1. Zxc With the help of a diagram explain the construction and operation of BLDC motor?

Ans: A brushless DC motor (BLDC) is a permanent magnet synchronous electric motor which is driven by direct
current (DC) electricity. Instead of a mechanically commuted system in conventional DC motors BLDC achieve
this feat through electronically commutated distributed n-phase windings. BLDC motor employs electrical
commutation with permanent magnet rotor and a stator with a sequence of coils. In this motor, permanent magnet
(or field poles) rotates and current carrying conductors are fixed.
In conventional DC motors stator field magnetic field and rotor filed will be always in quadrature. This
relationship within the machine is achieved using the mechanical commutators which reverses the current in the
coil for every half revolution in electrical degrees. The above mechanism should also be accompanied in BLDC
motor in order to satisfy its objective. Hall effect sensors are hence used as a rotary encoder to sense the position
of the rotor positioned around the stator. BLDC stators can have two configuration, Inner and Outer stators.

Fig 1: Outer and sectional(stator) view of BLDC motor

Construction
Stator:

 Stator core of BLDC motor is made up of steel laminations to carry windings. These windings are the
placed concentrically along the slots which are axially cut along the inner periphery of the stator.
 The construction of this motor has many similarities of three phase induction motor as well as
conventional DC motor.
 Each winding is constructed with numerous interconnected coils, where one or more coils are placed in
each slot. In order to form an even number of poles, each of these windings is distributed over the stator
periphery.
 The stator must be chosen with the correct rating of the voltage depending on the power supply capability.
The speed of BLDC motor can be decreased by either reducing the voltage rating or increasing the
number of turns.

Rotor:

 BLDC motor incorporates a permanent magnet in the rotor. The number of poles in the rotor can vary
from 2 to 8 pole pairs with alternate south and north poles depending on the application requirement.
 Ferrite magnets are inexpensive; however, they have a low flux density for a given volume. Rare earth
alloy magnets are commonly used for new designs. Some of these alloys are Samarium Cobalt (SmCo),
Neodymium (Nd), and Ferrite and Boron (NdFeB). The rotor can be constructed with different core
configurations such as the circular core with permanent magnet on the periphery, circular core with
rectangular magnets, etc.
 Fig 2: Top view of BLDC motor with encoded stator windings.

Hall Sensors
Hall sensor provides the information to synchronize stator armature excitation with rotor position. Since the
commutation of BLDC motor is controlled electronically, the stator windings should be energized in sequence
in order to rotate the motor. Before energizing a stator winding, acknowledgment of rotor position is
necessary. Hence, the Hall Effect sensor embedded in stator senses the rotor position.

Principle of operation:

 Like DC Machines BLDC motors also works on the principle o Lorentz’s Force.
 Because of reaction force the permanent magnet experience equal and opposite force thus the rotor
moves in BLDC.
 When the stator coils are electrically switched by a supply source, it becomes electromagnet and starts
producing the uniform field in the air gap. Though the source of supply is DC, switching makes to
generate an AC voltage waveform with trapezoidal shape. Due to the force of interaction between
electromagnet stator and permanent magnet rotor, the rotor continues to rotate.
 Based on this signal from sensor, the controller decides coils to energize. Hall-effect sensors generate
Low- and High-level signals whenever rotor poles pass near to it. These signals determine the position
of the shaft.
BLDC Motor Drive:

 Hall-effect sensors are used for position and speed feedback.

 The electronic controller can be a microcontroller unit or microprocessor or DSP processor or FPGA
unit or any other controller.
Fig 3: Control diagram of BLDC Motor
 Speed control units are implemented using PID controllers to have precise control.

2. Compare the static and dynamic characteristics of SRM and stepper motor.

Static characteristic of Stepper motor:

 Torque versus step angle and torque versus current are called static characteristics of stepper motor.
 Vary the load torque and find the corresponding displacement. The variation of displacement is
plotted against the torque. This curve is called torque–angle characteristics.

Fig 4: Torque-Angle characteristics.

Dynamic characteristic of Stepper motor:

 The dynamic characteristics of a stepper motor represent the characteristics when it is running or
about to run.
  Pull-in and pull-out torque characteristics are called dynamic characteristics.
 Pull-in characteristics is also known as starting characteristics. This curve refers to the range of
frictional torque against which a motor can start without losing any steps.
 The pull-out or slewing characteristic is the plot of the relation between the friction load torque and
the maximum pulse rate at which the motor can be synchronised.

Fig 5: Dynamic characteristics of Stepper motor.

Static characteristic of SRM motor:

 The torque depends on square of the current and hence it is independent of the direction of
current.
 The flux linkage, current and torque waveforms are shown below.

 SRM can be operated in low speed, medium speed and high-speed modes.
 Static torque versus rotor position characteristics for different values of phase current for a
typical SRM are shown below.
 Fig 6. Current-displacement and Torque-displacement angle characteristic.

Dynamic characteristic of SRM:

 The dynamic characteristics (transient speed versus time) is shown below.

3. Explain the rotor position sensing scheme for BLDC?

Hall effect sensors:

Hall Effect sensor is the most common sensor seen in rotating machines. Hall-effect theory states that “if an
electric current carrying conductor is kept in magnetic field, the magnetic field exerts a transverse force on the
moving charge carriers that tends to push them to one side of the conductor”.

Whenever the rotor magnetic poles pass near these Hall-effect sensors they generate high or low signal showing
the S or N poles of the rotor magnet. Hall sensors are embedded into the fixed part of the motor.
 Fig 7: 3-phase Hall sensor chart with 120degree angle separation.

Variable reluctance (VR) sensors:

 The VR sensor consists of a winding wound around a cylindrical magnetic material made up of
ferrite.
 A magnet is attached behind the pole piece which creates a magnetic field through pole and windings.
 When these sensors are placed near a moving device, a simple technique for measuring the speed is
created. The frequency of the signal is directly proportional to the speed of the device.
 The amplitude of the signal depends on the speed of rotation, the material being sensed and the
distance of the material from the sensor.

Fig 8: Variable Reluctance sensor

Optical Encoders (Magnetic Encoder)

 The Optical Shaft Encoder uses an infrared light sensor to detect illumination from an infrared LED
passing through slots cut in the circumference of a rotating wheel.
 The optical encoders consist of a light source, sensor, movable disk and a fixed mask.

Fig 9: Optical encoder