Unit 3.

Brush less DC Motor

[Fundamentals of Permanent Magnets – Types - Principle of operation - Magnetic circuit analysis, EMF
and Torque equations – Characteristics - Controller design - Transfer function – Machine, Load and
Inverter - Current and Speed Controller.]

Main problem associated with PMDC motor is the commutation with the help of brushes. BLDC motor
eliminates this problem. There is no commutator and brushes. Since the commutator and brushes are absent,
maintenance is no longer required, and many problems associated with brushes are removed. The armature
is stationary and PM field system is mounted on the rotating shaft. The commutation is achieved by using
semi-conductor switches instead of mechanical commutator. Compared with PMDC motors, BLDC motors
have higher efficiency, smaller size and better cooling.

3.1 Fundamentals of Permanent Magnets

A permanent magnet is a type of material that has its own magnetic properties and creates its own
magnetic field. Materials such as iron, steel, nickel, cobalt etc., that are strongly attracted towards a magnet
within a certain distance are called ferromagnetic. Some of them are naturally occurring, like loadstones.

There are four types of permanent magnets:

Neodymium Iron Boron (NdFeB):-
This type of magnet is found rarely on earth and has high coercive force, low mechanical strength and low
corrosion resistance if it is opened. e.g. gold, iron etc.

Samarium Cobalt (SmCo) :-

These are expensive, have low mechanical value, are easy to reduce and have temperature resistance –
for example, SmCo5, Sm2Co17 etc.

Alnico:-
This magnet is formed from three important materials, and it gets the name Alnico by
(Aluminium+nickel+cobalt). It has good temperament resistance, is easily demagnetised and also has other
properties like other rare earth materials.

Ceramic or Ferrite :-
These magnets are made from iron oxide, strontium carbonate and ceramic. It is brittle in nature, and they
are grinded from diamond wheels

3.2 Construction of PMBLDC Motor

Figure 3.1: Construction Details of BLDC Motor

The field poles of this motor are essentially made of permanent magnet. Which is the rotor. A BLDC motor
mainly consists of two parts:

• Stator
• Rotor

Stator
Stator of a BLDC motor made up of stacked steel laminations to carry the windings. These windings are
placed in slots which are axially cut along the inner periphery of the stator. These windings can be arranged
in either star or delta. However, most BLDC motors have three phase star connected stator. 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.

Rotor
BLDC motor incorporate a permanent magnet in the rotor. Its function is to produce the required
magnetic field. In order to achieve maximum torque in the motor, the flux density of the magnet should be
high. Permanent magnets offer very high flux density. Ferrite magnets are traditionally used to make
permanent magnets. Here permanent magnet rotates and the armature remains static. 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. More poles give smaller steps and less torque ripple.

Figure 3.2: Construction Details of Rotor

Position Sensor
Brushless DC motor requires an electronic commutator to rotate the rotor. In order to rotate the motor, the
windings of the stator must be energized in a sequence. The position of the rotor (i.e. the North and South
poles of the rotor) must be known to precisely energize a particular set of stator windings. This hall effect
sensor provides information about the position of the rotor at any instant to the controller which sends
suitable signals to the electronic commutator. For the estimation of the rotor position, the motor is
◦
equipped with three hall sensors. These hall sensors are placed every 120 C Each sensor generates Low and
High signals whenever the rotor poles passes near to it. The exact commutation sequence to the stator
windings, can be determined based on the combination of these three sensor responses

3.3 Classification

3.4 Principle Of Operation Of PMBLDC Motor

Figure 3.3: Drive Circuit of PMBLDC

In the case of a BLDC motor, the armature is stationary and the permanent magnet is rotating. Stator
windings of a BLDC motor are connected to a voltage fed inverter circuit as shown in Figure 3.3. The
inverter converts DC voltage into variable frequency voltage. The motor is provided with a position sensor,
which provided necessary signals for switching the appropriate power switches of the inverter.
 ◦
The switching is done in such a way that all the three phases conduct at all time. It is required for 180
◦
conduction. The switching interval is 60 .

Figure 3.4: Rotor Movement with S1, S5 and S6 ON

When switches S1, S5 and S6 are turned ON, the current flows through phase R and divides into equal
amounts and completes its path through phase Y, phase B, S6 and S5. This current produces mmfs which
can be represented by stator north pole and south pole as shown in Figure 3.4(a). due to
◦
these stator poles, the rotor poles experience and move in clockwise direction. When the rotor moves by 60
and occupies the position shown in Figure 3.4(b) switches S2 is turned ON and S5 is turned OFF keeping S1
and S6 ON.

