BRUSHLESS DC MOTOR

1
APURVA SANJAY MAHAJAN, 2YUGANDHARA SANJAY MAHAJAN, 3SNEHA VIJAY WADJE
1,2,3
Sandip Institute of Engineering and Management (SIEM), Nashik
Email:apurvam132@gmail.com

Abstract: The Brush less DC electric motor are synchronous electric motors powered by direct current(DC) electricity and
having electronic commutation systems, rather than mechanical commutators and brushes. The current-to-torque and
voltage-to-speed relationships of BLDC motors are linear. Brushless DC electric motor (BLDC) described as Stepper
motors, with fixed permanent magnets and possibly more poles on the stator than the rotor, or Reluctance motors. Hall
sensors are used for the rotor position detection.the speed of brushless dc motor is very high due to electronic commutation,
hence for the speed control of BLDC motor various techniques are used.
BLDC is most popular motor choice for model aircraft. Because Brush less DC electric motor gives favorable power to
weight ratios and large range of available sizes, from under 5 grams to large motors rated at thousands of watts .some other
applications of the BLDC is role as a motor for computer hard drives and CD/DVD players and toys, aerospace, medical
instrumentation and automation industry

Keywords: BLDC Motor, Hall Sensor, Speed Controlled Techniques, Applications

I. INTRODUCTION necessary. A BLDC motor is highly reliable since it

does not have any brushes to wear out and replace.
Brushless DC Motor (BLDC) is one of the motors
gaining popularity .As their there name implies, III. CONSTRUCTION
BLDC motors do not use brushes for Commutation;
instead they are electronically commutated BLDC BLDC motors come in single-phase, 2-phase and3-
motor. They have better speed to torque ratio, high phase configurations. Corresponding to its type, the
dynamic response, long operating Period, noiseless Stator has the same number of windings. Out of
operation, higher speed range, rugged construction. these,3-phase motors are the most popular and widely
Also torque delivered to the rotor size is higher. used.
Making it useful in application where space and
weights are critical factors. With these advantages
BLDC motor find wide spread application in
Automotive, applications.

II. PRINCIPAL OF THE BLDC

BLDC motor consists of the permanent magnet rotor

and wound stator. The brushes motors are controlled
using a three phase inverter. The motor requires a
rotor position sensor for starting and for providing Figure: 1
commutation sequence to turn on the power device in
the inverter that can be achieved by hall sensor. There are two basic BLDC motor designs: inner rotor
Based on the rotor position, the power devices are and outer rotor design. In an outer rotor design, the
commuted sequentially. windings are located in the core of the motor. The
rotor magnets surround the stator windings as shown
The electronic commutation eliminates the problems here. The rotor magnets act as an insulator, thereby
associated with the brush and commutator reducing the rate of heat dissipation from the motor.
arrangement namely sparking and wearing out of the Due to the location of the stator windings, outer rotor
commutator brush arrangement, thereby, making a designs typically operate at lower duty cycles or at a
BLDC motor and rotor magnet arrangement. lower rated current.
Commutation is nothing but the act of changing the
motor phase current at the appropriate it times to The primary advantage of an outer rotor BLDC motor
produce rotational torque. . In a brush DC motor, the is relatively low cogging torque. In an inner rotor
motor assembly contains a physical commutator design, the stator windings surround the rotor and are
which is moved by means of actual brushes in order affixed to the motor's housing as shown here. The
to move the rotor. With a BLDC motor, electrical primary advantage of an inner rotor construction is its
current powers a permanent magnet that causes the ability to dissipate heat. A motor's ability to dissipate
motor to move, so no physical commutator is heat directly impacts its ability to produce torque. For

National Conf. on Recent Innovations in Science Engineering & Technology(NCRISET), 16th Nov.-2014, Pune, India, ISBN: 978-93-84209-65-0
46
 Brushless Dc Motor

this reason, the overwhelming majority of BLDC The main disadvantages of the slotted motor are
motors use an inner rotor design. Another advantage higher cost because it requires more to compensate
of an inner rotor design is lower rotor inertia. for the large air gap.

B. Rotor
The rotor is made up of permanent magnet and the
number of poles is varying from 2 to 8 poles. The
material used for the rotor can be selected based on
the required field density in the rotor. Generally
ferrite magnets are used for the rotor. As the
technology advances the rare earth alloy magnets
Figure 2 are gaining popularity.

