BLDC and Induction Electric Motors: Increasing Torque and Efficiency Through the Use of

Variable Magnetic Fields

Patrick Utz and Conor Green

Mentor: Thomas Boughey
Honors Summer Research Fellowship Proposal
February 2017

Abstract:

Within the past couple of years, advances in battery technology have led to the electric
car revolution. Society is slowly shifting away from petroleum-powered vehicles and towards an
all-electric standard. As such, two main components are now crucial to the development of these
vehicles: batteries and electric motors. The latter is of particular interest as the technology has
been vastly unchanged for quite some time. Delving into the world of electric motors, one finds
that brushless DC motors and induction motors are the standard in industrial applications.
However, these motors are not completely efficient at all RPM ranges (O'kelly). The torque
output is highest at lower ranges of RPM and gradually decreases as the rotor spins faster and
faster (Rippel). This issue is due to hysteresis and eddy currents in induction motors. Brushless
DC motors exhibit the same problems in addition to permanent magnets causing a decrease in
torque efficiency. The aim of this project is to address these issues by creating a variable squirrel
cage for induction motors and a variable magnetic field for brushless DC motors. This will in
turn lead to more efficient electric motors as a whole.
Introduction:
Electric motors are used extensively as a crucial component for vehicles in the electric
car revolution. They are superb at delivering instant torque and power when compared to their
petroleum counterparts. However, there are still improvements to be made in the overall
efficiency of electric motors. Brushless DC motors and induction motors are of primary interest
for these possible improvements as they are the industry standard for electric cars and vehicles.
Both of them, though, exhibit similar weaknesses. At low RPMs these motors are able to provide
instant torque, yet this power gradually decreases as the rotors increase in speed (Rippel). This
study seeks to answer the question of whether or not one can improve the efficiency of brushless
DC motors by decreasing the effects of hysteresis and eddy currents. In addition, the research
aims at finding out whether brushless DC or induction motors, are best suited for industrial
applications like the automotive industry. For the sake of this specific proposal, I will solely
focus on the brushless DC motor.

Background and Related Work:

The roots of our proposal lie in the findings and questions of past research on induction
motors and brushless DC motors. As mentioned earlier, induction motors will be covered in
depth in a complimentary proposal whereas the topic of brushless DC motors (BLDC) will be
discussed here. Torque vectoring will be covered on the other proposal as well. With logistics set
aside, I will move on to a brief overview of the three phase brushless DC motor we plan to use.
Then, I shall delve into present research on the losses involved and how we personally plan to
attack the issue of inefficiency.
Starting off with how brushless DC motors work, there are three key aspects to keep in
mind: permanent magnets, three phase power, and out-runner design. Brushless DC motors are
commonly used for high torque applications and operate using a stator and a permanent magnet
(Dcordes). The stator consists of laminated steel that has conductive copper wrapped around
each part of the stator. Electricity is then fed through the copper wires causing the inner stator to
become an electromagnet and repelling with the permanent outer magnet. This causes a
“magnetic field” and in turn makes the outer permanent magnet move and act as a rotating rotor
(Rippel). The way in which electricity is fed, though, is through three phase power.
 Image depicting the outer permanent magnet and inner
stator filled with copper wires (image provided by Imajey)
Three phase power simply means that there are three different currents fed at regulated
intervals and separated by 120˚ (Kuphaldt). In the case of a BLDC, DC current is converted
through a microcontroller into three phase AC current. As the figure below shows, one copper
wire feeds A, another B, and another C. Thus, once AC three phase current is run through the
motor, a strong magnetic pole is created first at A, then at B, and finally at C. This causes the
movement shown in the figure below on the right. A further view of the current graph for both
AC and DC three phase currents is in the appendix under (a).

Depiction of the three phase power where there is a constant

peak at the top between the three alternating currents (image provided by Kuphaldt)

Copper wires wrapped in three phase in the stator Movement of BLDC motor in three phase
(image provided by Imajey) (image provided by Imajey)
 The final key aspect of brushless DC motors has to do with the two major design types.
The first is the out-runner (outer rotor) design, which has been shown in the previous images,
and has a definite advantage over the in-runner (inner rotor) design (Imajey). The latter is
essentially a flipped version with the copper coils on the outside and the permeant magnet on the
inside. When RPMs increase, the permanent magnet tends to expand slightly due to the
centrifugal force. Thus, the out runner is better suited since it allows the permanent magnet,
which is on the outside, to expand. However, the inner rotor design does have its advantages as it
allows a greater dissipation of heat (Dcordes).

