Introduction BLDC Motor Control

1
 Agenda

 Motor Types Overview

 BLDC Motor Applications

 Comparison of DC to Brushless DC Motors

 Hall Sensors

 Six-Step Commutation

 Sensorless Commutation with Back-EMF

 Vector Motor Control basics

 Closed-Loop Speed Control

 Introduction to BLDC Motor Control Evaluation Kit

 Summary

2
 Motor Types

3
 Expanding BLDC Motor Control Applications

Transition to

AC, DC As consumers demand BLDC

and more energy efficient
Universal products, more BLDC
Motors motors are being used.

4
 Brushed DC Motors Review
 A winding assembly (armature) within a
stationary magnetic field
 Brushes and Commutators switch current
to different windings in correct relation to
the outer permanent magnet field.
 Pros:
 Electronic control is simple, no need to
commutate in controller
 Requires only four power transistors
 Cons:
 A sensor is required for speed control
 The brushes and commutator create sparks
and wear out
 Sparks limit peak power
 Heat in armature is difficult to remove
 Low power density

6
 Brushless DC Motors

 Permanent magnet rotor within

stationary windings
Pros: Stator
 No brushes or commutator to wear out windings
 No sparks and no extra friction
 More efficient than DC motor
 Higher speed than DC motor
Permanent
 Higher power density than DC motor Magnet
Cons:
 Rotor sensor OR sensorless methods Rotor
needed to commutate
 Requires six power transistors

7
8
 Brushed DC Commutation

 The windings in the armature

are switched to the DC power
by the brushes and armature
 Each winding sees a positive
voltage, then a disconnect, +
then a negative voltage
 The field produced in the
U
armature interacts with the
stationary magnet, producing
torque and rotation
N S

- -
9
 DC Motor Bridge
 The DC motor needs four
transistors to operate the DC 1 0
motor
 The combination of transistor
is called an H-Bridge, due to 0 1
the obvious shape
 Transistors are switched
diagonally to allow DC current
to flow in the motor in either
direction
 The transistors can be Pulse
Width Modulated to reduce the 0 1
average voltage at the motor,
useful for controlling current
and speed
0

10
 Three-Phase Bridge to Drive BLDC Motor

 The Brushless DC motor is really a DC motor constructed

inside-out, but without the Brushes and Commutators
 The mechanical switches are replaced with transistors
 The windings are moved from the armature, to the stator
 The magnet is moved from the outside to become the rotor

U N S
V
N S W

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 Six-step Commutation
STEP1 STEP2 STEP3 STEP4 STEP5 STEP6 STEP1 STEP2 STEP3

U
V
W

12
 Six-Step Current Waveform

 Here we see the individual steps in a real trapezoidal

current waveform
 The PWM ripple is visible when the phase is active

 The rising and falling edges are sloped, giving the

trapezoidal shape
 The amount of slope is a function of the winding inductance

13
 Hall Sensors

Hall Sensors detect magnetic fields, and

can be used to sense rotor angle

The output is a digital 1 or 0 for each

sensor, depending on the magnetic field
nearby

Each is mounted 120-degrees apart on

the back of the motor

As the rotor turns, the Hall sensors H1 H2

output logic bits which indicate the angle N

H1
S
H2

H3
H3

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 Hall Sensor Commutation

STEP1 STEP2 STEP3 STEP4 STEP5 STEP6 STEP1 STEP2 STEP3

H1

The combination of all

H2
three sensors produce
six unique logic H3

combinations or steps
U
These three bits are
decoded into the motor
phase combinations V

15
 3-Phase PWM

We can divide up the V

phase data into
individual transistor W
gate signals

Now we can see how UP

we can modulate one
transistor at a time to UN

regulate the motor VP

voltage, and also the
VN
speed
WP

WN

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 Sensorless Commutation

 Instead of using sensors like Halls, we can let the motor tell
us which phase should be energized

 The Brushless DC motor acts as a generator when it rotates,

creating voltages

 The three phases produce three voltages 120-degrees apart

 The voltage generated by the motor is called Back Electro-

Motive Force, a.k.a. Back-EMF or just BEMF

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 Brushless DC Motor BEMF
 The Back-EMF is the voltage generated in stator windings as the
rotor moves
 BEMF voltages are more or less sinusoidal (depending on the
motor) and are symmetrical from phase to phase
 We detect the zero crossings of each phase to commutate
 The motor MUST be moving to generate BEMF voltages

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 Startup of BEMF System

 Since only a spinning motor generates BEMF signals

 Start the motor in open loop

 First align rotor to a known angle
 Then energize the windings to step rotor to next
step

 Accelerate steps until speed is sufficient to “see”

BEMF zero crossings reliably

 Switch to BEMF commutation

 Once operating, this is almost identical to six-step

operation with Hall sensors

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 Sinusoidal Methods

 Stepped commutation methods work well, but…

 The Back-EMF waveform is more sinusoidal than trapezoidal
 If we can match the sinusoidal waveform, we can improve
performance
 We will show two sinusoidal methods:
 180-Degree Sinusoidal
 “Field Oriented” or “Vector” control

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 180° Sinusoidal Commutation
 Modulates sine waves in all three windings
 Pros:
 No square edges
 Lower Torque Ripple then six-step drive
 Lower audible noise
 Higher efficiency and torque
 Stator angle is rotated smoothly rather
than in 60 degree jumps
 Each phase is utilized all of the time
 Cons:
 Needs higher resolution feedback to
calculate sine waves with low distortion
 Needs more sophisticated processing to
calculate sine PWM values on the fly
 Bandwidth of currents are limited due to
motor impedance, this hurts high speed
performance

