Self-Driving Robot Voltage regulation

Help & Support
1

Hi!

I require your help regarding a problem I’m encountering.

Description:
I am a student at UMKC working on a self-driving robot and I am trying to implement a switch mode buck converter to my design.
Hardware concerned:
I have a chassis with a size 550 motor that comes with a NIMH 3000 battery pack of 8.4V and draws a current of 3000mA. I have a raspberry pi that is connected to the motors via a SunFounder servo driver and the pi is powered by an Anker power bank via usb with 5V and draws a current of 2A.
Software concerned:
I use opencv and tensorflow with python, but I have no issues with the software.
Troubleshooting steps already taken:
None, I still have not tried to connect a voltage regulator
Additional information:
I notice that a lot of power is wasted running the car, so I want to be able to regulate the voltage being used. I wanted to ask if someone knows a good way to implement a switch mode buck converter to this design. Thank you.
Thank you so much in advance for your help!

2

It isn’t clear what you are trying to do. What voltage do you want to regulate? The voltage going to the PI must already be regulated since it requires a regulated 5V supply. The voltage going to the motors doesn’t need to be regulated: you can “regulate” it using PWM. Adding a regulator to the motor driving circuitry will most likely waste more power than it saves.

Also, are you wanting to buy a pre-made regulator or build one? Building one is probably not the best plan.

Could you please provide more details of exactly what you are trying to do? And why?

3

For my project, my team and I have to build a functional component from scratch or a component that is significantly modified/altered. Since we already have the pi and sensors, I thought that the only other thing we could need is a component that regulates the power. If you have a suggestion to build a different component with active and passive elements that does something else, I am all ears.