Effect of increase in dc voltage and weakening of PM

• Assuming that a steady speed is reached. What happens if the dc voltage input to the inverter is
increased?
• Increase in voltage will result in an increased current (the rotational emf cannot change suddenly
since the speed cannot change suddenly).
• Motor develops an extra torque which will further accelerate the rotor until a new speed is reached;
Hence back emf increases and the current falls to a new value where the developed torque is once
more equal to the sum of the load and the frictional torques.
• So the speed of the motor can be increased by simply increasing the dc input voltage to the
inverter (up to the rated value) and vice versa.
• What happens if (by some means) the permanent magnet are weakened (by providing
demagnetising AT from the stator)?
• The back emf is reduced, the armature current increases by a considerable amount for the same
inverter dc voltage, and the motor develops more torque in spite of a slight weakening of the field.
Thus, field weakening has the effect of increasing the speed, same as in a dc motor.
Effect of increase in dc voltage and decrease of PM strength
• The combination of an auto-synchronised inverter and an synchronous motor
will be exactly equivalent in behaviour to that of a dc motor but without the
commutator slip ring or brushes, thus justifying the name of brushless dc motor.
• With the strength of magnets available today, brushless dc motors comparable in
performance to dc motors of up to about 20 kW are available.
Advantages offered by BLDMs :
(i) no sparking
(ii) no need for commutator and brush maintenance, and
(iii)usability in hazardous environment. They do not give rise to RF noise.
The penalty paid for a BLDM
(i) In the form of an inverter
(ii) a position-sensing device and
(iii)their associated electronic circuitry.
 Unique features of BLDM
• For larger powers the same principle can be used but by using dc-excited (wound)
rotor poles.
• In dc excited (wound rotor), the rotor then requires two slip rings and brushes.
Such motors are generally known as commutator-less dc motors and exhibit
better maintenance properties compared to dc motors.
• They can also be wound for larger powers and speeds than conventional dc motors
whenever the commutator limits the voltage, speed and current-carrying capacity
of the motor.
• By changing the sequence of switching, the BLDM can be easily made to rotate in
the reverse direction.
• Braking operation can also be performed by using proper logic as will be
explained in the subsequent sections.
 Unique features of BLDM
• In place of a VSI (with 180 ⁰ conduction) one can use a CSI (with 120 ⁰
conduction) to shift the stator mmf in steps of 60 ⁰ in space (Fig. 5.4).
• A CSI is a VSI with a large inductance in series with the VSI so that
the load current is independent of the load impedance (source
impedance >> load impedance).
• CSI-driven BLDMs are more popular than VSI driven BLDMs because
the motor characteristics can be more directly and easily controlled
using a CSI.
• In such motors, only two phases are activated at any instant of time,
say in the sequence AB, AC, BC, BA, CA, CB, and the cycle repeats.
• In this case too, the stator mmf shifts by 60⁰ for each switching.
• In this type of control one of the phases is floating, and for a brief time
it is truly open-circuited and its induced emf can be made use of in
'indirect sensing of the rotor position.
AB
AC
BC
BA
CA
CB
AB
 Advantages over small conventional dc or ac motors
(i) Higher efficiency: Avoids separate field-winding slip rings or brushes avoiding
field copper losses and brush contact losses particularly in small sizes.
(ii) Increased electric loading: When rotor is inside the stator more cross-sectional
area is available for the armature winding and conduction of heat through the frame
is improved. Hence increased electric loading is possible, providing a greater
specific torque and higher output power than that of a commutator motor of an equal
size.
(iii) Increased active armature current loading as compared to induction
machines, as air-gap flux is provided by permanent magnets. Copper loss due to the
magnetising component of the armature current can be eliminated or reduced.
Factors (i), (ii), (iii) are responsible for reduction in weight and increased
efficiency.
Example: Ventilating applications for cooling electronic equipment, brushless dc
motor fans are much smaller and lighter in size and weight than ac fans that use
shaded-pole single phase induction motor or universal motors.
 Advantages over small conventional dc or ac motors
(iv) Absence of the commutator and the brush gear- reduced motor length.
Useful for saving space and for reducing the length between bearings resulting in
greater stiffness for a given stack length, permitting higher speeds. Important in
servo-type drives where a high torque/inertia ratio is required. Reduced inertia due
to removal of the commutator.
