The type of motor, and the type of DC drive must match up, maybe not exactly match in all ratings but they should be close.? A motor with brushes requires "brushed" DC drive, and a brushless motor needs a brushless drive.? The output of the drive should closely match the motor.
The voltage of the drive should probably be less than or equal to 150% of the motor voltage.? You can run a 36 volt motor with a 24 volt drive with no problem other than you'll never get to the rated motor rpm.? You can run a 24 volt motor with a 36 volt drive, and it'll PROBABLY run for a long time.? If you do that your motor rpm will be about 150% of the rated speed which won't do the bearings any favors.? In industry we commonly overspeed motors if we have to, within reason,?but this does shorten the motor life.
You'll also need to be sure the drive can handle the current draw of the motor.??If you've got an amp rating for both the motor and the drive, if the drive can output 125%-150% of the motor's amp rating you're golden.? If the drive is less that 125% of the motor's rating it might run the motor, but it wiill be struggling.? A drive with a larger rating WILL run a smaller motor.? The other way around and is not so much, something is gonna go poof.
What to you do when the motor is rated in one unit and the drive is rated in another?? Then you resort to that subject that most people think they'll never use once they get out of school - math.? Motors and drives will usually be rated in either Horspower, Amps, or Watts, and these values can be converted from one to the other.
Horsepower = Watts / 746
Watts = Volts * Amps (This isn't exactly true for a motor since it's not a purely resistive load, but for estimation purposes it's close enough.)??
What do you do if the drive ratings are listed in volts and amps, and your motor is rated in horsepower?? Then you convert the drive's ratings to watts by multiplying the drive volts times the drive amps to get watts.? Divide that result by 746 and you get an estimate of the drive's horspower.? Again, if the drive rating is at least 125%-150% of the motor rating then as long as we don't do anything stupid the drive should be able to run that motor for years.
Don
