Performance comparison of PWM inverter
Depending
and variable DC link inverter schemes
for high-speed sensorless control
of BLDC motor
Kyeong-Hwa Kim and Myung-Joong Youn
A performance comparison of the pulse width modulation (PWM)
inverter and variable DC link inverter schemes for a high-speed
sensorless control of a brushless DC (BLDC) motor is presented.
The practical implementation issues for a high-speed sensorless
control are discussed and it is verified through comparative
experiments that the variable DC link inverter scheme can give a
more stable performance than the PWM method at high speed.
Introduction: In many industrial fields, the presence of shaft sensors
may increase the cost as well as complicate the motor configuration.
In particular, for a motor built in a completely sealed compressor, a
shaft sensor is difficult to apply owing to degradation of the sensor
reliability in high temperature and the need for extra lead wires.
Furthermore, these sensors, particularly Hall sensors, are temperature
sensitive, limiting the operation of the motor to below about 75
C.
Also, the sensor accuracy be affected by the mounting accuracy.
To overcome these drawbacks, sensorless control schemes of a
brushless DC (BLDC) motor have been proposed [1, 2]. In this control
scheme, the pulse width modulation (PWM) is generally used for a
speed control. To reduce a switching loss, the PWM is often executed
on one of the two active switches, while the other remains in the on
state. However, since the PWM for speed control and the
commutation process cannot be performed independently, a significant
commutation delay may exist in a high-speed region.
To improve the drive efficiency and provide the desired current
waveform, a sensorless control using a quasi-current source inverter
was reported [3]. Such a circuit arrangement is known as a variable DC
link inverter [4]. Using this technique, since the voltage control and
commutation can be achieved independently, the commutation delay
such as in the conventional PWM methods does not exist even in a
high-speed region. However, analysis and performance comparison
with the conventional PWM methods have not been carried out.
In this Letter we present a performance comparison of the PWM
inverter and variable DC link inverter schemes for a high-speed
sensorless control of a BLDC motor. Practical implementation issues
concerning the commutation delay at high speed are discussed. The
whole control system is implemented on a BLDC motor using DSP
TMS320C240.
PWM switching period interrupt
Ts
PWM signal
commutation signal interrupt
next inverter sequence
commutation delay
a time, ms
PWM switching period interrupt
Ts
PWM signal
switching frequency>fs
next inverter sequence
no commutation delay
b during 60
is only 3.2. Unless the resolution of the pulse width is
Fig. 1 Relation between PWM switching period and commutating instant
a Commutation delay b Irregular switching frequency
Problems of existing sensorless control scheme: The back electro-
motive forces (EMFs) of a BLDC motor have trapezoidal waveforms
and the stator currents are applied by a two-phase excitation scheme.
Based on the position at which the PWM is superimposed, the
switching method is classified as the on-going phase PWM, off-going
ELECTRONICS LETTERS 10th October 2002 Vol. 38 No. 21
phase PWM, upper switch PWM, and lower switch PWM.
on the PWM scheme used this control scheme may cause a commu-
tation delay or an irregular switching frequency of the power devices
in a high-speed sensorless control.
Fig. 1 shows the relation between the PWM switching period and
commutating instant in the two-phase PWM scheme. Fig. 1a shows a
case of the commutation delay. Since the commutating instant depends
on the rotor position, it does not usually coincide with the end of the
PWM switching period. In this case, the commutation is normally
performed synchronised with the end of the present PWM period to
start the next inverter sequence. This results in a commutation delay and
the maximum delay becomes the PWM switching period. Even though
this commutating delay can be neglected for a medium speed range, it
has a significant influence on the phase current and drive performance
at high speed since the 60
interval in which the commutation arises is
relatively small. To avoid such an undesirable commutation delay, the
next inverter sequence has to be applied as soon as the commutation
signal interrupt occurs. The present PWM period then has to be
terminated and the new PWM period synchronised with the commu-
tation signal must be started. In the upper and lower switch PWM
schemes, this may yield an irregular switching frequency much larger
than the switching frequency f, under a high-duty condition as shown in
Fig. 1b. In the on-going and off-going phase PWM schemes,
this irregular switching frequency does not occur since the phase
executing the PWM is continually changed every 60
degrees. Thus,
the on-going and off-going phase PWM schemes can be the preferred
way of a high-speed sensorless control.
4
phase current ia
2
0
A
–2
–4
150 terminal voltage vao
120
90
V
60
30
0
a
4 phase current ia
2
0
A
–2
–4
120 terminal voltage vao
90
60
V
30
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
b
Fig. 2 Comparative simulation results
a On-going phase PWM scheme b Variable DC link inverter scheme
Nevertheless, there is still a problem. At high speed, only a few PWM
pulses can be used for the speed control during 60
. Since the 60

interval of a two-pole motor becomes 200 ms at 50000 rpm, if the
switching frequency of 16 kHz is employed, the number of PWM pulses
considerably high, this may result in a speed ripple at steady state and
degrade the accuracy of the position signal detection. This is more
serious at a higher speed region. This problem can be overcome by
controlling the voltage and frequency independently using the variable
DC link inverter scheme in which the circuit consists of an inverter and
a step down chopper acting like a buck converter [3]. Based on this
scheme, the inverter is operated with the square wave of 120

conduction and the speed control is achieved by regulating the DC
link voltage of the inverter through the chopper. If the DC voltage in the