useful to isolate the supplies between layers.

The two voltages will be used by DB1 as follows:

5-Volts DC – This will be the logic power supply. If there are

components that require 3.3-volts that voltage will be
obtained on the individual layer using buck converters or
other similar methods.
12-Volts DC – This is the motor supply voltage. In addition to
the main gearmotors, it will also be used for stepper and
servo motors. If the motors (i.e. the servo motors() require 6
or 5-volts it will be derived from this supply using voltage
converters.

The voltage sources will connect to three large 6-position

terminal strips, located on the base of the robot. Busbars are used
on all three strips, however if I decide to split the supplies as I
described above they will be removed and connections will be
made to the individual supplies.

Base Rear

This is the power for the power distribution board that we looked
at in the last installment.

Unlike the other sections, the power distribution board for the
Navigation Layer modules will be connected directly to the
voltage source terminal strips. I decided to do it this way due to
the proximity of those connectors to the modules.

Base Front
The Base Front power is mostly for future expansion, however, it
can also be used to power sensors and other modules that are
mounted at the front of the robot base.

The terminal strip I used at the front of the robot is a 12-position

strip. I have divided it into three sections of 4 terminals each,

using busbars. One of the terminals on each section is usd for the
incoming voltage, leaving three connections available.

Tower
The tower is divided into three sections, the Top, Middle, and
Lower shelf.

Each section will use the same arrangement with a divided 12-
position terminal strip as used in the Base Front.

The power will be used as follows:

Top Tower – Powers the LIDAR and sensors on the platform

at the top of the robots tower.
Mid Tower – Powers the Sensor Layer components, as well
as the stepper motor used for the sensor turntable and the
wireless charger used to power the turntable components.
Low Tower – Powers the Intelligence Layer components.

The tower wiring will also use 3-pin connectors to allows the
tower to be removed.

Power Distribution Components

Now that we have discussed the wiring let’s take a look at the
actual components I used to implement it.

As always, keep in mind that I chose the components due to their

easy availability (all of the components I use in for power

distribution were purchased from Amazon and are also available
at several electrical supply distributors).

Feel free to substitute other components if you wish, just keep the
power ratings in consideration when choosing connectors.

Connectors
I used the following connectors when wiring the DB1 robot.

6-terminal Terminal Strips – QTY 3 – These are used to

distribute the power to the other connectors. They come
with busbars, which I used on each of them.
12-Terminal Terminal Strips – QTY 4 – These are used to
distribute power throughout the robot, as described above.
They also come with busbars, which I sawed down to make
into 4-position busbars. This allowed me to split the strip
into 3 sections (12-volts, Ground, and 5-volts)
Fork Spade Lugs, 16-18 AWG, Red – QTY 20 – These are
used on the positive wires, both 12-volt and 6-volt.
Fork Spade Lugs 16-18 AWG, Blue – QTY 10 – These are
used on the Ground wires.
2.8mm “Molex Style” Connector Sets, 3-pin – QTY 3 – These
connectors, with their associated pins, are used to allow the
tower to be removed.
4-Pin Aviation Connector Set – QTY 1 – Not shown in the
schematics, this connector is mounted on the rear of the
robot and will serve two purposes. Initially I will be using it to
attach the external power to the robot. Once the robot is
running on batteries this connector will be used to connect
the battery charger.


I also used a number of 1/2 inch rubber grommets to route the
wires through the Actobotics channeling.

Wiring on DB1
I used 18-gauge stranded wire to make all of the connections, in
the following colors:

Red – 5-volts
White – 12-volts
Black – Ground

You could substitute 16-gauge wire if you have it available, I used

the 18-gauge wire as I had it on hand in my workshop. I would not
suggest using a thinner gauge than 18.

Of course you don’t need to use the same color wires that I used,
just use whatever color you can obtain easily.

Here are some pictures of the wiring, you can also see it in detail
in the video associated with this article:

Rear Power Connector

You can see the aviation connector mounted on the piece of black
acrylic at the rear of the robot. It is a heavy duty connector that is
capable of handling up to 35 amps of current, far more than the
robot should ever require.

