As the power source of electric wheelchairs, motors are an important criterion for judging the quality of electric wheelchairs. Generally, brush motors and brushless motors are the most commonly used in electric wheelchairs.
So what is the difference between the two? Is a brush motor better or a brushless motor better?
In terms of price, brushless motors are more expensive than brushed motors. But there is a reason for being expensive.
The difference between brushless motors and brush motors is that they do not have carbon brushes, so when brushless motors are running, the friction is greatly reduced, the operation is smooth, and there is almost no noise.
Brushed motors have carbon brushes. When working, the carbon brushes will rub on the surface of the coil, which will inevitably produce noise.
And because of the difference in the working principles of the two, the output power of brushless motors is very stable when they are running, and the speed hardly changes, so the power consumption is lower than that of brushed motors, which will save more power and have a longer service life.
The brushless motor can work continuously for tens of thousands of hours without any failure. In theory, it is a maintenance-free and safer motor.
After working continuously for thousands to more than 10,000 hours, the brush motor will wear out. At this time, the carbon brushes need to be replaced, otherwise the motor will be easily damaged.
But it is easy to replace the carbon brushes of the brush motor, and the price is also cheap, which can be done for a few dollars. If the brushless motor is broken, it will cost hundreds of dollars to replace the entire motor.
So from the perspective of daily maintenance costs, brushed motors are cheaper.
In short, the advantages of brushless motors are low noise, power saving, maintenance-free, and long service life, and the disadvantage is that the price is relatively expensive.
The advantage of brush motors is that they are low in price and can basically meet the needs of users for electric wheelchairs, but the working noise is relatively loud, the energy consumption is high, regular maintenance is required, and the service life is relatively short.
The advantages of brushless motors are quiet and low energy consumption. With the same capacity of battery and the same power, brushless motors can drive farther than electric wheelchairs with brush motors.
This also leads to the use of brushless motors in many devices that pursue stable speed and high performance, such as precision instruments, variable frequency air conditioners, drones, etc.
Of course, there are many brands of electric wheelchairs that use brushless motors, and the quality of motors varies. Therefore, when we choose, we can judge the quality of the motor through the following three steps.
1. First, look at the workmanship of the electric wheelchair. If there is a problem with the appearance quality, the hardware quality cannot be guaranteed;
2. Then listen to the noise level when the wheelchair is moving. If it is a better brushless motor, the wheelchair is almost silent when moving;
3. Finally, after the driving is over, we touch the motor housing to feel its heat generation. If the heat generation is low, it means that it has fast heat dissipation, low power consumption, and power saving.
Although brushless motors are better than brush motors, most of the electric wheelchair brands on the market use brush motors. The reason is that brushed motors are more cost-effective. So, you can choose according to your needs and budget, that is fine.