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A Review: Speed Control of Brushless DC Motor

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DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.10646.86087

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IJBSTR REVIEW PAPER VOL 1 [ISSUE 6] JUNE 2013 ISSN 2320 – 6020
A Review: Speed Control of Brushless DC Motor
Anurag Dwivedi and A. N. Tiwari
ABSTRACT: The dc motor is deficient in many aspects that require attention to be focused. This is turn give rise to some other
alternative type of the dc motor design, which negotiates the problems like lack of periodic maintenance , mechanical wear outs,
acoustic noise, sparking and brush effect, thus result in less defect in dc motor. Various emphatic studies has been made on
synchronous dc motor with brushless commutators. Now day’s researchers are confined towards the development of brushless dc
motor as it is proving superior to the conventional dc motor type.

KEY WORDS: BLDC motor, PWM, SenselessControl, full speed range, PM- Permanent Magnet, PI- Proportional Integrated
controller, VR- Variable Reluctance.

INTRODUCTION As a result emphatic studies have been made on synchronous

The permanent magnet brushless motor can be classified upon
to the back-EMF waveform, where it can be operated in either
brushless AC (BLAC) or brushless DC (BLDC) mode.
Usually the BLAC motor has a sinusoidal back-EMF
waveform and BLDC motor has a trapezoidal back-EMF. In
modern electrical machines industry productions the
brushless direct current (BLDC) motors are rapidly
gaining popularity. BLDC motors are used in industries
such as Appliances, HVAC industry, medical, electric traction,
road vehicles, military equipment, hard disk drive etc. DC
motors has its long history. It has been used in the
industries for many years now. They provide simple
means and precise way of control. In addition, they have high
efficiency and have a high starting torque versus falling
speed characteristics which helps high starting torque
and help to prevent sudden load rise. But with such
characteristics, The dc motor have some deficiencies that
needed to be attended to which gave rise to design
of some other alternative types of dc motors for
example, the lack of periodic maintenance mechanical wear
outs, acoustic noise , sparking, brushes effects are some of the
problems that were needed to overcome the defects in dc
motors.
Research Scholar, E-mail: anurag.srmcem007@gmail.com
Associate Professor, E- mail:amardee@rediffmail.com
Department of Electrical Engineering,
MMM Engineering College, Gorakhpur-273010
dc motors with brushless commutators. So, current
researches have been tailored towards developing
brushless direct current motors, which are fast becoming
alternatives to the conventional dc motor types. Types of
speed control of BLDC motor drive using Sensors, Sensor less
Control Method, Digital Signal Controller, Digital Signal
Processors (DSPs), Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Controller, Fuzzy
Logic PI Controller etc. BLDC motors, also called Permanent
Magnet DC, Synchronous motors, are one of the motor type
that have more rapidly gained popularity, mainly because of
their better characteristics an performance . The control
of BLDC motors can be done in sensor or sensor less mode,
but to Low-cost Hall-effect sensors are used. Accelerometers
have been extensively applied to measure motor
position and speed. Reduce overall cost of actuating
devices, sensor less control techniques are normally used. As a
result, many researchers have been reported for sensor less
drives that can control position, speed, and/or torque
without shaft-mounted position sensors. Conventional
sensor less control methods can be classified into four
categories. First, the open phase current sensing method is a
technique for detecting the conducting interval of
freewheeling diodes connected in anti parallel with power
transistors. Secondly, the method detecting the third
harmonic of back-EMF is the technique to remove all
the fundamental and other poly-phase components
through a simple summation of three phase voltages. Thirdly,
the back-EMF integrating method is a technique applying
the principle that integration is constant from Zero
Crossing Point (ZCP) to 30°.In a Digital signal Controller to
provide further cost effectiveness and ease of design a high
performance 16-bit digital signal controller (DSC) is used.
Sensor less control using the back EMF zero crossing
technique is utilized, eliminating the need for hall sensors thus
further reducing cost and increasing reliability. The speed is

