Permanent Magnet brush less DC Motor

Amit N Patel
Electrical Department
Institute of Technology
Nirma University.
Classification of PM Machines
Evolution of PMBLDC Motor
 PM vs. Electromagnetic excitation
• No electrical energy is absorbed by the field excitation system and
thus there are no excitation losses which means substantial increase
in the efficiency
• Higher torque/current and output /volume
• Better dynamic performance
• Higher magnetic flux density in the air gap
• Less maintenance
• PM Machines eliminate gear requirement
 PM Excitation
• The first PM excitation systems were applied to
electrical machines as early as the 19th century but the
use of very poor quality hard magnetic materials (steel
or tungsten steel) soon discouraged their use in favor of
electromagnetic excitation systems.
• The invention of Alnico in 1932 revived PM excitation
systems, however its applications was limited to small
dc commutator machines. At present time most PM dc
commutator motor s use ferrite magnets.
• As environmental concern increases worldwide, higher
drive efficiency is desirable. Thus, replacing induction
machines with Permanent Magnet (PM) machines has
recently gained great interest as the price of the PM
decreases. Indeed, PM machines have no rotor winding
resulting in lower copper losses, and therefore they
feature a higher efficiency than the induction Machines
 Operating Principle

The BLDC motor is based on a fundamental principle of magnetism.

Similar poles repel each other, while opposite poles attract each other .
PM excitation is used instead of electromagnetic excitation.
 Operating Principle
dT = RIdl x B
 dT is the differential torque developed at a radius R by a current I
flowing in a differential length of wire dl, exposed to a magnetic field
B, which emanates from a PM.

 If the magnetic field travels in the radial direction across an air gap,
current must travel in the axial direction. Alternately, if the magnetic field
travels in the axial direction across an air gap, current must flow in the
radial direction.
 Construction

• Stator structure is similar to that of

poly phase IM.
• Air gap flux is set by magnet and
little affected by armature current.
• This means the magnetic field
generated by the stator and the
magnetic field generated by the rotor
rotate at the same frequency. BLDC
motors do not experience the slip.
• As the name implies, BLDC motors
do not use brushes for commutation;
instead, they are electronically
commutated.
Construction
• It is possible to construct
brush less motor with any
number of rotor poles and
any number of stator phases.
• Motors have been
constructed with two to fifty
magnet poles.
• Economics dictates that
small number of magnet
poles to be used.
• This has concentrated
solenoid winding.
 Construction

• Stator phase A ,B and C

windings are uniformly
distributed
• They share same area of stator
• Area occupied by winding is
called slot and iron area
between winding is called
teeth
• Phase windings are energized
and deenergized in proper
sequence
Slotted Motor Structure
 Construction
Stator
Three stator windings are generally
connected in star fashion

 Each of this windings are constructed

from interconnected coils

 Each of these windings are

distributed over the stator periphery
to form an even numbers of poles

 There are two types of stator winding

variants: trapezoidal and sinusoidal

 This differentiation is made on basis

of interconnection of coils to give
different types of back emf
 Stator (contd.)
• As their names indicate, the trapezoidal motor gives a back EMF in
trapezoidal fashion and the sinusoidal motor’s back EMF is sinusoidal.
• The phase current also has trapezoidal and sinusoidal variations in the
respective types of motor.
• This makes the torque output by a sinusoidal motor smoother than that
of a trapezoidal motor. However, this comes with an extra cost, as the
sinusoidal motors take extra winding interconnections because of the
coils distribution on the stator periphery, thereby increasing the copper
intake by stator winding.
• Depending upon the control power supply capability, the motor with the
correct voltage rating of the stator can be chosen. Forty-eight volts, or
less voltage rated motors are used in automotive, robotics, small arm
movements and so on. Motors with 100 volts, or higher ratings, are used
in appliances, automation and in industrial applications.
 Stator (contd.)

TRAPEZOIDAL BACK EMF SINUSOIDAL BACK EMF

 Rotor
• The rotor is made of permanent magnet and can vary from two to
eight pole pairs with alternate North (N) and South (S) poles.
• Based on the required magnetic field density in the rotor, the
proper magnetic material is chosen to make the rotor.
• Ferrite magnets are traditionally used to make permanent
magnets. As the technology advances, rare earth alloy magnets are
gaining popularity.
• The ferrite magnets are less expensive but they have the
disadvantage of low flux density for a given volume. In contrast,
the alloy material has high magnetic density per volume and
enables the rotor to compress further for the same torque.
• Also, these alloy magnets improve the size-to-weight ratio and
give higher torque for the same size motor using ferrite magnets.
• Neodymium (Nd), Samarium Cobalt (SmCo) and the alloy of
Neodymium, Ferrite and Boron (NdFeB) are some examples of
rare earth alloy magnets.
• Continuous research is going on to improve the flux density to
compress the rotor further.
 Rotor(contd.)
Different arrangements of magnets in a rotor.
 Rotor (contd.)

