Unit - 1

Salient Features Of Various Permanent Magnet Materials

B-H- Loop
Demagnetization Characteristics
Comparison Of BLDC :vs.: Conventional Machines
Operating Principle Of BLDC Motor
Principle Of Hall Sensor
Unipolar BLDC
Bi-polar BLDC

What is permanent magnet?

1. The first term is the flux-density that would exist if the magnet were
Removed and magnetising force remained at the value H
2. The second term can be regarded as the contribution of magnet to
the flux-density with in its volume

Note: clearly the demagnetizing curve is a straight line. And its relative slope
and recoil permeability is unity

Magnetic Materials
1.
2.
3.

Neodymium - iron Born

Ceramics
Alnico

FIG. 1 1 FLUX DENSITY VERSUS MAGNETIC FIELD OF PERMANENT MAGNET MATERIALS

Magnet Properties

Material

Coercivity
(T)

Remanence
(T)

(BB0/0)max
(kJ/m3)

BaFe12O19

0.36

0.36

25

Alnico IV

0.07

0.6

10.3

Alnico V

0.07

1.35

55

Alcomax I

0.05

1.2

27.8

MnBi

0.37

0.48

44

Ce(CuCo)5

0.45

0.7

92

SmCo5

1.0

0.83

160

Sm2Co17

0.6

1.15

215

Nd2Fe14B

1.2

1.2

260

B-H Loop

Demagnetizing characteristics

Absence of ampere-turn, the operating

point is the intersection of load line and
demagnetizing characteristics
Slope= permeance of external circuit x o
B and H varies with external circuit
permeance
J magnetisation of the magnet

Linearization of non-linear behaviour

Demagnetisation Curve Of PM (a) Illustrates Working Point Below The

Knee Of BH Curve (b) High Temperature Causing Demagnetisation

Losses in Permanent Magnets

High-Temperature Effects
Reversible Losses
Irreversible Losses Recoverable By Re-Magnetisation

(a) Long term stability of magnets at 24oc

(b) illustration of irreversible loss by reversible
changes in the B-H loop

Applications
Permanent magnets provide a motor with lifelong excitation. High
initial cost is the disadvantages because it will lead the cost of the
motor. The factor considered while selecting the magnets for motor
applications are:

Power Density
Operating Temperature Range
Severity of Operational Duty

Structure of Controller for PMBLDC motor

How it Works

Halls Sensors sense the

position of the coils

The Decoder Circuit turns

appropriate switches on
and off

The voltage through the

specific coils turns the motor

Images courtesy of Servo Magnetics

(http://www.servomag.com/flash/2-pole/2pole-bldc-motor.html)

Constructions of PMBLDC Motor

Stator

Fig. 2.2 back EMF of a PMBLDC motor (a) trapezoidal (b) sinusoidal back EMF

Rotor

Fig. 2.3 rotor of PMBLDC motor (a) circular core with magnets on the periphery (b)
circular core with rectangular magnets embedded in the rotor
(C) circular core with rectangular magnets inserted into the rotor core

View of PMBLDC motor Assembling

Components of PMBLDC motor

Classification Of PMBLDC Motor

PMBLDC sine wave motor
PMBLDC square wave motor
It is based on the flux density distributed in the air-gab, in addition
to that further classified based on number of phase and number of
pulse given to the device during each cycle is
One phase winding and one pulse PMBLDC motor
One phase winding and two pulse PMBLDC motor
Two phase winding and two pulse PMBLDC motor
Three phase winding and three pulse PMBLDC motor
Three phase winding and six pulse PMBLDC motor

Mechanical Commutation

Fig. 2.6 Mechanical Commutation Components (a)

Commutator Segment Assembly b) Its Connection With
Armature Windings

Fig. 2.7 Armature Windings Of DC Motor

Electronic Commutation

Fig. 2.8 Phototransistor controlling the IGBT with antiparallel diodes

Fig. 2.9 Space representation of the electronic commutator

Advantages of Electronic Commutation

Solid state high power switching devices are used

Commutator arrangement is located in the stator

No sliding contacts

No chances of sparking

less maintenance

applied voltage may be controlled by PWM technique

reliable in operation

Advantages

Increased Reliability & Efficiency

Longer Life
Elimination of Sparks from Commutator
Reduced Friction
Faster Rate of Voltage & Current
Precision Voltage & Current Applied to
Field Coils

