This program is an electric power calculator (like motocalc) but for Fast Electric Boats that use surface piercing propellers. This program is continually being refined to closely calculate how a given RC boat setup will perform, speed, duration, etc. The functionality includes the ability to determine the motor power output. motor/prop RPM, Torque, Efficiently, boat Speed and Runtime ... All this is based on its Batteries, ESC, Wire, Hull and Motor. To determine these values it calculates the power consumption of surface piercing propellers and then compares that to the power output of the motor. It continues to iterate until an RPM equilibrium of the prop/motor/esc/batteries is found. With that information, and the type of hull, it will estimate speed and runtime. I'm always looking to GPS'ed setup information so I can continue to refine the propeller absorption coefficients. The program output is presented in both table and graph form. There are several graphing options, the default one is generally the one of most interest as it shows where the prop and motor RPM curves cross. This is the equilibrium point where the system will run (under full throttle). I don't have extensive error checking in place just the basics, so if you want to put in 100 cells on an 05 motor it will calculate it. Obviously the numbers generated would be bogus as the motor nor ESC could never take that kind of load. So garbage in = garbage out. If you find errors or have suggestions on how to make improvements, send me a message on the forum. The 1.1.1 Files for Download Here is the program and data file, this should work for most folks FECalc.ZIP (Exe and data file, 184K) This is a setup / install version of the above, some additional visual basic files are included that you made need to run the program is the above does not work. FEPackage.ZIP (Setup files, includes Exe and data file, 5.09M) History 1.1.1 1.1 Major overhaul of the input and plot screens, tabs should work correctly, fonts fixed, new organization, more convenient pull downs, etc Added prop wizard function! The program will now show various propeller options for a given setup including ones for max speed, efficiency and overall balanced choice First installment of a rudimentary help file Correction factors added for none 1.4 ratio propellers since the absorption formulas were based on 1.4 ratios
1.0 First out of Alpha release! Updated the input menus so they are more compact (fits on 640X480) Added connector resistance to the equations Many small enhancements to improve usability
0.1.7 Propeller absorption formula is now unique for each hull type Adaptive hull resistance based on boat overall speed and hull choice Fixed plot option to ensure equal amp load increments on axis
0.1.6 New propeller absorption formula, tracks better for FE boating Added Hull attitude input to allow for fine tuning speed prediction Now handles 2 and 3 blade props Fixed error due to the slow efficiency drop on Brushless motors Added and corrected many motor and Esc data constants in FeCalc.txt file
0.1.5 Fixed error on voltage drop through the batteries Improved look of output plots Added plot of Amps vs. Torque, Power, Eff and RPM
0.1.4 Added Plot function of motor RPM vs. Prop RPM vs. Eff. Fixed voltage pull down numbers on the battery pack Added basic error checking to prevent crashes
0.1.3 0.1.2 Added vertical scrollbar for smaller resolution screens Added code for Speed estimation Added code for Runtime estimation Fixed input voltage for theoretical RPM numbers (slight increase)
0.1.1 0.1.0 |
