2020 International Conference on Intelligent Transportation, Big Data & Smart City (ICITBS)
Research on DC Motor Driver in Automobile Electric Power Steering System
Li Jindong
Dalian Neusoft University of Information, Dalian, Liaoning, 116023, China
lijindong@neusoft.edu.cn
Abstract—Aiming at the problems of unstable working voltage
control of DC motor driver module, low frequency of speed
regulating switch, conduction and cut-off delay of FET, a
design method of DC motor driver for automotive electric
power steering system is proposed. The relationship formula
between armature voltage and motor output torque are
determined by the mathematical modeling method of
equivalent circuit and armature voltage control method, and
the corresponding armature voltage and current values under
different torque output are calculated. The switching
frequency of the system is obtained by the relationship
between the current value and the rotating speed. The test
results show that the driver designed according to the research
scheme can work stably in the current environment of 30a
with the cooperation of radiator, and the output voltage of DC
drive module is stable under the condition of high, medium
and low PWM duty cycle, the power loss is small, the direction
change control is fast, the drive current is large, the switching
frequency can be adjusted in a large range, and it can match
different types of medium and high power DC Motor, fully
meet the requirements of the system.
Keywords- Electric power steering system; DC motor driver;
H-type bipolar mode; PWM
I. INTRODUCTION
In the era of high-speed development of the automobile
industry, the pursuit of the theme is energy saving,
environmental protection, convenience and safety. The EPS
system is the specific embodiment of this theme in the
automobile steering system. Compared with the traditional
hydraulic power steering system, EPS system has obvious
advantages, such as good power characteristics, light
steering at low speed, stable steering at high speed, good
road sense, strong handling stability, little impact by the
environment temperature, and good performance at low
temperature. EPS system only provides power for the motor
at the turning direction, which is more energy-saving. It is
compact in structure and convenient for modular installation
The hydraulic pipeline is removed, which does not pollute
the environment. It has become an inevitable trend that
electric power steering system replaces hydraulic power
steering system. As the most important part of the power
conversion module of EPS system, the performance of the
driving circuit of the booster motor directly affects the
performance of the whole EPS system, so the DC motor
driving part is also a very important part of the hardware
design of the whole system. In this paper, the control
principle of DC motor is described in detail based on the
requirements of EPS system for drive motor. The overall
structure of DC motor drive circuit is given. The conduction
978-1-7281-6698-8/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ICITBS49701.2020.00097
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and cut-off process of FET are analyzed. The selection
method of switch frequency is described. Finally, the test
results show that the design of DC motor drive meets the
requirements of EPS system, and the performance is stable
and the cost is low.
II. REQUIREMENTS OF ELECTRIC POWER STEERING
SYSTEM FOR DRIVING MOTOR
The requirements of electric power steering system for
driving motor mainly depend on its working principle and
specific functions to be realized. Figure 1 is a typical rack
and pinion electric power steering system. EPS system is
mainly composed of mechanical structure and electronic
control unit. The mechanical structure includes steering
wheel, steering shaft, steering transmission shaft,
deceleration mechanism, electromagnetic clutch, power
assisted motor, gear rack, etc.; the electric control part
includes controller and its peripheral circuit, torque sensor,
speed sensor, power drive circuit, fault detection display
circuit, 12V DC power supply.
The working principle of EPS is as follows: the ECU
controller performs self-inspection immediately after the
ignition switch of the car is closed. When the engine speed
signal is detected, the EPS system will enter the working
state. At the same time, the torque sensor detects the torque
signal of the steering wheel and the speed sensor detects the
speed signal. These signals are sent to the controller after
corresponding processing. The controller determines the
target current of motor assistance according to the preset
torque and target ammeter of motor assistance at different
speeds. By comparing the feedback current with the target
current of motor, the integral separation PID correction
method is used to adjust, and the PWM signal is output to
the H-bridge drive circuit of motor to drive the motor to
generate appropriate assistance. In the process of turning
back to normal at low speed, the driving circuit of H-bridge
of EPS system adopts the open circuit control mode to
maintain the original return to normal characteristics of the
mechanical system; in order to prevent the return to normal
and overshoot at high speed, the damping control mode is
adopted. Compared with ordinary motors, the motors of EPS
system should have the following characteristics: most of the
on-board power supply is 12V DC power supply, so the
booster motor should have the characteristics of low voltage,
high power and high current; small moment of inertia, wide
speed range, good control characteristics, stable low-speed
operation and small torque fluctuation. At the same time, the
booster motor also needs to have the characteristics of low
speed, small size, low noise, high reliability and strong
overload capacity. In the working process, when the
449
 controller detects that there is a fault, it will drive the
warning light to give an alarm, and at the same time, it will
disconnect the relay to restore the mechanical steering state.
EPS booster motor generally adopts permanent magnet
brush DC motor, which has the advantages of simple control,
good starting performance and speed regulation performance,
no excitation loss, etc. In this paper, the H-bridge drive
circuit of the brush DC motor in the system is studied in
detail.
