6V DC Motor with Spur Gearbox for Hands-Free Products: Automated Paper Towel Dispenser

Overview

A leading manufacturer of a battery-operated paper towel dispenser was experiencing shorter than desired battery life during product use. The dispenser was using a 6V DC spur gear motor that was drawing too much current, creating a significant drain on the product’s power bank of batteries.

Challenge

The customer tasked us with developing a direct drop-in replacement spur gear motor that would draw 25% – 50% less current than their existing motor. During our investigation of the incumbent gear motor, we found that the current draw was 800 – 850mA. Another issue we came across was that over time the excessive brush and commutator wear escalated the current draw even further. Additional investigation of similar motors, from several motor manufacturers, showed a range of current draw, under load, of 800mA – 1400mA. The customer requested that we find a way to reduce that current down to 600mA or less.

Solution

ISL Products International and our team of engineers tore down the incumbent motors and found a myriad of factors that contributed to the higher current draw issue that our customer was experiencing. Some factors included excessive brush and commutator wear and in some cases foreign conductive material floating within the motor itself creating unwanted spikes in the current draw.

The ISL engineers and our factory’s engineering department agreed on a methodology for improving the motor and bringing the current draw in line with the customer’s expectations. Through the use of high-quality raw materials, good manufacturing practices (GMP), and techniques of our factory, ISL was successful in developing high efficiency, low current gear motor that reached the targeted current draw of 590mA.