A. Stator The ferrite magnets are less expensive but they have
The BLDC motor stator is made out of laminated the disadvantage of low flux density for a given
steel stacked up to carry the windings. Windings in a volume. While the alloy earth material has high
stator can be arranged in two patterns; i.e. a star magnetic density per volume and make the rotor to
pattern (Y) or delta pattern (∆). The major difference compress further for the same torque.
between the two patterns is that the Y pattern gives
high torque at low RPM and the ∆ pattern gives low C. Hall Sensors
torque at low RPM. This is because in the ∆ The commutation of the BLDC motor is controlled
configuration, half of the voltage is applied across the electronically. To rotate the BLDC motor, winding
winding that is not driven, thus increasing losses and, should be energized in a sequence, so it is important
in turn, efficiency and torque. to know the rotor position in order to understand
which winding should be energized according to the
Steel laminations in the stator can be slotted or sequence.
slotless as shown in figure. A slotless core has lower
inductance, thus it can run at very high speeds. The rotor position is sensed which is mounted into
Because of the absence of teeth in the lamination the stator the rotor of the motor has alternate N and S
stack, requirements for the cogging torque also go permanent magnets. The hall sensor are mounted on
down, thus making them an ideal fit for low speeds the stationary part of the motor which is very
too (when permanent magnets on rotor and tooth on complicated process because any the stator
the stator align with each other then, because of the misalignment will generate an error in determination
interaction between the two, an undesirable cogging of the position of the rotor. To simplify the process
torque develops and causes ripples in speed). of mounting the Hall sensors onto the stator, some
motors may have the Hall sensor magnets on the
rotor, in addition to the main rotor magnets.

IV. SPEED TORQUE 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.

Figure: 3 In a BLDC motor, the torque remains constant for a

speed range up to the rated speed. The motor can be
The main disadvantage of a slotless core is higher run up to the maximum speed, which can be up to
cost because it requires more winding to compensate 150% of the rated speed, but the torque starts
for the larger air gap. dropping.

Applications that have frequent starts and stops and

frequent reversals of rotation with load the motor,
demand more torque than the rated torque. This
requirement comes for a brief period, especially when
the motor starts from a standstill and during
acceleration.

During this period, extra torque is required to

overcome the inertia of the load and the rotor itself.
Figure 4

National Conf. on Recent Innovations in Science Engineering & Technology(NCRISET), 16th Nov.-2014, Pune, India, ISBN: 978-93-84209-65-0
47
 Brushless Dc Motor

The motor can deliver a higher torque, maximum up The major advantage of the brushless motors is that,
to peak torque, as long as it follows the speed torque due to the fact that the rotor carries only the
curve. permanent magnets, it needs of NO power at all. No
connection needs to be done with the rotor, thus, no
brush-commutator pair needs to be made! This is how
the brushless motors took their name from. Moreover,
brushless motors are more silent and more efficient in
terms of power consumption.

VI. WORKING OF BLDC

The trick of operation in BLDC motors is the Hall

sensor that is attached to the stator. It faces the
magnets perpendicularly and can distinguish if the
North or South Pole is in front of it.

The following image shows this Hall senor

V. THEORY OF THE OPERATION

Each commutation sequence has one of the winding

energized to positive power the second winding is
negative and third is in non-energized condition. The
torque is produced because of the interaction between
the magnetic field generated by the stator coil the
permanent magnet (rotor). Ideally the maximum
torque occurs when these two fields are 90 degree to
each other and it falls off as the fields moves
together. In order to keep the motor running, the
magnetic field produced by the winding should shift Figure 6
the position, as the rotor moves to catch up with the
stator field. PC fans use BLDCs for their silent Better understanding of the operation of the hall
operation and reliability. The controller circuit for PC sensor is given below.
fans is so small, it can fir on the back side of the
motor!

The brushless motor, unlike the DC brushed motor,

has the permanent magnets glued on the rotor. It has
usually 4 magnets around the perimeter. The stator of
the motor is composed by the electromagnets, usually
4 of them, placed in a cross pattern with 90o angle
between them.

Figure 7

The Hall sensor is this little component under the

right electromagnet. When it senses the South pole, it
keeps the coils turned off. When the sensor senses no
magnetic field (or could be also the South pole), then
it turns on the coils. The coils have both the same
magnetic polarity which is North. So they pull the
opposite pole and torque is then created. If you put a
probe to the Hall sensor and watch the signal, then
you will discover that during a full rotation of the
rotor, the Hall sensor is two times HIGH and two
times LOW. The waveform on oscilloscope would be
Figure: 5 like this one:
National Conf. on Recent Innovations in Science Engineering & Technology(NCRISET), 16th Nov.-2014, Pune, India, ISBN: 978-93-84209-65-0
48
 Brushless Dc Motor

and deceleration rates are not dynamically changing.