Figure 1. Structure diagram of automobile electric power steering system
III. CONTROL PRINCIPLE OF DC MOTOR
The controlled object of electric power steering system is
DC motor, so the establishment of DC motor model and the
analysis of its characteristics are of great significance for the
final EPS system modeling and controller design. According
to the equivalent circuit of other excitation DC motor in
Figure 2, the mathematical model of DC motor can be
obtained.
Figure 2. Equivalent circuit diagram of the DC motor
The voltage balance equation is as follows:
dI a
Ua E a  Ra I a  La
dt
In this formula: Ua-armature voltage; Ia-armature current;
Ra-total resistance of armature circuit; Ea-induced
electromotive force; La-total inductance of armature circuit.
Among them, the induced electromotive force is as follows:
Ea K e )n
In this formula: Ke-Calculation constant of induced
electromotive force; ¶-flux per pole; n-motor speed.
According to the above two formulas, we can get the
following formula:
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ª dI º
U a  « I a Ra  La a »
n ¬ dt ¼
K e)
The electromagnetic torque of DC motor is as follows:
Tm KT I a
The torque balance equation is as follows:
dZ
Tm TL  J
dt
In the above two formulas: J-converted to motor shaft
dynamic inertia; Tm-motor electromagnetic torque; Tl-load
torque; ¹-motor angular speed; KT-motor torque constant.
According to the above formulas, the speed control
methods of DC motor can be divided into two categories:
excitation control method for excitation flux control and
armature voltage control method for armature voltage
control.
The excitation control method is to change the excitation
flux by adjusting the excitation current when the armature
voltage of the motor remains unchanged, so as to realize the
speed regulation. This method is limited by pole saturation at
low speed, commutation spark and commutator structure
strength at high speed, and the inductance of excitation coil
is large and the dynamic response is poor, so this control
method is rarely used.
The armature voltage control method is to adjust the
armature voltage to achieve speed regulation under the
condition of keeping the excitation flux constant. When
adjusting speed, keeping the armature current constant, that
is to say, keeping the output torque of the motor constant, we
can get a large speed range with constant torque
characteristics. Therefore, the armature voltage control
method is used in most applications. In this paper, the
research of the automobile electric power steering system is
through the armature voltage control method to achieve DC
motor control.
H-type bipolar PWM control circuit is the most widely
used driving mode of DC motor. This driving circuit is
convenient to realize the four quadrant operation mode of
DC motor, which is to control the forward rotation, forward
rotation braking, reverse rotation and reverse rotation
braking of motor respectively. The characteristic of bipolar
mode PWM control is that in a switching cycle, the polarity
of voltage acting on the conducting armature is alternately
positive and negative, so it is called bipolar mode. Figure 3
shows the power conversion circuit of H-type bipolar PWM,
which is mainly composed of four high-power FET and four
continuous current diodes. The four FET's are divided into
two groups: V1 and V4, V2 and V3. The two FET's in the
same group are on and off at the same time, and the two
FET's are on and off alternately. That is, the base drive
signal Ub1 = Ub4, Ub2 = Ub3 = - Ub1. In order to ensure
that the armature current is always continuous, bipolar mode
allows the current to flow in reverse. Even if the motor does
not rotate, the instantaneous voltage at both ends of the
motor armature is not zero, but the positive and negative
pulse voltage with equal width. An alternating current flows
through the armature circuit, so that the motor vibrates at
high frequency, which is conducive to reducing static
friction.
 E
Ub1 V1 D1 D2 V2 Ub2
D3 D4
Ub3 Ub4
V3 V4
Figure 3. H-type bipolar mode PWM power conversion circuit
schematics
IV. THE OVERALL STRUCTURE ANALYSIS OF DC MOTOR
DRIVE CONTROL CIRCUIT
DC motor drive control circuit is mainly composed of
photoelectric isolation circuit, motor drive logic circuit,
drive signal amplification circuit, charge pump circuit, H-
bridge power drive circuit, current sensor feedback circuit
and other parts. The drive signal amplification circuit and
charge pump circuit are integrated in the medium voltage
full bridge n-channel FET driver chip.
The peripheral interface of motor drive control circuit is
relatively simple. Its main control signals are motor running
direction signal Dir, motor PWM speed regulating signal
and motor brake signal Bra. VCC provides power for the
drive logic circuit, M + and M - are DC motor interfaces.
In the high-power drive system, the drive circuit and the
control circuit are electrically isolated to reduce the
interference of the drive control circuit to the external
control circuit. The isolated control signals generate motor
logic control signals through motor drive logic circuit, and
control the upper and lower arms of H bridge respectively.
Because H-bridge is composed of high-power n-channel
enhanced FET, it can not be directly driven by the motor
logic control signal. The control signal must be amplified
by the drive signal amplification circuit and the charge
pump circuit, and then drive the H-bridge power drive
circuit to drive the DC motor.
The motor is a typical inductive load, and the switch
circuit with inductive load is shown in Figure 4. Suppose
that the driving signal Ug is the ideal square wave signal; Rg
is the internal resistance of the driving signal; Cgd, Cgs, Cds
are the parasitic capacitance of each pole; L0 is the
inductance of the motor; R0 is its internal resistance; D0 is
the continuous current diode.