Base Terminal Blocks 

The three 6-terminal blocks and their busbars are mounted on
the base, underneath the platform that will hold the navigation
electronics.

Base Front

The 12-terminal block is mounted on the underside of the chassis,

on the plate at the front of the robot. Note that it has been
divided into three sections using busbars.

Top Tower


The 12-terminal block mounted on this side of the tower is for the
top section. It’s not mounted on the top bar as you might expect,
as I didn’t want any of the wiring to interfere with the sensors that
will be mounted on the turntable.

Mid Tower and Low Tower

The two 12-terminal blocks on the other side of the tower frame
are for the mid and lower sections of the tower. As with the other
12-terminal blocks, they have been divided into three sections
using busbars.

3-Pin Tower Connectors


You can see the female connectors here, the male counterparts
are on the base. This arrangement will allow me to remove the
tower without having to disconnect the wiring from the three
terminal blocks.

Conclusion
When you route your wires you will want to be sure not to allow
them to come near any moving parts, like motors or axles.

I used ½ inch rubber grommets to pad the wires when I routed

them through the Actobotics channels, the grommets fit perfectly
in the holes in the channeling and wil protect the wires from
abrasion.


Once you complete your wiring it is vital that you test it using a
multimeter or continuity tester. This will ensure that your
connections are good and that you don’t have any crossed wires,
which could result in catastrophic short circuits.

Now that you have the robot’s power distribution wiring in place
we can start hooking things up! We will continue next week when
we put the rear navigation layer components back onto the robot
and start building our motor controller.

Summary


 Article Name Build a Real Robot - Part 6 - Power
Distribution

Description In part 6 of the Build a Real Robot series I

will show you how power is distributed
throughout the DB1 Robot chassis. You will
see the wiring schematic and I'll show you
the connectors and components I used to
wire te hrobot.

Author DroneBot Workshop

Publisher Name DroneBot Workshop

Publisher Logo

Tagged on: Robot Project Robot Tutorial

DroneBot Workshop April 11, 2019 Build a REAL Robot

5 Comments

← Build a Real Robot – Part 5 – Base Electronics

Programming the Arduino Pro Mini →

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5 COMMENTS   Oldest 

David Farning  4 years ago

It takes self control to invest the necessary time for a

🙂
power distribution system when one just wants to get
the wheel turning If I understood the design
correctly, the base contains a primary distribution
block consisting of 3 X 6-Terminal strips. The primary
distribution block feeds power to 4 subsystems: 1.
Navigation system located on the acrylic sheet
attached to the base. Powers the primary drive
motors. 2. Navigational sensors system located under
the base. Powers the ‘low level’ navigation sensors
which will focus on collision avoidance. 3.
Environmental sensor system located on the top shelf
of the… Read more »
Reply

David Farning  4 years ago

Another question for the community….

Does anyone have recommendations for techniques

on how to solder sockets to prototype boards,
perfboard, or PCBs? I have a kit of JST SM 1-Pin 2-Pin
3-Pin 4-Pin 5-Pin 6Pin Connector Plugs Male and
Female on hand. I was practicing attaching some
female connectors to perfboard without much
success. 
IS there a pcb mount variety of connecters I should be
using instead?
Reply

Sam  3 years ago

Hello! Could you please explain how you estimated

the total power demand of all of the electronic
components used in the DB1? Thanks a lot!
Reply

Dré Jansen  3 years ago

just subscribed, English is not my natural language,

mostly i use google translate.
first i look to the stuff i can find here.
next month (december) i move to an other house.
happy xmas and a good new year!
best regards Dré
Reply

Falli  1 year ago

Hello,

Great explanations i trully appreciate it.

I am wondering if it is possible to make the robot have

an actual grasp of its energy over time.

More precisely :

What is the amount of power used by the Motion Part,

the Sensor Part and the Control Part in a certain range
of time ? Do we have any mathematical model allowing
to compute it ?

Is it possible to forecast the needed power for a

specific task ?

I would like to learn more about these questions and
find it great to implement them using Python for
example.
Reply

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