You are currently viewing More suck, less slip

If you have built a micromouse and wondered how useful a suction fan would be, the answer is simple. You cannot go fast enough to be competitive at the top level without one, the benefit is not just about cornering either.

On a simple, short run, I ran the mouse once with the fan turned off:

And once with the fan turned on.

The magenta lines are the mouse speed as measured from the encoders. It is quite clear that there is much better control with the fan running. In this case, it is providing about 200g additional downforce. The reason that normally-aspirated braking is so poor is that the centre of mass is too far forward and the mouse tips slightly under braking so there is less overall traction.

Fit a suction fan. You know it makes sense.

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Cristian Hewstone

    Hello Peter, maybe its not really a problem, but can the fan affect the rotational speed of one turn more than the other?

  2. Peter Harrison

    I expect it can but I have not looked at the data o see any effect. The controller seems able to overcome any effect.

  3. Jonathan

    Where can I find this kind of propeller for the suction fan ?

  4. Peter Harrison

    Sadly, they are all custom made. Machined in this case but some are 3D printed. A normal fused filament printer is unlikely to produce a reliable result though. The hole opens up and the impeller falls off. Guess how I know.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.