(v) Elimination of radio frequency and electromagnetic interference as
compared to conventional dc motors. Due to absence of brushes, radio frequency
and electromagnetic interference eliminated as no sparking at the brushes which
produces radio frequency interference.
(vi) Operation from a low voltage dc supply is possible: The ability to work with
the available 12 V or 24 V dc supply. Convenient for use in electronic equipment,
computers, mobile equipment and vehicles.
(vii) High speed of operation: Commutators restrict peripheral speed, voltage
between segments and current density. Because of the absence of the commutator,
brushless dc machines can be designed to operate at higher speeds and higher
voltages.
 Advantages over small conventional dc or ac motors
(viii) Long life, less maintenance: The brushes and the commutators in a dc
machine require greater maintenance. Due to their absence, BLDMs requires lesser
maintenance.
For a lower ratings, the cost of the machine is low since cheaper ceramic magnets
can be used. If high quality magnets such as SmCo or NdFeB are used, the cost will
be high. The cost of the machine depends mainly on the cost of the magnets.
(ix) Flexibility of rotor construction: When compared to a dc machine within the
same frame with the same cooling, the brushless permanent magnet dc machine will
have better efficiency and power factor and therefore a greater output power; the
difference may be of the order of 20-50 percent.
Brushless dc motors have been used in various types of actuators in advance aircraft
and satellite systems.
Integral hp brushless dc motors have been developed for propulsion and servo
applications in unmanned submarines; other applications are in phonographs and
tape drives.
 The disadvantages of brushless dc machines are:
(i) The need for a shaft-position sensing device or some indirect rotor
position sensing device and an electronic controller, both of which are
essential, add to the cost.
(ii) Increased complexity due to the electronic controller.
(iii) With some types of permanent magnets there are severe
temperature limits since the magnetic properties deteriorate with rise
in temperature.
(iv) Lack of simple method of field weakening for increasing the
speed.
(v) High cost of the magnets, particularly for large-size machines.
Fig. 5.1 Surface-mounted PM rotor Fig.5.2 Interior PM magnet rotors
Fig.5.5 Externally-mounted PM rotor with Alnico magnets
 Types of Construction
• Brushless de machine has two types of construction:
- Surface-mounted permanent magnet dc machine (Fig. 5.1 and 5.5)
- Interior-type permanent magnet (IPM) dc machine (Fig. 5.2)
• Magnetic flux passing through the d-axis magnetic circuit must cross two magnet's
thicknesses in addition to two air-gap crossings required in both the d-and the q-
axis.
• Since the incremental permeability of ceramic and rare-earth magnet materials is
nearly that of free space, the magnet thicknesses appear as large-series air gaps in
the d-axis magnetic flux path.
• Since the q-axis magnetic flux can pass through the steel pole pieces without
crossing the magnet air-gaps, the stator phase inductance is noticeably higher with
q-axis rotor orientation.
• The elevated permeance of the rotor q-axis magnetic circuit can be employed to
enhance the adjustable speed operating characteristics of IPM BLDC machines.
 Drawbacks of surface-mounted PM dc machines
1. Since the magnets are mounted on the surface of the rotor, the
machine cannot operate at very high speeds (limited due to centrifugal
force).
2. The effective air-gap is high so that the effect of armature reaction
ampere turns is not significant.
3. Hence, control in the constant-torque region only is possible; control
in the constant-power, flux-weakening region is not effective.
4. The drawbacks associated with the surface-mounted brushless dc
machine are eliminated in the interior-type permanent magnet machine
 Advantages of interior-type construction
1. The rotor construction is more robust permitting much higher speeds
of operation.
2. The effective air-gap is low, the armature reaction effect is dominant
and hence control in the constant-torque as well as constant-power
(flux-weakening region) is possible by suitably controlling the
demagnetising armature AT.
3. A saliency is introduced in the machine (Xq > Xd) and as a result the
total torque is due to both permanent magnet excitation as well as
reluctance effect.
4. This can be exploited to obtain higher torque per ampere by suitably
designing the controller.
Fig. 5.3 Basic configuration of BLDM
 Principle of Operation of BLDM
• A simplified schematic of a BLDM is shown in Fig. 5.3.
• A battery supplies power to an autosynchronous PWM transistor (or IGBT or
MOSFET) inverter which converts it to a variable frequency variable voltage
power for the PM machine.
• The inverter permits four-quadrant operation and the regenerated power is easily
absorbed by the battery.
