Research on Electric Power Steering with BLDC

Drive System*
Hui Zhang1, Jinhong Liu1, Jing Ren1, Yuzhi Zhang1, Yongjun Gao2
1
Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an, 710048, China
2
Xi’an Yongdian Electric Co., Ltd, Xi’an, 710015, China
ljhrainbow@163.com
Abstract-Electric Power Steering (EPS) systems have many 3URSRWLRQV RI(36˄˅
advantages over traditional hydraulic power steering systems in 
engine efficiency, space efficiency, and environmental 
compatibility. A brief introduction of the structure and principle 
of EPS system is presented and the control scheme is proposed. 
Based on the principle of Brushless DC (BLDC) Motor, a novel 
method for modeling and simulation of BLDC control system is  
developed in Matlab/Simulink. Organically combining the  
blocks, a test was performed on a timing system with current  

hysteresis control. The plot of the motor assisted torque versus

the armature current was demonstrated. The feasibility, high
-DSDQ 86$ (XURSH JOREH
reliability of the system and the validity of the control method
a) The proportions of EPS
are proved by the results. And a new kind of test bench model is
offered for designing and verifying EPS system.
Index Terms: Electric Power Steering, Brushless DC Motor,
Electronic Control Unit, modeling, test bench

I. INTRODUCTION
Electric power steering (EPS) is an advanced steering
system that uses an electric motor to provide steering assist. It
eliminates the need for a hydraulic power steering pump,
hoses, hydraulic fluid, drive belt and pulley on the engine,
therefore the total system is lighter than a comparable
hydraulic system through the use of compact system units.
Also, since EPS is an on-demand system that operates only
when the steering wheel is turned, the fuel efficiency of
vehicle equipped with such system is up to 3% better than
that of automotive equipped with an equivalent-output
hydraulic system. The advantages to the manufacturer also
include lower servicing and assembly costs, and to the
consumer, less likelihood of failure through power steering
fluid leaks. For these reasons, the adoption of the EPS is on
the trend of expansion with the increasing awareness in recent
years as shown in Fig.1[1].The hydraulic dump system is
facing quick extinction in the face of rapidly advancing
electric power steering system technologies. Electric power
steering system represents the future of power-assisted
steering technology and is already implemented in passenger
cars [2].
Due to factors such as high power density and efficiency,
maintenance, and extremely wide operating speed range,
BLDC motors are employed for the drive applications.
b) The steering market trend of EPS
Fig.1.Steering Market Trend
II. PRINCIPLE OF ELECTRIC POWER STEERING
Typically, an EPS system consists of:
üA powerful electric motor geared to the steering shaft.
ütorque sensors that detect how much effort is being put
into the steering.
üan electric power steering with an electronic control unit
üa roll speed input to the Electronic Control Unit (ECU).
The schematic diagram of an EPS system is shown in
Fig.2.The EPS system adopts a so-called column-type EPS
system in which the assist motor connected to the steering
shaft through spur gears delivers assist torque to the shaft.
The motor is controlled by motor drives whose input signals
are received from the ECU where the control logic is
implemented. It is preferred to use TI’s Digital Signal
Processor (DSP) TMS320LF2407A as the ECU for the device

*Supported by the Provincial Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi (2006E128), the Provincial Education Department Foundation of Shaanxi (07JK355), the
Key Technology R&D Program of Xi’an (CXY08005) and the University Research Foundation of XAUT (105-210809)

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thorized licensed use limited to: AMRITA VISHWA VIDYAPEETHAM AMRITA SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING. Downloaded on July 03,2021 at 15:16:39 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions appl
 offers the enhanced TMS320TM DSP architectural design of 20
v=0km/h
the C2xx core CPU for low-cost, low-power, and v=10km/h
15
high-performance processing capabilities. Several advanced v=20km/h
peripherals, optimized for digital motor and motion control 10
v=30km/h
v=40km/h
applications, have been integrated to provide a true v=50km/h
single-chip DSP controller. 5 v=60km/h
v=70km/h