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Figure 4. Equivalent inductive load switching circuit
A. Analysis of conduction process of FET
Before the conduction of FET, assuming that the FET is
in the cut-off state, at t0, Ug = 0, at t0+, Ug = 0, and the step
is Ug = Ug1, then the parasitic capacitance Cgd and Cgs are
positively charged, and the gate voltage Ugs can be
expressed as Ugs= Ug1.e-t/τ, τ = Rg (Cgs + Cgd). When Ugs =
UT (the conduction voltage of MOSFET), the MOSFET
starts conduction, from which we can get: td(on) = τ ln [Ug1 /
(Ug1 - UT)]. At this time, the current id0 of the continuous
current diode D0 = 0. The above equation shows that the
improved value of Ug1 can shorten the conduction delay
time td(on) of MOSFET, thus shortening the conduction time
of the whole circuit.
B. Analysis of the cut-off process of FET
Before the field-effect transistor is cut off, I t is assumed
that the field-effect transistor is in the saturated conduction
state. At the moment, Ug = Ug1, at t1+, Ug = Ug1, Ug = 0, then
the parasitic capacitance Cgd, Cgs are charged in reverse
direction, and the gate voltage Ugs can be expressed as:
Ugs=-i.Rg=-Rg(Cgs+Cgd)(dUgs/dt). Considering Ugs(0)= Ug1,
then Ugs= Ug1.e-t/τ. When t=td(off), Ugs= IDsat/Gm+UT, and IDsat
is the drain saturation current; Gm is the DC
transconductance of power MOSFET, td(off)= ´
ln[Ug1/( IDsat/Gm+UT)]; From the above equation, to shorten
the cut-off time should reduce the value of Ug1.
C. Selection of switching frequency
In the PWM motor speed control system, the switching
frequency of FET is closely related to the performance of
the system. The higher the switching frequency is, the
smaller the pulsation of armature current and motor speed
pulse momentum is, the current is easy to be continuous, the
additional loss of the booster motor is reduced, and the
stability of the system is good at low speed. From the point
of view of dynamic performance, increasing the switching
frequency can enlarge the bandwidth of the system, so as to
improve the rapidity of the system, but the increase of the
switching frequency will increase the dynamic loss of the
transistor, which will reduce the transmission efficiency of
the amplifier. Generally, the following principles should be
considered in the selection of switching frequency.
1) The selected switching frequency shall keep the
minimum load current of the booster motor continuous
 1
Id 'id d I L min
2
In the above equation,ILmin is the minimum load current
of the booster motor. For bipolar PWM amplifiers, the
maximum pulsating current Ƹidmax is shown in the following
equation.
Us
'id max
2 Lf
Therefore, the continuous switching frequency of the
minimum load current of the motor is shown in the
following equation.
Us
f t ( Hz )
4 LI L min
2) The switching frequency shall be selected to
minimize the total loss of motors and transistors Figure 5. PWM curve of low power motor driver
For the bipolar PWM amplifier, we can get the
following equation.
3
as
f op 0.332 ( Hz )
T12 (tr  t f )
In the above equation, as=Is/Inom is the ratio of motor
starting current and rated current; T1=L/R is the
electromagnetic time constant of armature circuit; tr is the
falling time when the transistor is turned off; tf is the rising
time when the transistor is turned on.
Considering the above principles, the switching
frequency of the driving module of the system is calculated
through the above equations, and the rapidity of the
isolation element is considered. The switching frequency is
set to about 234 kHz. At the same time, the switch
Figure 6. PWM curve of medium power motor driver
frequency can be adjusted properly according to the circuit
module test requirements.
V. BENCH TEST AND RESULTS
The motor driver made by the above method is tested on
the electric power steering system test bench. Figure 5
shows the PWM curve of the two ends of the motor driver
collected by the oscilloscope under the condition of low
power assist. At this time, the PWM duty cycle is 30%.
Figure 6 shows the PWM curve of the two ends of the
motor driver collected by the system with oscilloscope
under the condition of medium power assistance. At this
time, the PWM duty cycle is 50%. Figure 7 shows the
PWM curve of the two ends of the motor driver collected by
the oscilloscope under the condition of medium power
assist. At this time, the PWM duty cycle is 72.4%. Figure 8 Figure 7. PWM curve of high power motor driver
shows the current value of the power assisted motor of the
DC motor drive part and the system of the EPS controller
after the radiator is installed. The current value 26 amps in
the ammeter is the current flowing through the power
assisted motor when the duty cycle of PWM is about 72.4%.
From the PWM waveform displayed in the oscilloscope, it
can be concluded that the working voltage output of the
motor drive module is stable and has flexible duty cycle
regulation control.

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 Figure 8. Current value of booster motor and motor driver

VI. CONCLUSIONS
The research scheme of DC motor driving in the electric
power steering system of automobile given in this paper has
better practical value, high working frequency, fast response
speed and simple control. The DC brush motor driver
designed by this research scheme is compatible with the
hardware of the whole EPS system and runs stably. The
replacement of different power FET can meet the
requirements of various power motor drivers.
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