Applications

Low Power

Consumer Electronics

Medical Field

(Hard Drives, CD/DVD Drives, PC

cooling fans, toys, RC air planes, air conditioners)
(drills, operation equipments )

High Power

Industrial Machinery(Servo drives)

Vehicles (Electronic power steering)
Airplanes(Antares 20E, an electric self-launching sailplane, flies with
a 42kW DC/DC brushless motor and Li-Ion batteries and can climb up to
3000m with fully charged cells )

Disadvantages

Requires Complex Drive Circuitry

Requires additional Sensors

Higher Cost

Some designs require manual labor

(Hand wound Stator Coils)

Position Sensors
Rotor position Sensors of BLDC motor
It converts the information of rotor position into a suitable
electrical signal. This signal is used to switch ON and OFF of
various semiconductor devices of electronic switching circuitry
of BLPM motor

Types of RPS:
Optical position sensor
Hall effect position sensor

Cont

Cont

Principle of position detection using Hall sensors

Comparison of BLDC motor Synchronous motor

SL. No

Feature

PMBLDC motor

Synchronous Machine

Mechanical structure

Field magnet on the rotor

May be in the rotor or stator

Maintenance

Low

High

Winding connection

The highest grade:

or Y 3- Connection
The normal grade:
Y 3- Connected winding with
grounded neutral point or 4-
connection
The simplest grade:
2- Connection

or Y 3- Connection

Commutation methods

Electronic switching using power

semiconductor switches
Ex: MOSFET, TRANSISTOR

Commutation is not required but 2

Nos. of slip ring is sufficient

Detecting method (zero cross

point/rotor position)

Rotor position could detected by

sensors
Ex: Hall sensors, optical encoder

Need not be required

Reversing method

Rearranging logic sequence

By reversing any two of the stator

terminals

Comparison of BLDC and Brushed DC motor

Comparison of BLDC motor Induction motor

SL. No

Feature

PMBLDC motor

Induction Motor

Mechanical structure

Field magnet on the rotor

Self-excitation

Maintenance

Low

low

Winding connection

The highest grade:

or Y 3- Connection
The normal grade:
Y 3- Connected winding with
grounded neutral point or 4-
connection
The simplest grade:
2- Connection

or Y 3- Connection

Commutation methods

Electronic switching using power

semiconductor switches
Ex: MOSFET, TRANSISTOR

Commutation is not required

Detecting method (zero cross

point/rotor position)

Rotor position could detected by

sensors
Ex: Hall sensors, optical encoder

Need not be required

Reversing method

Rearranging logic sequence

By changing any of two stator

terminals

Comparison of BLDC motor Induction motor cont

Principle of Operation

Torque Production
The key to successive torque and speed control of a BLDC
motor is based on simple torque and Back EMF equations.
The Back EMF magnitude can be written as:

Different Mode of Operation

The simplest unipolar drive consists of a single switch

Uni - Polar Mode

in series with each winding and a zener diode or dump

resistor in the freewheeling path as shown in Fig. 2.11
This drive is inefficient because the stored energy in
the phases is dissipated. Better performance can be
obtained by using topologies such as the Cdump
converter shown in Fig. 2.12, which offers full
regenerative

Fig. 2.11 Three-phase Inverter For BLDC Motor Drives

control.

However,

it

has

the

disadvantage of requiring a complicated control for

the dump capacitor voltage, the failure of which
could be catastrophic.

Fig. 2.12 C dump converter For unipolar BLDC Motor Drives

Fig. 2.13 Back-emf, Current, Torque Waveforms Of

Unipolar Excitation Of BLDC Motor Drives

Advantages of Uni-Polar mode

There is only one device in series with each phase,

minimizing conduction losses.

The risk of shoot-through faults is eliminated.

Switching of devices connected to the supply rails, which

generally requires some isolation circuitry, can be avoided.

Research/Project Area Identified In PMBL DC Motor Operation

Bi-Polar Mode

Fig. 2.15 Bi-polar BLDC Motor Drive

Fig. 2.16 Back-emf, Current, Torque Waveforms

Of Bi-polar Excitation Of BLDC Motor Drives

Bi-Polar Start Uni-Polar Run Modes

Fig. 2.17 Inverter Circuit For Bipolar-starting

And Unipolarrunning Drive

Fig. 2.18 Theoretical Inverter Circuit For Bipolar-starting

And Unipolarrunning Drive, Negative Back EMF Would
Driving Current

Speed Control of PMBLDC Motor

This control is split into two distinct operations:
Stator and rotor flux synchronization and
Current control
Both operations are perceived through the three phase
inverter illustrated in the Fig.2.20.