I/(A)
Td 0
Ignition Rev Velocity HW θc
-5

-10

Torque -15
ECU Ts sensor
-20
-8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8
Control
Current

Td/(N.m)
Fig.3 Characteristic Curves of Power Assistance
Kc Retarding
Clutch Bm Bc
Mechanism BLDC position
detection
Motor G R

Tm ˈθm Km Drive PWM

Commuta
tion logic

Torque -
Rp sensor × × PI
P -
Mr Br Kr Calculate
Velocity damping
sensor speed and
control
Fig.2 The schematic diagram of an EPS system rotor position
returnable
The motor torque is generated by comparing the torque control TMS320LF2407A
sensor signal with the motor current feedback signal which is Fig.4 The control scheme of EPS
proportional to the motor electromagnetic torque.
It’s easy to alter the characteristics of EPS to suit individual III. DYNAMIC MODEL OF EPS SYSTEM
preferences. Specifically, you can alter the steering weight to
In this paper, the EPS system is modeled as a multi-input,
radically improve steering torque and steering direction being
multi-output (MIMO) system as shown in Fig.5.All the
applied by the driver and at the road speed, and directs the
mechanical connections in the system are assumed to be rigid
electric motor to provide the required amount of assistance in
.The reduction gear is modeled as a gain with the ratio of
the correct direction.
16.5[3-6].
The ECU module looks for the steering torque and steering
The mechanical equation of EPS system can be described
direction being applied by the driver and directs the motor to
as (1) in state space form if we assume the input matrix is.
accurately deliver the required assisting steering torque T
according to the characteristic curves of power assistance as X = ª¬ c  c P P  m º¼
shown in Fig.3 to the steering mechanism.
The reduction gear increases the turning force from the X = AX + B U
(1)
motor and transfers it to the steering mechanism .The Y = CX
rack/pinion component is a mechanical structure to make the Where:
tires turn. The control scheme of EPS system is depicted in ª Bc K Kc º
«- J - c 0 0 »
Fig.4.More advanced control techniques and algorithms can Jc J c rp
« c »
be applied to improve the road feel by reducing rough road « 1 0 0 0 0 »
torques felt of the driver. « »
Due to factors such as high power density and efficiency, A=« Kc Br K r rp + K c + K m G 2
2
Km »
« 0 - - »
maintenance, and extremely wide operating speed range, « M r rp Mr M r rp 2 M r rp »
Brushless DC (BLDC) motors are employed for the drive « 0 0 1 0 0 »
applications. « »
¬« 0 0 0 0 1 ¼»

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 ª º TABLE I NOMENCLATURES
Kc
B = [1 0 ] 䰇 C = «0
T
0 0 0 Kc 0 - 0»
¬« rp ¼» Symbol Description Unit
The voltage equation of the employed BLDC motor can be Bc Steering column damping N.m/(rad.s-1)
expressed as (2): Jc Steering wheel inertia kg.m2
ªua º ªL- M 0 0 º ªia º Kc Torsion stiffness N.m/A
« » «
«ub » = « 0 L- M 0 »» p ««ib »» Mr Rack mass Kg

¬«uc ¼» ¬« 0 0 L- M ¼» ¬«ic ¼» Br Rack damping N.m/(rad.s-1)

Kr Rack stiffness N.m/A

ªr 0 0º ªia º ªea º ªun º (2)

+««0 r 0»» ««ib »» + ««eb »» +««un »»

Bm Motor damping N.m/(rad.s-1)
Jm Motor inertia Kg.m2
«¬0 0 r ¼¬
» «ic »¼ «¬ec »¼ «¬un »¼ Km Motor stiffness N.m/A
1 c c Kt Motor constant N.m/A
Where un = ( ¦ u i - ¦ ei )
3 i= a i= a Lm Motor inductance H
The equation of BLDC magnet torque can be written as (3) rp Pinion radius m
and its motion equation can be depicted by (4) Kf Counter electromotive constant V/(rad.s-1)
1
Te = (ea ia + eb ib + ec ic ) (3)
L Rack displacement m
 G gear ratio -
T - T - B 1.4
 = e L (4)
J EPS&PID
1.2 EPS
MS
IV. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
1
MATLAB® is a high-performance language for technical
computing. It integrates computation, visualization, and 0.8
programming in an easy-to-use environment where problems
and solutions are expressed in familiar mathematical notation. 0.6
A Simulink model is a graphical representation of your
physical system. You create a Simulink model for a 0.4
non-real-time simulation of your system, and then you can
use the Simulink model to create a real-time application. 0.2