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 IJBSTR REVIEW PAPER VOL 1 [ISSUE 6] JUNE 2013 ISSN 2320 – 6020
varied using the pulse width modulation (PWM) technique. In Where La = Lb = La =L=Ls –M
Digital Signal Processor, the speed control of brushless dc La is the armature self-inductance
motor drive employing PWM technique using TMS320F240 M is the mutual inductance
digital signal processor. BLDC is widely used because of Armature resistance R a = R b = R c =R
its high mechanical power density, simplicity and cost 𝑣𝑎 ,𝑣𝑏 , 𝑣𝑐 terminal phase voltage [V]
effectiveness. The complete controller for BLDC is 𝑖𝑏 , 𝑖𝑏 , 𝑖𝑐 , : motor input current [A]
developed using TMS 320F240 digital signal processor, 𝑒𝑎 , 𝑒𝑏 , 𝑒𝑐 : motor back emf [V]
which has the special features for digital motor 𝑑
p in the matrix represents
𝑑𝑡
control. New adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Controller (NFC) is
used speed control of Brushless DC (BLDC) motor drives. it
requires less calculation as compared with the conventional
fuzzy and/or neural networks, used for electrical drive
applications. The proposed controller is used for speed and/or
torque control of a BLDC motor drive. In order to
demonstrate the NFC ability to follow the reference
speed and to reject undesired disturbances, PI controller for
speed control of BLDC motor. The controller uses three fuzzy
logic controllers and three PI controllers. The output of the PI
controllers is summed and is given as the input to the current
controller. The current controller uses P controller. The fuzzy
logic control is learned continuously and gradually becomes
the main effective control. In this paper controlling of speed in
BLDC motor using controllers are presented.

PRINCIPLES OF THE BLDC MOTOR

Mathematical Model of BLDC Motors
Modeling of a BLDC motor can be developed in the similar
manner as a three-phase synchronous machine. Since its rotor is
mounted with a permanent magnet, some dynamic
characteristics are different. Flux linkage from the rotor is
dependent upon the magnet. Therefore, saturation of magnetic
flux linkage is typical for this kind of motors. As any typical
three-phase motors, one structure of the BLDC motor is fed by a
Figure 1- BLDC motor schematics
three-phase voltage source as shown in Fig. 1. The source is not
necessary to be sinusoidal. Square wave or other wave shape Figure.1 shows the overall system configurations of the three-
can be applied as long as the peak voltage is not exceeded the phase BLDC motor drive. The three phase inverter topology is
maximum voltage limit of the motor. Similarly, the model of the a six-switch voltage-source configurations with constant dc-
armature winding for the BLDC motor is expressed as follows. link voltage (Vdc), which is identical with the induction motor
𝑑𝑖𝑎 drives and the permanent magnet ac motor drives. The
𝑣𝑎 = 𝑅𝑖𝑎 + 𝐿 + 𝑒𝑎
𝑑𝑡 analysis is based on the following assumption for
simplIfication.
𝑑𝑖𝑏
𝑣𝑏 = 𝑅𝑖𝑏 + 𝐿 + 𝑒𝑏 METHODS FOR CONTROLLING SPEED OF
𝑑𝑡 BRUSHLESS DC MOTOR
𝑑𝑖𝑐
𝑣𝑐 = 𝑅𝑖𝑐 + 𝐿 + 𝑒𝑐
𝑑𝑡 Different methods for controlling the speed of brushless DC motor
Or in the compact matrix form as follows. are:
i) Sensors based control method
𝑣𝑎 𝑅 + 𝑝𝐿 0 0 𝑖𝑎 𝑒𝑎
ii) Sensor less control method
𝑣𝑏 = 0 𝑅 + 𝑝𝐿 0 𝑖𝑏 + 𝑒𝑏
𝑣𝑐 𝑒𝑐 iii) Digital control method
0 0 𝑅 + 𝑝𝐿 𝑖𝑐
iv) Genetic based proportional control.

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IJBSTR REVIEW PAPER VOL 1 [ISSUE 6] JUNE 2013 ISSN 2320 – 6020
A. Sensors based control method for brushless DC motor:

Figure 3: Hall Sensor Control of BLDC motor

Problem related to speed control of brushless D.C. motor drive

using sensors.
1. Low-cost Hall-effect sensors are usually used.
2. Electromagnetic variable reluctance (VR) sensors
These kinds of devices are based on Hall-effect theory, which
3. Accelerometers have been extensively applied to measure
states that if an electric current- carrying conductor is kept in a
motor position and speed.
magnetic field, the magnetic field exerts a transverse force on
the moving charge carriers that tends to push them to one side
B. Sensorless control of BLDC motor: Brushless dc (BLDC)
of the conductor. A build-up of charge at the sides of the
motors, with their trapezoidal electromotive force (EMF)
conductors will balance this magnetic influence producing a
profile, requires six discrete rotors to position information for
measurable voltage between the two sides of the conductor.
the inverter operation. These are typically generated by Hall-
To rotate the BLDC motor the stator windings should be
effect switch sensors placed within the motor. However, it is a
energized in a sequence. It is important to know the rotor
well-known fact that these sensors have a number of
position in order to understand which winding will be
drawbacks. They increase the cost of the motor and need
energized following the energizing sequence. Rotor position is
special mechanical arrangements to be mounted. Further, Hall
sensed using Hall-effect sensors embedded into the stator The
sensors are temperature sensitive, and hence limit the
connecting principle between the brushless motor and this
operation of the motor. They could reduce system reliability
sensor is reminiscent of the miniaturized magnetic angular
because of the extra components and wiring. so sensor less
encoder based on 3-D Hall sensors. A permanent magnet is
method is the reliable method used in harsh environments.
fixed at the end of a rotary shaft and the magnetic sensor is
There are three independent methods for determining the Hall
placed below, and the magnet creates a magnetic field parallel
configuration. The selection of which method to use will
to the sensor surface. This surface corresponds to the sensitive
depend on the information provided.
directions of the magnetic sensor. Three-phase brushless
1. Hall Based Commutation Sequence Provided
motors need three signals with a phase shift of 120° for
2. Back emf waveforms
control, so a closed-loop regulation may be used to improve
the motor performance.