Image depicting the outer rotor design on the left

and the inner rotor design on the right (image provided by Dcordes)

An extensive amount of research has been conducted on the inefficiencies of brushless

DC motors. The main issue that exists with these types of motors is hysteresis and eddy currents.
Hysteresis is the loss of current during the alternating magnetizing and demagnetizing of the
inner core (EE123). The effect that
hysteresis has in a ferromagnetic
material is to introduce a time lag
between an applied cyclic magneto
motive force and the flux. The flux
wave shape and phase lag of hysteresis are independent of frequency or rotational velocity and
depend only on the sum of the magnetizing forces and the area of the magnetization
characteristic (O'kelly). The equation for hysteresis is above (O'kelly). As for eddy currents, an
eddy current is an electric current set up by an alternating magnetic field. The core is composed
of conducting material so the voltage induced in it by the varying flux produces circulating
currents in the material. These eddy current losses depend on the rate of change of flux along
with the resistance of the path (EE123). In addition to these findings, researchers have noted iron
loss and inefficiencies depend on material properties, flux density harmonic magnitude, and
frequency. The change in iron loss with respect to the speed of the machine is shown in the chart
below (Jacob). Lastly, Wally Rippel, a renown engineer in the realm of electric cars, explains
how in an ideal brushless drive, the strength of the magnetic field produced by the permanent
magnets would be variable. When maximum torque is required, the magnetic field strength
should be maximum. Likewise, when torque
levels are low, the magnetic field should be
reduced such that eddy and hysteresis losses
are also reduced (Rippel). He states, though,
that there is no easy way of changing the
magnetic field with permanent magnets. This
research will examine this issue and further
explore the variation of the magnetic field.
Chart depicting increase in inefficiencies as speed
increases (image provided by Jacob)

Methods:
Conor and I shall focus on all of these aspects yet will have slightly different emphases.
This part of the research will focus on creating a varying magnetic field to reduce the effect of
hysteresis and eddy currents in brushless DC motors. The experiment for the BLDC motors will
consist of three general parts. The first will involve calculating the torque of the motor as it is at
a set frequency. The IEEE standard for calculating torque will be used, as described in the
complementary proposal. Next, different non-conductive materials, such as ceramics, will be
inserted between the rotor and the stator as the RPMs increase. Yet again, the torque will be
measured with respect to each material at a set frequency. Once all data is recorded, the
frequency will be varied in order to find the optimum torque, in relation to frequency, for each
material. A planned total of twenty different forms of ceramics and plastics will be used. This
quantity may vary depending on the success or failure of each material. In order to keep the
environment safe, a “safety capsule” will be built out of strong plexiglass and galvanized sheet
metal to house the motor for tests and observations. An Arduino will also be utilized along with a
lever to control the insertion of the material into the motor with utmost precision.
In terms of logistics, the planned time for conducting the physical experiments is summer
2017. The location will be set at LMU with most of the work happening in the new refurbished
Engineering Design Center. Commutes will be done from LMU to the 3D metal printing source
either at SpaceX or Divergent3D in Hawthorne and Torrance, respectively.

Expected Results:
The aim of this research is to create a brushless DC motor that is more efficient, in terms
of providing more torque at higher RPMs, than those that are widely available at the moment. As
such, the planned deliverable of this study is a modified drone-scaled version of a DC motor with
the varying magnetic field device built it. As it stands right now, this will most likely be a
mechanism that slowly inserts a ceramic at the top of the motor as the rotor increases in speed. In
addition to this tangible deliverable, Conor and I seek in determining whether the modified
brushless DC motor, or the induction motor is more efficient as a whole by comparing the torque
curves with regards to energy between the two motors.

Conclusion:
Electric motors, especially in the form of brushless DC and induction motors, are clearly
becoming the standard in many industrial applications. However, the standard design of such
motors allows room for hysteresis and eddy current losses to exist. In a general sense, these
losses are due to the non-varying magnetic field as the motors speed up. As such, this study aims
at reducing these inefficiencies by decreasing the magnetic field as the speed of the rotor
increases. This will be done by inserting various non-conductive materials in a systematic way as
the RPMs of the motor picks up. The planned result of the research project aims at creating a
modified version of the standard drone BLDC motor that will have an implemented varying
magnetic field mechanism. As whole, the aim of the study is to ultimately improve the way
electric motors work as they are the foundation for the electric car revolution to come.
Budget:
Item: Individual Num.: Cost: Source supplier and
Cost: manufacturer:
Turnigy G60 Brushless $65.43 16 $1046.88 Jet Inc.
Outrunner 500kv (.60
Glow)
ALOTEC Advanced $200 per kg 2 kg $400 Ceramtec
Ceramic (estimate
before
quote)
Industrial High Grade $50 per kg 2 kg $100 Emco Industrial Plastics
Custom Cut MIL-W-80C (estimate
Plastic before
quote)
Multi-Max 2.3 Amp $119.14 1 $119.14 *Estimate from Home Depot.
Corded Variable Speed Will vary based on LMU’s
Oscillating Multi-Tool equipment
Dremel Kit with 30
Accessories
Plexiglass glass and $300 1 $300 *Estimate from Home Depot
respective materials for Will vary based on LMU’s
safety housing of motor equipment
Arduino Uno R3 and $48.99 + $3 1 $51.99 Newegg-
accompanying materials (shipping) Ruili Inc.
(i.e. wires)
Piston & accompanying $70 + $25 1 $95 Grainger- Parker
materials (i.e. control) (shipping) Amazon- Crack-n-Charge
Gas money for the Varies with N/A $400 N/A
commute between Gas Prices
Loyola Marymount
University and the 3D
metal printing company
(SpaceX or
Divergent3D) in
Torrance
Total Cost: $2513.01
Appendix:

(a)

Three Phase Power AC Three Phase Power DC

(b) IEEE 112-B efficiency calculation

𝑃&'(
𝜂"# =
𝑃)*
Where ηDM is the efficiency, Pout is the output power (Watts) and Pin is the input power (Watts)
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Web.

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