 Magnets are mounted on the  Magnets are buried inside the

rotor rotor
 Large air-gap; Armature  Xd is less than Xq
reaction is negligible  Small air-gap
 No damping action Complex construction
Simple construction High speed
Low speed Better performance
Average performance
 Rotor(contd.)

Surface/Exterior Magnet Machine

 Rotor(contd.)

Interior Magnet Machine

 Working
 Each commutation sequence has one of the windings
energized to positive power (current enters into the
winding), the second winding is negative (current exits the
winding) and the third is in a non-energized condition.
 Torque is produced because of the interaction between the
magnetic field generated by the stator coils and the
permanent magnets. Ideally, the peak torque occurs when
these two fields are at 90° to each other and falls off as the
fields move together.
 In order to keep the motor running, the magnetic field
produced by the windings should shift position, as the rotor
moves to catch up with the stator field.
 This sequence of energizing the windings is known as “Six-
Step Commutation” .
Working(contd.)
Working (contd.)
Star connection of windings
Working (contd.)
Working (contd.)
 Advantages

• The most obvious advantage of removal of brushes and

commutator
• Brush maintenance is no longer required, and many problems
associated with brushes are eliminated
• Spark less operation
• Brush friction is eliminated
• Motor length is reduced
• Stiffness of rotor is improved. Higher speed is possible
• Longer active length to diameter ratio
• High torque to inertia ratio
• Response is fast
• Power density is more
• Efficient
• Compact
• Noiseless operation
• Long operating life
 Disadvantages

Brushless configuration comes with some below

mentioned disadvantages.

 Closed loop control is mandatory

 Shaft position sensing is mandatory
 Electronic controller is compulsory
 PM excitation is viable in small rating motors only
 Field weakening is difficult to achieve
 Extremely costly
 Applications
Brushless Direct Current (BLDC) motors are one of the
motor types rapidly gaining popularity.
BLDC motors are used in following areas of applications.

 Computer peripherals
 Automotive
 Aerospace
 Defense
 Medical
 Marine
 Instrumentation
 Electric vehicle
 Applications (contd.)

Spindle motor from a 3.5" Motorized Artificial Heart

floppy disk drive.
 Applications (contd.)

A micro remote-
controlled airplane.

This 5-gram motor

produces more
thrust than twice
the weight of the
entire plane.
 Selection of No of Phases
• Often assumed to have three phases as it provides
extremely good utilization of copper, iron, magnet
and insulation.
• For higher number of phase above figure may be
higher at the cost of increase in number of power
electronic switches and leads.
• Switching losses increases in line with number of
switches.
• Three phase motors have only three connecting
leads with no loss of control flexibility, excellent
starting characteristics with smooth rotation in
either direction and low torque ripple.
• Also three phase winding can be well adapted to
the development of the “sensor less” controllers.
 Selection of number of Poles
• Number of poles should be inversely
proportional to maximum speed in order to
limit commutation frequency and to reduce
iron losses.
• Generally 2 or 4 pole motors are used for
very high speed.
• Thickness of rotor back iron and stator yoke
reduce with higher number of poles.
• Cost of motor increases with number of
poles.
 Magnetic Circuit Analysis
Flux in PM motor is established by permanent magnets.
Torque is proportional to product of flux and current and
speed is proportional to back emf and inversely
proportional to flux. Flux is clearly important parameter
in design of PM motor.
Flux is intended to link coils of stator which are as close as
possible. Laminated stator core and rotor core are act as a
flux guide. High permeability of stator teeth drive flux
radially. Steel core absorbs very little MMF, most of
magnet MMF is used to drive flux through air gap.
Magnetic circuit design should ensure flux density below
certain level in steel.
 Magnetic Circuit Analysis

Magnetic equivalent circuit Motor cross section and flux pattern

 Magnetic Circuit Analysis (contd.)

• Only half of the equivalent circuit is shown.

• The lower half is the mirror-image of the upper half about the
horizontal axis, which is an equipotential.
• It is of course permissible to simplify the circuit in this way only if
the two halves are balanced.
• Steel core of the stator and the rotor shaft are assumed to be
infinitely permeable.
• Each magnet is represented by a 'Norton' equivalent circuit
consisting of a flux generator in parallel with an internal leakage
permeance.
 Magnetic Circuit Analysis (contd.)

Am pole area of the magnet

lm magnet length in the direction of magnetization
Br remanent flux-density.
µrec relative recoil permeability
l axial length of motor
r1 radius of stator bore
g air-gap length
 Magnetic Circuit Analysis (contd.)