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2. The quasi square wave armatures current are mainly
characterized through their maximum amplitude value, which
directly controls the machine torque.
3. The inverter performance is very much reliable because
there are natural dead times for each transistor.
D. Genetic based proportional control method: To regulate
the motor speed at the desired level, a speed regulation
scheme is proposed. Although disturbances can be caused by
several events, e.g. supply change, sudden load change, etc,
in this paper the speed regulation under
mechanical load disturbances is only our particular study. To
regulate the speed level, the proportional control scheme
is employed and can be summarized as shown in the
block

Figure 4 Sensor less Driven system.

C. Digital control of BLDC motor drive: The drive consists

of speed controller, reference current generator, PWM
current controller, position sensor, the motor and IGBT. The
speed of the motor is compared with its reference value and
the speed error is processed in proportional – integral (PI)
speed controller. The output of this controller is considered as
the reference torque. The BLDC motor is characterized by a
Figure 5 Closed-loop speed regulation scheme.
two phase ON operation to control the inverter. In this
control scheme, torque production follows the principle that
To demonstrate the proposed speed regulation scheme, the
current should flow in only two of the three phases at a time
proportional control (P-controller) is introduced. As obviously
and that there should be no torque production in the
found in other controller design problems, the proportional
region of Back EMF zero crossings. The following figure
gain (k) is the key to accomplish this regulation. From Fig.
describes the electrical waveforms in the BLDC motor in the
4the Proportional controller output is assigned by (19). To find
two phases ON operation. Commutation provides the creation
an appropriate value of k, some efficient search algorithm
of a rotation field. As explained, it is necessary to keep the
such as genetic algorithms, is employed.
angle between stator and rotor flux close to 90° for a BLDC
∆ωc = k p ∆ω
motor to operate properly. Six-step control creates a total of
Where ∆ωc is proportional controller output
six possible stator flux vectors. The stator flux vector must be
kp is gain of proportional controller
changed at a certain rotor position. Hall sensors usually sense
∆ω is the speed error
the rotor position. The Hall sensors generate three signals that
There exist many different approaches to tune controller
also comprise six states. Indeed the drive characteristic
parameters. The GAs is well-known [6] there exist a hundred
and control methods are very similar for the trapezoidal and
of works employing the GAs technique to design the
sinusoidal machines and in both cases the motor must be
controller in various forms. The GAs is a stochastic search
energized with controlled currents that are synchronized with
technique that leads a set of population in solution space
rotor position. In this paper presented a simple and
evolved using the principles of genetic evolution and
efficient modulation control system, which allows having
natural selection, called genetic operators e.g. crossover,
good current waveform. To fulfil these objectives, a BDCM is
mutation, etc. The GAs is selected to build up an algorithm to
used because of following advantages:
tune kp parameters. The procedure to perform the proposed
1 .The position sensor system for the shaft needs only to parameter tuning is described as follows. First, time-domain
deliver six digital signals for commanding the transistor of results of the motor speed obtained by simulating the
the inverter. BLDC motor system in MATLAB™ [9] are collected.

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IJBSTR REVIEW PAPER VOL 1 [ISSUE 6] JUNE 2013
Second, the Genetic Algorithms (GADS TOOLBOX in
MATLAB™) [9]is employed to generate a set of initial
random parameters. With the searching process, the
parameters are adjusted to give response best fitting close to
the desired response in the abc reference signals. To
perform the searching properly, its objective function is
the key. In this paper, the objective function is defined by
using the power loss function.
Figure 6 Hall-Effect Sensors
CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents a review based on application on different
control strategies using different controllers for the speed
control of BLDC motors. Here the first controller is superior
to the second one in the sense the reduced cost and easily
realized for industrial application for simple algorithm. In a
digital control system specialised hardware peripherals
provide efficient motor control with limited support circuitry,
reducing the cost and complexity of the motor control
hardware. In genetic base control the load torque disturbance
applied to the BLDC motor operation, the rotor speed can be
regulated to operate within ±5% speed error band.
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