• A large filter capacitor at the input decouples the battery from the inverter-
generated harmonics.
• The machine's shaft has a position encoder which supplies position information to
the drive control system.
• Drive control system receives signals from these position encoders and generates
the required base drive signals for the transistors, which turns on and off
accordingly and the rotor movement follows.
Fig.5.4 Depicting the rotor movement in a VSI-fed BLDM for 3 consecutive steps of 60°
Fig.5.4 Depicting the rotor movement in a VSI-fed BLDM for 3 consecutive steps of 60°
Fig.5.4 Depicting the rotor movement in a VSI-fed BLDM for 3 consecutive steps of 60°
 Principle of Operation of BLDM
• To make things clear, let us consider the diagrams in Fig. 5.4. Figures 5.4(a)
shows the situation when switches 6, 1 and 2 are ON.
• In that condition phase A is connected to the positive terminal, phases B and C are
connected to the negative terminal of the de supply.
• The armature mmf is then directed along phase A, neglecting the delay of current
rise due to self-inductance.
• When the next set of switches (1, 2 and 3) are ON, the armature mmf moves by
60° (electrical) as shown in Fig. 5.4b.
• This causes the rotor magnet to rotate as it experiences a torque.
• For the next interval, switches 2, 3 and 4 are ON. The armature mmf rotates by
another 60°, and the rotor also moves by the same angle.
• In this way the armature mmf axis is shifted periodically by 60° and rotor will
continuously move on.
 Principle of Operation of BLDM
• As rotor moves, with the armature mmf pattern remaining stationary for 60° electrical, the
'lag' angle reduces.
• If initially the d-axis of the permanent magnet rotor was making an angle 𝛼 with the
phase A axis when the first switching (6, 1, 2) was made.
• The rotor experiences a torque which is proportional to sin 𝛼. As it moves, it comes to a
position say 𝛼1 , measured from the phase A axis when the position encoder causes the
next switching to occur whereby the stator mmf pattern shifts to a position 60° ahead.
• Thus the lag angle becomes (60° + 𝛼1 ). After another 60° when the lag angle has reduced
to 𝛼1 , once again the next switching progresses the mmf vector by another 60°. So,
instantaneously the lag angle once more becomes (60 ° + 𝛼1 ).
• Thus the lag angle and hence the torque has two limits, proportional to sin(60 ° + 𝛼1 ) and
sin 𝛼1 .
• However this will be the case if the current in the windings builds up quite fast after the
application of the voltages. But since the phase inductances are quite considerable, this
cannot happen.
 Principle of Operation of BLDM – speed reversal
• So with a VSI, as the current builds up gradually, so will the mmf pattern also creep to the
next desired position.
• Since the lag angle is not remaining constant even after the steady-state is reached, the
speed fluctuates, though a little, about a mean speed.
How to reverse the direction of rotation?
Consider Table 5.2 and Fig. 5.4(a-c).
• For forward rotation we can fix a sequence of switchings. Now we can see from Fig.
5.4a that for forward running, for a present position (6, 1,2) the next position (1,2, 3) is to
be achieved. The mmf corresponding to (1,2,3) position is shown in Fig. 5.4b.
• If instead of the switching (1, 2, 3) we switch (4, 5, 6), the mmf directs in a direction
which is at 180° to that of the (1, 2, 3) switching.
• Note that 4,5,6 are complimentary to 1,2, 3. Hence the torque angle changes from 𝛼 to (𝛼
-180’), causing the torque to become negative (k. sin (𝛼 ) to k. sin (𝛼 −180°).
• Thus switching complementary switches causes the motor to reverse its direction of
rotation, thereby achieving reversal of motion in a very simple manner as shown in Table
5.2.
 Principle of Operation of BLDM – dynamic braking

• Sequence table will be same as that of Table 5.2.

• During steady running when the present position is say 1, 2, 3, the
switching also latches onto a 1, 2, 3 sequence.
• Thereby, when the rotor tends to move forward (or reverse), the
present position tries to pull the rotor back. So even if the rotor may
not stop immediately (due to inertia), it is surely retarded.
• When it goes to the next position (2, 3, 4 for forward and 6, 1, 2 for
reverse motion), there is the same pull-back on the rotor.
• Finally, it should come to a stop after a few such switchings. The given
sequence table also gives us an idea of a plugging operation.