Figure 3.5: Rotor Movement with S1, S2 and S6 ON

When switches S1, S2 and S6 are conducting with R and Y connected to positive and B to negative of power
◦
supply, the stator poles are shifted by 60 as shown in Figure 3.5(a). This will cause the movement of
◦
rotor by 60 in clockwise direction and its position is shown in Figure 3.5(b).

When the rotor attains the position shown in Figure 3.5(b) , S1 is switched OFF and S4 is switched ON. This
operation results the position shown in Figure 3.6(a). This will produce torque on the rotor and hence it
◦
rotates by 60 when the next switching operation is done. This is shown in Figure 3.6(b)
Figure 3.6: Rotor Movement with S1, S2 and S6 ON

◦ ◦
3.5 PMBLDC Square Wave Motor With 180 Pole Arc (120 Commutation
Mode )

Figure 3.7: Three Phase BLDC Motor

◦
Consider a three phase BLDC motor with two rotor poles and having an arc length of 180 . The number
of slot per pole per phase is two. Two adjacent coils in the armature forms a phase. The coils are assumed to
◦
be full pitched and has N turns each The slot pitch is 30 and single layer winding is used. The switching
◦
interval is 60 .
Figure 3.8: Power Converter Circuit

◦
When ωt = 0 the phase Y is conducting positive current and phase B is conducting negative current. For
that, the switches S2 and S6 are turned ON. The polarity of mmf distribution is same as
◦
that of the flux density distribution of rotor. So positive torque is produced. At ωt = 60 the switch S6
is switched OFF and S4 is turned ON. Now the torque remains unaffected. So the rotor continuous to rotate.
For achieving the phase current pattern in the Table, the semiconductor switches are turned ON in the
sequence S2 , S6 ; S2 , S4 ; S3 , S4 ; S3 , S5 ; S1 , S5 ; S1 , S6 . . . , while all other switches are in OFF position. The
current waveforms are shown in Figure

Figure 3.9: Current Waveforms

◦ ◦
3.6 PMBLDC Square Wave Motor With 180 Pole Arc (120 Commutation
Mode )
Figure 3.10: Three Phase BLDC Motor

Consider a three phase BLDC motor with two rotor poles. The number of slot per pole per phase is two.
Two adjacent coils in the armature forms a phase. In this configuration, current flows through all the phases
◦
at all instants. The motor should be delta connected. The phase currents are of 180 square waveforms.

Figure 3.11: Three Phase BLDC Motor

In this configuration, current flows through all the phases at all the instants. The motor should be delta
◦
connected. The phase currents are of 180 square wave form.
 ◦ ◦
The 120 magnetic arc motor uses 180 mode of inverter operation. The commutation circuit requires six
switches. Two switches should be ON at any instant. Inverter circuit for star connected BLDC is shown in
figure. The converter is implemented using power transistors. The coils are assumed to be full pitched and
◦ ◦
has N turns each. The slot pitch is 30 and single layer winding is used. The switching interval is 60 .

◦
When ωt = 0 the phase Y and B are conducting positive current and phase Y is conducting negative
current. For that, the switches T1 and T6 are turned ON. The polarity of mmf distribution is same as that of
◦
the flux density distribution of rotor. So positive torque is produced. At ωt = 60 the switches T6 is
switched OFF and T1 is turned ON. Now the torque remains unaffected. So the rotor continuous to rotate.

Figure 3.12: Current Waveforms

For achieving this,the transistors should be switched ON in the sequence T1,T6;T1,T2;T2,T3;T3,T4;T4,T5;

T5 ,T6 ;T1 ,T6 ; with all others in OFF state.

3.7 Magnetic Circuit analysis

 FIG. 3.13. Simple magnetic circuit analysis of BLDC motor, (a) Motor cross section and flux pattern, (b)
Magnet demagnetization curve, (c) Magnetic equivalent circuit.