FIG. 2.20 Three-phase inverter for BLDC motor drives

The flux synchronization is derived from the position information

using sensors, or sensorless techniques. From the position
information, the controller decides the suitable pair of transistors
(Q1 to Q6) which must be driven. The control of the current to a
fixed 60 degrees reference can be perceived in either of the two
modes:
The Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) Mode
The Hysteresis Mode

Closed Loop Speed Control (with Position sensors)

Fig. Block Diagram Of Closed Loop Position Control With Speed And Current Loops Of PMBLDC Motor Drive.

Sensor less Control

Technique used to estimate the rotor position is

Back-EMF based methods
Flux calculation based methods.
Observer based methods.
Other methods

Techniques used in Back-EMF based methods

Terminal Voltage Sensing

Back EMF Integration Methods

Sensing of Third Harmonic Of The Back-emf

Freewheeling Diode Conduction

Flux Calculation

Terminal Voltage Sensing

For typical operation of a BLDC motor,

the phase current and back-EMF should
be aligned to generate constant torque.
The current commutation point shown
in Fig. 2.21 can be estimated by the zero
crossing point (ZCP) of back-EMFs and
a 30 phase shift to detect the ZCPs,
the phase back-EMF should be
monitored during the silent phase.

Dis Advantages / Drawbacks

It is not possible to use the noisy terminal voltage to obtain a

switching pattern at low speeds since back-EMF is zero at standstill
and proportional to rotor speed.

Also, the estimated commutation points have position error during

the transient period when the speed is accelerated or decelerated
rapidly, especially for a system that has low inertia.

With these methods, rotor position can be detected typically from

20% of the rated speed.

Nevertheless, the terminal voltage sensing method is widely used for

low cost industrial applications such as fans, pumps and compressor
drives where frequent speed variation is not required

Back EMF Integration Methods

In this method, the commutation instant is

determined by integration of the silent phases
back-EMF. The basic idea of this method is that
the integrated area of the back-EMFs shown in
Fig. 2.23 is approximately the same at all
speeds. The integration starts when the silent
phases back-EMF crosses zero. When the
integrated value reaches a pre-defined threshold
value, which corresponds to a commutation
point, the phase current is commutated.

Dis Advantages / Drawbacks

If flux weakening operation is required, current advance

can be achieved by changing the threshold voltage.

The integration approach is less sensitive to switching

noise and automatically adjusts for speed changes, but
low

speed operation is

poor due to the error

accumulation and offset voltage problems from the

integration.

Sensing of Third Harmonic Of The Back-emf

This method utilises the third harmonic of the back-EMF to

determine the commutation instants of the BLDC motors.
Since the third harmonic of the back-EMF has three times
greater frequency, this method is not as sensitive to time
delay of a LPF, which is a problem of the terminal voltage
sensing method. The back-EMF terms can be represented
using the Fourier expression

As illustrated in Fig.2.24, the zero crossings of

the integrated third harmonic flux linkage are
commutation points. To sense the third
harmonic of the back-EMF, an external
hardware circuit is required. The third
harmonic based method has a wider speed
range and smaller phase delay than the terminal
voltage sensing method. However, at low speed,
Fig. 2.24 third harmonic of the back EMF and commutation points

the integration process can cause a serious

position error, as noise and offset error from
sensing can be accumulated for a relatively long
period of time.

Freewheeling Diode Conduction

This method utilises current flowing through a freewheeling diode

in silent phase. Right after the ZCP of the back-EMF in the silent
phase, a tiny current is flowing through the freewheeling diode
during the active phase switches are turned off under alternate
chopper control. This silent phase current starts to flow
approximately at the time where the back-EMF of the open phase
crosses zero.

Dis Advantages / Drawbacks

This

method

also

has

position

error

of

commutation points in the transient state as other

back-EMF based methods.

The most serious drawback of this method is the

use of six isolated power supplies for the
comparator circuitry to detect current flowing in
each freewheeling diode.