Air-gap reluctance,

Equivalent air-gap length ,

Kc is Carter’s coefficient

Air-gap area ,

Rotor leakage permeance is difficult to estimate because flux paths are not
obvious. For accurate evaluation finite element method is used.
Generally rotor leakage permeance is 5-20 % of magnet internal permeance.

Pr1 is 0.05 to 0.2

 Magnetic Circuit Analysis (contd.)

• The air-gap flux-density on open-circuit is shown.

• Because of fringing, the distribution is not perfectly rectangular, and there are
circumferential as well as radial components of B at the edges of the magnets.
• Because of the slotting of the stator bore, there will in general be an
appreciable ripple superimposed on the calculated waveform. The detailed
analysis of all these effects requires a numerical method such as the finite-
element method.
• The analysis of multiple-pole motors is similar to that of the two-pole motor;
using natural equipotentials the magnetic equivalent circuit can be reduced to
the per-pole equivalent circuit.
 Magnetic Circuit Analysis of PM BLDC Motors

Figure gives Flux Density Plot of the designed 70 W, 350 rpm, 24 V

motor.

Flux density plot of the 70 W PM BLDC motor

 EMF Equation

Simple concept machine is shown.

Two pole magnet has pole arc of 180°.
Air-gap flux density waveform is ideally square.
Centre of north pole magnet is aligned with X axis. (θ = 0)
Stator has 12 slots and three phase winding.
There are two slots per pole per phase.
 EMF Equation (contd.)
 Each phase winding consists of two adjacent full pitched coils of N1 turn
each.
 Axis of two coils are displayed by 30°.
 θ represents movement of rotor from reference position.
 Flux linkage (Ψ) varies linearly.
 Maximum positive flux linkage occurs at 0°and maximum negative flux
linkage at 180°.

EMF induced in coil a1A1

Maximum flux linkage can be found by integrating flux density around air-gap.
 EMF Equation (contd.)
EMF induced in second coil of
phase A is identical but retarded by
30°.
Total phase voltage is sum of coil
voltages if coils are connected in
series.
Phase voltage is stepped.
Flat top of wave form is 150° ideally
but due to fringing practically it is
120°.

Phase emf,

Nph = 2 N1 is number of turns in

series per phase
 Torque Equation
Current pulses are 120° wide.

Instantaneous power,
P = ω Te = 2 Eph I

If winding is star connected then

at a time just two phases conduct.

Te = 2 Eph I/ ω
Te = 4 Nph Bg l r1 I N.m.

Resemblance:
E = kØω and Te = kØI
Where k= 4 Nph and Ø= ΠBg l r1
 Torque Equation (contd.)

Star Connection Delta Connection

 Torque – Speed Characteristic
V = E + IR
V = supply voltage , E= sum of two phase emfs in series
R = sum of two phase resistances in series I= phase current

No load speed,

Starting/Stall torque,

Starting/Stall current,
 Torque – Speed Characteristic (contd.)

 Characteristic is similar to that of

dc shunt motor.
 Speed is controlled by voltage control
 Speed drops as load increases
 Voltage is controlled by chopping or
PWM
 Continuous limit is determined by
heat transfer or by temperature rise
 Intermittent limit is determined by
maximum rating of switch and by
temperature rise
 Practically characteristic slightly
deviates due to effects of inductance and
parasitic effect
 Motor with 180° Magnet Arc and 120° Square Wave Current

 Rotor magnet poles are shaded to

distinguish north and south.
 Phase belts are shaded as complete 60°
sectors of stator bore.
 Two slots in each of phase belts.
 Currents in two slots are identical and
conductors in them are in series.
 Third ring is called MMF ring between
rotor ring and phase belt ring.
 MMF ring represents mmf distribution
of stator currents at particular instant.
 Star connected winding and two phases
conduct at a time.
 Two sectors of opposite polarity,
each 120° electrical separated by 60°
sectors with zero mmf.
 Motor with 180° Magnet Arc and 120° Square Wave Current (contd.)

 Phase A is conducting positive current and phase C is conducting

negative current. au and cl are closed.
 Positive torque is produced where mmf distribution and rotor flux
density distribution have like polarity.
 Negative torque is produced where mmf distribution and rotor flux
density distribution have unlike polarity.
 Where either one is zero no torque is produced.
Motor with 180° Magnet Arc and 120° Square Wave Current (contd.)
 Motor with 180° Magnet Arc and 120° Square Wave Current (contd.)
• Production of smooth, ripple-free torque depends on fact that the magnet
pole arc exceeds the m.m.f. arc by 60°. The magnet is therefore able to
rotate 60° with no change in the flux-density under either of the conducting
phasebelts. An inevitable result of this is that only 2/3 of the magnet and
2/3 of the stator conductors are active at any instant.
• In a practical motor the magnet flux-density distribution cannot be
perfectly rectangular. Even with highly coercive magnets and full 180°
magnet arcs, there is a transition section of the order of 10-20° in width.
• Likewise on the stator side, the m.m.f. distribution is not rectangular but
has a stepped waveform.
• To some extent these two effects cancel each other, so that satisfactory
results are achieved with a magnet arc as short as 150° and two slots per
pole per phase (i.e., two slots per phasebelt).
• But there is always a dip in the torque in the neighborhood of the
commutation angles. This torque dip occurs every 60 electrical degrees,
giving rise to a torque ripple component with a fundamental frequency
equal to 6p times the rotation frequency, where p is the number of pole-
pairs.
• The magnitude and width of the torque dip may be exaggerated further by
the time it takes to commutate the phase current from one phaseleg to
another; this transition depends on the phase inductance and the available
Motor with 120° Magnet Arc and 180° Square Wave Current (contd.)