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 Vector (Field Oriented Control) Drive

 This method mathematically converts the 3-phase voltage

and current into a simple DC motor representation
 Uses this data to calculate the best angle for commutation
 Creates new 3-phase sinusoidal PWM based on calculation
 Repeats the calculations at PWM frequency
 Pros:
 Highest Torque efficiency
 Highest Bandwidth DC Bus

 Widest Speed Range 

* *
r r iq Uq
*
*
PWM1~6
Speed Regulator
iq PI U
Regulator d,q ,  Voltage
iq to SIN
 Source
 Lowest Audible Noise
to
r *
id 0 Ud
* ,  U
*
PWM
id PI a, b, c 3-phase
T  1 ( )
Regulator Inverter
id
 Cons:
Motor Model

 Complicated Algorithm Based Flux and
Position Observer

 Needs powerful processor iq

, 
ia
a,b,c
to i ib
id d,q i to
T ( ) , 

r 
Speed Estimation 3-phase
PMSM

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 BLDC Motor Speed Control
 The goal of most Electronic Motor Control Systems is Speed
Control
 Speed Control systems are more or less complicated,
depending on accuracy required
 The simplest speed control is Open-Loop, that is, without
speed feedback
 In this configuration, a speed command is converted to a
fixed voltage (PWM duty) which is sent to the motor
 The motor may go the right speed, or it may not, it depends
on the load
 Without feedback, there is no way to tell internally what the
real speed is and so may require outside adjustment

Speed Pulse Width

Transistors Motor Load
Command Modulator

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 Closed-Loop Control

 To get automatic speed control, feedback is needed

 Feedback systems could be Hall Sensors, Encoders,
Resolvers, tachometers or other devices
 The resolution and bandwidth of the feedback sensor limit
the resolution and bandwidth of the speed loop
 Below is a block diagram of a simple control loop
 Our Reference Command is the speed we desire, and the
Control Mechanism is our motor and motor control

Feedback

-
Reference Control Sensor
Command + Mechanism

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 Closed Loop Speed Control
 The generic terms can be replaced with terms common to
motor control
 The speed is often referred to as the Greek Letter Omega
and motor angle is Theta θ
 The Reference input is shown as Omega star *
 The Control Mechanism is a mathematical function, usually
a Proportional-Integral (PI) algorithm
 The speed sensors can be the same Hall sensors used for
commutation, where the speed is calculated from the time
between steps Motor

PI PWM
ω* Controller Generation

ω θ Hall
Sensors

Speed
Calculation

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 Closed Loop Speed Control
 The way the loop works is to first measure the difference
between the commanded speed and the actual speed
 If the speed is to low, the PI controller increases the PWM
duty which sends more voltage to the motor, correcting
speed
 If the speed to too high, the PI controller reduces the PWM,
reducing the average voltage, so the motor slows down to
the correct speed
 The Proportional and Integral parameters have to be tuned
to optimized the speed loop response-prevent speed Motor
oscillations
PI PWM
ω* Controller Generation

ω θ Hall
Sensors

Speed
Calculation

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 Motor Kit for Trapezoidal Control

 BLDC Motor, Board, Software, Schematics, Tool and GUI

R8C/25

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 Motor Control Evaluation Kit

 In order to help users decide on what kind of motor control

they need, Renesas has introduced the YMCRPR8C25 Motor
Control Evaluation Kit
 The kit includes all that is needed to try Hall and BEMF
commutated Brushless DC motor control with closed speed
loops including, the control board, motor, debugger, power
supply and software

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 YMCRPR8C25 Block Diagram

R8C25 MCRP Kit

V
CN-4
B
Power Supply U TP-1
24v DC & S
Supply Conditioning
TP-5
BLDC
Motor
CN-1
Speed International
Control R8C/25
MCU
6-PWM
Rectifier
(IPM)
M
Shutdown
RS232
I/F
Comparators
( Back-EMF)

E8 TP-2
Debug OP-AMP
I/F (Signal Conditioning)
Jumper-1
TP-3 CN-2
TP-4
4-LED
Hall Sensor
PWM / PWR
Inputs
Status
Shunt
LCD Segment Current
Display
CN-3 Push-Button
Switch

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 Motor Control Board

 IGBT module capable of 10

amps.
 3-Phase output capable of
running DC and BLDC
motors
 15V and 5V regulators on
board.
 Voltage input from a single
24V (18-36VDC) supply, no
shock hazard.

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 Board User Interface

 Large potentiometer
for speed control
setting
 2x8 LCD display with
contrast pot for
monitoring speed,
current, etc.
 Four push-buttons
 Bus voltage monitoring
to MCU
 Current monitoring to
the module for
automatic protection

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 Commutation Options

 Back-EMF detection
comparators
 Jumper selection (no
soldering) between
Hall and BEMF
modes
 Input connector for
Hall signals from
motor

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 Debugging Capabilities

 Optically Isolated RS-

232 communication
 Optically Isolated
E8(a) connector
 Prototyping areas
(under LCD)
 LED’s for monitoring
PWM lines, and GPIO
 Abundant test points

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 Motor Control Graphical User Interface

Speed Slider
Target Speed Actual Speed

Stop

Motor
Current

System
Status
34
 HEW Development Environment
Project Navigator

Source Code Editor

Output Window

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 Summary

 DC and BLDC motors were compared

 BLDC motors were shown to offer better performance
 A large number of applications are moving from other motor
types to BLDC motors
 Electronic BLDC motor control can be as simple as six-step
or as complicated as Vector Control
 Closed Loop Speed Control was explained
 The Renesas BLDC Motor Control Evaluation Kit was
introduced as a way to help get started in BLDC motor
control development

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