 Principle of Operation of BLDM – dynamic braking
• If, during the forward rotation suddenly we switch over to reverse
rotation, logic (through the motion switch), then the complementary
switches are turned ON.
• This has the effect that the phase that was connected to the positive
supply terminal gets connected to the negative supply terminal and
vice-versa.
• This is equivalent to plugging. So the motor comes to a halt quickly
and may start rotating in the reverse direction if the supply terminals
are not disconnected.
• A zero speed detector circuitry can be designed which will inhibit the
base drive signals to all the transistors once zero speed is reached.
• A photograph of a laboratory made
prototype of a BLDM is shown in
Fig. 5.6.
• The encoder disc and optical sensors
are visible.
• The stator frame is selected from
standard sizes of induction motors.
The motor shown as a stator frame
with 24 slots in which a 4-pole, 3-
phase winding is placed.
• The rotor is an interior permanent
magnet type using ceramic magnets
whose sketch is shown in Fig. 5.7. Fig. 5.6. Laboratory made prototype of a BLDM
Fig. 5.7 Rotor with interior permanent magnet
 Sensing and Switching Logic Scheme
Sensing
• The rotor position-sensing scheme may be called the discriminator as
in the case of a closed loop step motor. The position-sensing scheme
serves as the key for the proper functioning of the inverter and thereby
the motor.
Primary sensors
• Three phototransistors and three infrared diodes along with the
encoder disc serve as the primary position sensor.
The disc: The encoder disc is made of Perspex. It is divided into as
many sectors as there are number of poles. In this example, a 4-pole
machine is considered since there are four 90° sectors (Fig. 5.8).
• The sectors are made alternatively opaque and transparent to indicate
N and S poles.
Fig. 5.8 Encoder disc for 4-pole BLDM
 Sensing and Switching Logic Scheme
The phototransistor and infrared diodes set:
• The number of sensors 'n' required should be such that 2𝑛 ≥ number
of discrete rotor positions (or switching states) to be identified.
• For a 3-phase machine the number of discrete positions to be
identified is 6. Hence n = 3. Therefore we need three sets of sensors.
• Each set of phototransistor and infrared diode is placed in such a
fashion that they face each other with the disc in between.
• There is an interval of 30° (mech.) in between the sensors.
360°
• For a six-stepped inverter, interval between two switchings = =
60°
60°(elect.), which for a 4-pole machine is 30° (mech).
• Hence the need for a new switching for every 30° mech. rotation of the
rotor (Fig. 5.9).
Fig. 5.9 Location of photosensors (three numbers at 60 0 (elect.)
Table 5.3 The six states of the three sensor outputs

• Each sensor set maintains a high or low signal for 90⁰ mech.
(or 180⁰ elect.).
• Thus 180⁰ elect. conduction for each switch is ensured.
• The exact mechanism in which the signals for the switches
are generated is as follows.
• Whenever a transparent portion comes in between the
phototransistor and the infrared diode, the photons from the
diode reach the phototransistor and turn it on, as shown in
Fig. 5.9.

• This gives a LOW signal to the signal processing circuit.

• Conversely, an opaque portion coming in between the phototransistor and the infrared diode causes the
phototransistor to remain OFF, sending a HIGH signal to the signal processor.
• Signal processor: The above signals are buffered by passing through two NOT gates before being fed to
the logic controller.
Fig. 5.10 Logic controller logic circuit
Fig. 5.11 Lockout pulse generator.
 Logic controller
• Combinatorial circuit generates the logic for forward and reverse motions from the
inputs A, B, C and and control.
• Logic circuit given in Fig. 5.10.
• The forward and reverse motion control switch enables or disables a particular
direction of rotation as shown.
• The switches that are conducting at a particular instant for forward setting of the
control switch, are turned off as soon as the switch is set to the reverse motion
setting.
• Simultaneously, the complementary switches are turned on and thus reverse
motion is ensured.
• The sequence table is given in Table 5.4.
• The reverse motion sequence table is just a complementary table of the forward
motion sequence.
 Logic controller
Lockout pulses
• The output of the forward/reverse logic circuit is fed to the lockout
generation circuit in order to avoid short circuit while giving pulses to
the same leg of the inverter with complement logic.
• The lockout pulses are ANDed with the output signals of the logic
circuit to give the final control signal for the inverter base drive
circuits.
• The connection diagram is shown in Fig. 5.11.
Fig. 5.12 Modelling of the PM rotor