 Stator mmf distribution is square

wave having 180° of +ve mmf and
180° of –ve mmf.

 MMF distribution must be

switched forward.

 Stator winding must be

connected in delta.

 Each phase current is 180°

square wave.
Motor with 120° Magnet Arc and 180° Square Wave Current (contd.)
 Comparison between 120° Magnet Arc and 180° Magnet Arc Motor

• In 120° magnet arc all stator conductors are excited at any instant,
but that only 2/3 of them are producing torque those that are
'covered' by a rotor pole.
• If the ampere-conductors per slot and the peak flux-density are kept
the same, 120° magnet arc motor has 1.5 times the copper losses,
but produces the same torque with only 2/3 the magnet material.
• Therefore 120° magnet arc motor is likely to be less efficient than
that of 180° magnet arc motor.
• Offsetting this disadvantage is the fact that for the same magnet flux
density, flux in 120° magnet arc motor is only 2/3 that in 180°
magnet arc motor so that only 2/3 of the stator yoke thickness is
required in case of 120° magnet arc motor .
• If the stator outside diameter is kept the same, the slots can be made
deeper so that the loss of ampere-conductors can be at least partially
recovered.
Control of Motor
Control of Motor (contd.)
 Control of Motor (contd.)
• The speed can be controlled in a closed loop by measuring the
actual speed of the motor.
• The error in the set speed and actual speed is calculated.
• A Proportional plus Integral plus Derivative (P.I.D.) controller
can be used to amplify the speed error and dynamically adjust
the PWM duty cycle.
• Average voltage applied across stator depends on duty cycle
of PWM.
• Speed can be adjusted by adjusting PWM duty cycle.
• For low-cost, low-resolution speed requirements, the Hall
signals can be used to measure the speed feedback.
• A timer from the PIC18FXX31 can be used to count between
two Hall transitions. With this count, the actual speed of the
motor can be calculated.
• For high-resolution speed measurements, an optical encoder can
be fitted onto the motor, which gives two signals with 90
degrees phase difference. Using these
• signals, both speed and direction of rotation can be determined.
• Optical encoders are available with different choices of Pulse
Per Revolution (PPR), ranging from hundreds to thousands.
Sensor less Control

 BLDC motors can be

commutated by monitoring
back EMF.

 Hall sensor signals change

state when back EMF
polarity changes from
+ve to -ve or from
-ve to +ve.
 It simplifies construction
and reduces cost.
Sensor less Control (contd.)
 Cogging Force

 Force is generated due to both reluctance and alignment components.

 Last term is alignment force and first two terms are reluctance
components.
 Reluctance force must be eliminated or at least minimized to obtain
ripple free force.
 Coil self inductance is almost constant so first term is zero.
 Second term is pertaining to cogging force.

 Φg is the air gap flux and R is the net reluctance seen by the Flux.
 Cogging force is generated due to variation in reluctance.
 Cogging torque is perhaps the most annoying parasitic element in
PM motor design because it represents an undesired motor output.
 Cogging Force

 Cogging force is due to interaction between rotor magnet and stator

slots.
Cogging force is eliminated if either Φg is zero or the variation in
the air gap reluctance as a function of position is zero.
 Of these two, setting Φg to zero is not possible since Φg must be
maximized to produce the desired motor alignment force.
 Thus cogging force can only be eliminated by making the air gap
reluctance constant with respect to position.
 Comparison : BLDC MOTOR and BRUSHED DC MOTOR

Feature BLDC Motor Brushed DC Motor

Commutation Electronic Brushed

Maintenance Less Frequent

Life Longer Shorter

N/T Characteristic Flat Moderately Flat

Efficiency High Moderate

Rating/size High Moderate/Low

 Comparison : BLDC MOTOR and INDUCTION MOTOR

Feature BLDC Motor INDUCTION Motor

N/T Characteristic Flat Nonlinear

Rotor Inertia Low High

Rating/size High Moderate/Low

Initial Cost High Low

Speed Range High Low