The drawback prohibits this method from practical

applications

Flux Calculation

In this method, the flux linkage is estimated

from measured voltages and currents and then
the position is predicted by polynomial curve
fitting. The fundamental idea is to take the
voltage equation of the machine

Figure 2.25 shows the block diagram of

the position estimation algorithm. The
current loop for current estimation 1 is
used for prediction, estimation and the
correction of the position. The other
current loop for current estimation 2 is
used for correction of the calculated flux
Fig. 2.25 Schematic Diagram Of The Flux Linkage Calculation Based
Method

linkage values

Observer-based methods
In this category, various types of observers are used to estimate
rotor position. The fundamental idea is that a mathematical
model of the machine is utilised and it takes measured
inputs of the actual system and produces estimated outputs.
Then, the error between the estimated outputs and
measured quantities is fed back into the system model to
correct the estimated values. The biggest advantage of using
observers is that all of the states in the system model can be
estimated including states that are hard to obtain by measurements.

Speed sensor-less control system of PMSM is a three-loop

control system, the most outer ring is the location loop, and
second ring is for the speed loop, the most inner loop as the
current loop.

Other Methods
Method -1

In most cases, from fundamental motor voltage equations,

the inductance is calculated based on other measured
quantities.

To detect rotor position at standstill, a

diagnostic current is injected. Based on the current,

the rotor pole sign is estimated. This method detects
the difference of the saturation level based on the sign of
rotor magnet flux. Two voltage pulses with opposite signs
are applied for a predetermined time for the purpose.

Method -2

A similar approach is done in to detect the rotor position at

standstill. If there is a sufficient magnetic saturation level
difference when a different PM Pole is located, the rotor
pole can be identified at standstill by applying positive and
negative voltage pulses and measuring magnitude of the
resultant current

Method -3

A high-frequency signal is injected to detect

inductance, which is a function of rotor position for
salient PM motors. Once there is a significant
magnetic saliency in the motor, the initial rotor
position at standstill can be detected based on the
incremental inductance calculation

Method -4

To create artificial saliency, a thin non-magnetic material is

attached to the round surface of the PMs. In this case, the
stator inductance changes with rotor position as the eddy
currents in the aluminium act to decrease the inductance. By
applying rectangular voltage pulses and measuring the
maximum current amplitudes, the position can be estimated.
However, the additionally attached nonmagnetic material can
increase the air-gap of the motor, and hence can decrease the
efficiency.

Method -5

The DC bus current shape is used to estimate

commutation error. When the motor phase current
is not synchronised with the back-EMF, the DC bus
current is distorted. Based on the DC bus current
observation, when the phase current leads and lags the
back-EMF, DC link input voltage is updated to align the
current and back-EMF, and continuously maintains the
synchronism of the motor.

Speed Torque Characteristics

Figure 2.26 shows an example of torque/speed
characteristics. There are two torque parameters
used to define a BLDC motor, peak torque (TP)
and rated torque (TR). During continuous
operations, the motor can be loaded up to the
rated torque. As discussed earlier, in a BLDC
motor, the torque remains constant for a speed
range up to the rated speed. The motor can be
run up to the maximum speed, which can be up
to 150% of the rated speed, but the torque
starts dropping.
Fig. 2.26 Speed Torque Characteristics of PM BLDC motor

Ex1. A BLPM d c motor has no load speed of 600 rpm. When connected
to 120V dc supply. The armature resistance is 2.5. Rotational & iron
losses may be neglected. Determine the speed when the supply
voltage is 60V and torque is 0,5N

Given data
Na=600 rpm, V=120V,Ra=2.5,T=0.5N
Solution
Na=600 rpm, V=120V,Ra=2.5,T=0.5N
Ke

Ke

V
120

0 . 19 volt / rad / sec

2 6000
mo
60
K t and T K t I

T
0 .5

2 . 63 A
Kt
0 . 19
Back emf
I

E b V I a R a 60 ( 2 . 63 2 . 5 ) 53 . 43 volts
But , E b K e m
m

Eb
53 . 13

281 . 18 rad / sec 2685 rpm

Ke
0 . 19

Ex2.

A permanent magnet dc commutator motor has a stalling torque of

1 N-m. the stall current of 5A. Estimate its no load speed in rpm when this
motor is fed from 28V dc supply.

Ex3.

A permanent magnet BLDC motor has torque constant 0.12 Nm/A referred
to DC supply. Find no load speed when connected to 48 V dc supply. Find
stall current and stall torque if armature resistance is 0.15per phase and
drop in controller transistor is 2V.