In these types of applications, the load is directly
coupled to the motor shaft. For example, fans, pumps
and blowers come under these types of applications.
These applications demand low-cost controllers,
mostly operating in open-loop.

This very signal that is used to control the coils can B. Application with varying load
be used as is for measuring the speed of the motor! It These are the types of applications where the load on
can also be used to see if the motor is functional or the motor varies over a speed range. These
not! Actually, this signal is exactly the one that comes applications may demand high-speed control
out from the third wire from the PC fans that have 3 accuracy and good dynamic responses. In home
(or 4 wires)! appliances, washers, dryers and compressors are good
examples.
These fans do not have any extra circuitry to measure
the speed of the motor. They use the signal from the In automotive, fuel pump control, electronic steering
Hall sensor. Each revolution will generate 2 pulses. control, engine control and electric vehicle control are
With a simple frequency measuring circuitry, good examples of these. In aerospace, there are a
someone can measure precisely the rpm of the motor. number of applications, like centrifuges, pumps,
robotic arm controls, gyroscope controls and so on.
VII. ADVANTAGES OF THE BLDC
These applications may use speed feedback devices
 High dynamic response due to the small size, low and may run in semi-closed loop or in total closed
weight and high flux density loop. These applications use advanced control
algorithms, thus complicating the controller. Also,
 High efficiency due to the low rotor losses as a
this increases the price of the complete system
result of the absence of current carrying conductors
on the rotor and reduced friction and windings losses
in the rotor C. Heating and ventilation
There is a trend in the HVAC and refrigeration
 Long operating life and high reliability due to the industries to use BLDC motors instead of various
absence of brushes and metallic commutators. types of AC motors. The most significant reason to
switch to a BLDC motor is the dramatic reduction in
 High speed operation in excess of 80,000 rpm is power required to operate them versus a typical AC
possible, since these motors are electronically motor.
commutated and are not subjected to the limitations
of conventional commutations While shaded-pole and permanent split capacitor
 Low audible noise operation due to the absence motors once dominated as the fan motor of choice,
of brushes, commutators and smooth low air many fans are now run using a BLDC motor. Some
resistance rotor. fans use BLDC motors also in order to increase
overall system efficiency.
 Clean operation due to absences of brushes,
resulting in no brush dust during operation and In addition to the BLDC motor's higher efficiency,
allowing for clean room application. certain HVAC systems (especially those featuring
variable-speed and/or load modulation) use BLDC
VIII. APPLICATION motors because the built-in processor allows for
programmability, better control over airflow, and
BLDC motors find applications in every segment of serial communication.
the market. Automotive, appliance, industrial
controls, automation, aviation and so on, have CONCLUSION
applications for BLDC motors. Out of these, we can
categorize the type of BLDC motor control into two In conclusion, BLDC motors have advantages over
major types: brushed DC motors and induction motors. They have
Better speed versus torque characteristics, high
• Constant load dynamic response, high efficiency, long operating
• Varying loads life, Noiseless operation, higher speed ranges, rugged
construction and so on. Also, torque delivered to the
A. Application with constant load motor size is higher, making it useful in applications
These are the types of applications where a variable where space and weight are critical factors. With
speed is more important than keeping the accuracy of these advantages, BLDC motors find wide spread
the speed at a set speed. In addition, the acceleration applications in automotive, appliance, aerospace,

National Conf. on Recent Innovations in Science Engineering & Technology(NCRISET), 16th Nov.-2014, Pune, India, ISBN: 978-93-84209-65-0
49
 Brushless Dc Motor

consumer, medical, instrumentation and automation [3] M.V.Ramesh received the B.Tech degree in Electrical and
Electronics Engineering from Nagarjuna University in the
industries.
year 1998 and M.S (Electrical Engineering) from German
university in the year 2002. Since June 2003 working as an
REFERENCE Assistant Professor at P.V.P.S.I.T Engineering College,
Vijayawada. His research interests include Power
[1] 2003. AN885 - Brushless DC (BLDC) Motor Fundamentals. electronics and drives, Power system automation, Hybrid
Microchip Technology Inc. Vehicle Design and Reactive power compensation. He
published several papers at the national and international
[2] “AN10661, Brushless DC motor control using the LPC conferences
2141”, an application note from Philips Semiconductors.



National Conf. on Recent Innovations in Science Engineering & Technology(NCRISET), 16th Nov.-2014, Pune, India, ISBN: 978-93-84209-65-0
50