With the help of Matlab/Simulink, the simulation model (as

0
shown in Fig.5) can be set up to verify the control strategies 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
based on the electromagnetic and mechanical equations of the
Fig.6 Step responses of three kinds of steering mode
whole system as mentioned above [7-14].
Fig.6 compares the step responses of three kinds of steering
First of all, the subsystem blocks of BLDC, ECU and
situation: manual steering mode, EPS steering without PID
steering wheel are created respectively based on their own
control mode, steering with EPS and PID control mode. As a
characteristics and then organically combine them to form the
result of the experiment, it can be concluded that the manual
whole simulation model.
steering mode achieves the worst effect with the highest
The motor parameters and rack and pinion parameters used
over-shooting, EPS steering without PID control mode ranks
during the simulation are shown in TABLE I
the second and steering with EPS and PID control mode
Va 50 VVaa ECU behaves the best with the smallest overshooting and the least
Torque Te of rising time and setting time.
Ir Ir Te Fig.7 and Fig.8 exhibit the plot of the motor assisted torque
TTss versus the armature current when the velocity is set to
10~20km/h and 40~50km/h respectively while the driver’s
ECU I I input is sinusoidal with an amplitude of 8˄Ngm˅and a
steering period of 9 seconds. It is observed in these two figures that
Powergui the assisted torque varies nearly proportionally to the steering
const BLDC wheel torque. Both the assisted torque and armature current
-Continuous vary in according to the characteristic curves of power
Fig.5 The whole simulation diagram of EPS assistance as shown in Fig.3 when the vehicle speed changes.

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 b) Front view of the test bench
Fig.7 Correlation ship of assisted torque and armature current when
vehicle speed is 10-20km/s

Fig.8 Correlation ship of assisted torque and armature current when

vehicle speed is 40-50km/s

V. CONFIGULATION OF BENCH TEST EQUIPMENT

The outline of the developed test bench used for the
verification of EPS model is illustrated in Fig.9.Three typical
points of view are demonstrated in Fig.8a)~Fig.8c)
respectively. With the help of the developed test bench, the
steering wheel torque that the driver feels can be evaluated
.This will provide great convenience and safety while
carrying out a series of experiments apart from being c) Left view of the test bench
cost-efficiency. Fig.9 The developed test bench

VI. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a new simulation model has been set up on
the basis of mechanical behavior of the column–type EPS
system and the electromagnetic equations of BLDC. The
fruitful simulation results show that the proposed control
mechanism and method of the EPS system is valid .At last a
test bench has been developed for designing and verifying
EPS system.

REFERENCES
[1] W.Ijiri, T.and Tsutsui,”Extension of EPS”, Koyo Engineering Journal
No.162, 28, 2002.
[2] F.J. Adams , ”Power Steering Road Feel”, SAE paper 830998,1983
[3] Shi Guobiao, Shen Wei, Lin Yi. The modeling and simulation
technology of electric power steering. Jilin university
journals(ENGINEERING SCIENCE) vol.37 No.1.Jan 2007
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Simulation of Brushless DC Motor Fuzzy Control System. Xi'an Jiao
Tong University Journal(10): 1116~1120 , 2005
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Low Loss PWM Control Strategy for EPS System with BLDC Motors.
TRANSACTIONS OF CHINA ELECTROTECHNICAL SOCIETY.
a) Top view of the test bench Vol.21 No.8 Aug. 2006

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thorized licensed use limited to: AMRITA VISHWA VIDYAPEETHAM AMRITA SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING. Downloaded on July 03,2021 at 15:16:39 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions appl
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