Parameterizing DC motor performance

Boiling things down to constants

As you tinker around with DC motors, you'll start to run across some interesting relationships.
Namely you'll discover that torque and current are linearly proportional to each other, as are
speed and voltage. Under a fixed load (torque), voltage and current will also be proportional to
each other.
Digging into the math (and I'll spare you this), it turns out that the current a motor draws is
ultimately determined by the torque the motor produces. The generated torque is dependent upon
the current I, and factors determined by the materials and internal geometry of the motor. Since
the construction of a finished motor will not (!) change during operation, a constant of
proportionality between the motor current and the materials / geometry dependent factors can be
calculated for a given motor. This constant, the torque constant Kt, describes the torque
generated by the motor for a specific motor current:
Kt = T / I
Or to put it another way,
Current through motor = torque produced / torque constant
I (Amps) = Torque (oz-in) / Kt (oz-in/A) in imperial units
I (Amps) = Torque (N-m) / Kt (N-m/A) in SI units
Because of the interrelationship of torque, speed, current, and voltage, the constant current
operation of a DC motor produces constant output torque regardless of speed. Given a constant
load (i.e. torque) the speed of a motor is solely dependent on the voltage applied to the motor.
For DC motors operated at a constant voltage, the speed and torque produced are inversely
related (the higher the torque, the lower the speed of the motor).
We earlier saw that an EMF will be developed across a motor's brushes when its coil is rotated
by an external torque -- the magnitude of this EMF is dependent upon materials / geometry
factors, and upon the speed at which the coil is rotated. Once again, there is a constant of
proportionality which describes the relationship between coil rotational speed and materials /
geometry factors, commonly known as the back EMF constant (Ke). The back EMF constant is
typically given in volts per unit of rotational speed (which in turn is generally expressed either in
RPM or radians / second).
If one takes the reciprocal of the back EMF constant, the result is a proportionality constant
which relates the voltage applied to the motor terminals to the rotational speed of the coil. This
version of the motor constant is commonly known as the velocity constant, Kv. The velocity
constant is given in units of rotational speed (again, either RPM or radians / second) per volt.

Since the motor construction does not change, regardless of what we're measuring, it turns out
that these three constants (Kt, Ke, Kv) are all essentially the same number. The differences
between the torque constant and the back EMF constant are simply a matter of the units used,
while the velocity constant is simply a useful form of the back EMF constant.
If the torque constant is specified in N-m / A and the back EMF constant in V-sec / rad, then:
Kt = Ke = 1 / Kv
Those of us who live in the U.S., though, are stuck with using more colorful units. Commonly
used units for small motors are oz-in for torque and RPM for rotational speed. Using these units
of measure, torque constants are often given in oz-in / A, back EMF constants in mV / RPM, and
velocity constants in RPM / V. In imperial units, the relationships between motor constants are
then as follows:
With
Kt in units of oz-in / A
Ke in units of mV / RPM
Kv in units of RPM / volt
Then
Kt = 1352.4 / Kv
Ke= Kt / 1.3524
Ke = 1000 / Kv
Kv = 1000 / Ke
So what good is all this? It means that given a source of known rotational speed (an electric drill,
or drill press if you have one), you can compute Ke for a given motor (clamp the motor shaft in
the drill's jaws, measure the resulting open-circuit voltage, then do the math).
Ke, along with the above information will then give you Kt (so you can compute your motor's
theoretical torque at any given current), and Kv (so you can compute your motor's maximum
speed at any given voltage). If you can measure stall torque, you can then compute motor
efficiency (measured torque expressed as a percentage of the theoretical torque).
Knowing all this, you can then pick the best motor for your BEAMbot's own specific needs.