Figure 3.13(a) shows the cross section of a two-pole brushless d.c. motor having high-energy rare-earth
magnets on the rotor. The demagnetization curve of the magnet is shown in Fig. 3.13 (b). The axial length
of both the stator and the rotor is /= 50 mm. First we will consider the open-circuit case, that is with no
stator current.
Whenever magnetic circuits are used to analyse a magnetic field, the first task is to identify the main flux
paths and assign reluctances or permeances to them. The brushless d.c. motor is very amenable to this kind
of analysis. The left half of Fig. 3.13 (a) shows the expected flux pattern and Fig. 4.3(c) shows the
equivalent magnetic circuit. Only half of the equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 3.13 (c); the lower half is the
mirror-image of the upper half about the horizontal axis, which is an equipotential. It is of course
permissible to simplify the circuit in this way only if the two halves are balanced. If they are not, the
horizontal axis might still be an equipotential but the fluxes and magnetic potentials in the two halves would
be different, and there could be residual flux in the axial direction, i.e. along the shaft. In practice axial flux
is undesirable because it can induce current to flow in the bearings; in some cases this results in accelerated
wear.
3.8 Trapezoidal Brushless Motors (PMBLDC)

It is commonly known as Permanent Magnet Brushless DC motor (PMBLDC) Most BLDC motors have
three phase stator windings connected in star fashion. The rotor poles are shaped such that the back emf
induced in the stator is trapezoidal. It has concentrated and full pitched winding It has higher power density
Hall effect sensors is used to detect the correct current switching position.

Figure 3.15: Trapezoidal Back emf

3.9 Comparison between Trapezoidal and Sinusoidal Motors

3.10 Electronic Commutator

The most important advantage of BLDC motor is the use of electronic commutator in the place of
mechanical commutator. The electronic commutator is used in PMBLDC, to transfer current to the
armature. In PMBLDC motor, the function of commutator and brushes are performed by, power
semiconductor switches. The phase windings of PMBLDC motors are energized using these power
semiconductor switches. So it is also called electronically commutated motor. It is necessary to have
stationary armature and rotating field system for implementing electronic commutator. As the field winding
is rotating it is necessary to supply DC voltage to the tapping points of the armature winding. To
accomplish this, each tapping on the armature winding is connected to the junction of two semiconducting
switches in such a way that one conducts in one direction and other is OFF and then the latter one conducts
in opposite direction with former in OFF state.
Figure 3.16: Electronic Commutator

Figure 3.17: Switching Circuit of Electronic Commutator

Each tapping is connected to the positive of the DC supply through switches S1, S2, S3. . . S12 and
l l l l
negative of the supply through S1 , S2 , S3 . . . S1 2 .
3.11 Torque Speed Characteristics of PMBLDC Motor

There are two torque parameters used to define a BLDC motor, peak torque and rated torque. During
continuous operations, the motor can be loaded up to rated torque. This requirement comes for brief period,
especially when the motor starts from stand still and during acceleration. During this period, extra torque is
required to overcome the inertia of load and the rotor itself. The motor can deliver a higher torque up to
maximum peak torque, as long as it follows the speed torque curve. Figure shows the torque speed
characteristics of a BLDC motor. As the speed increases to a maximum value of torque of the motor,
continuous torque zone is maintained up to the rated speed after exceeding the rated speed the torque of the
motor decreases. The stall torque represents the point on the graph at which the torque is maximum, but the
shaft is not rotating. The no load speed, ωn, is the maximum
output speed of the motor (when no torque is applied to the output shaft). If the phase resistance is small,
as it should be in an efficient design, then the characteristic is similar to that of a shunt DC motor

3.12 Advantages and Disadvantages of BLDC Motors

Advantages
1 Maintenance is less due to the absence of brushes and commutator
2 Sparking associated with brushes are eliminated
3 Higher reliability
4 Low weight
5 Long life
6 Reduction in noise
7 Low radio frequency interference
8 Low inertia and friction
9 Faster acceleration and can run in higher speed
10 Higher efficiency
Disadvantages
1 High cost
2 Low starting torque
3 No flexibility in control due to the absence in field winding

3.12 Applications
1 Electric vehicles (around 15% longer driving range is possible compared to induction motors)
2 Spindle drives (Hard disk drives) of computers
3 Variable speed fans.
4 Robotics.
5 Record players
6 Used as drives of cooling fans for electronic circuits and heat sinks.
7 Used in portable electric tools such as drills saber saws etc.
8 High speed aerospace drives and gyroscopes in the field of aerospace.
9 In the field of biomedical engineering (Cryogenic coolers, artificial heart pumps) Used in food
mixers, ice crushers snd portable vacuum cleaners.