A project on

Modelling and Simulation of Closed Loop BLDC Motor Control

Submitted in the partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Bachelor in Technology Degree in Electrical Engineering

Under

Prof. Madhusudan Singh

By Anurag Arya (2K11/EE/016) Anurag Mittal (2K11/EE/017) Avinash Kumar (2K11/EE/025) Bhotik Singh (2k11/EE/030)

i | Closed Loop Control of BLDC Motor

Certificate
This is to certify that the following is the bona fide work of Anurag Arya (2K11/EE/016) , Anurag Mittal (2K11/EE/017), Avinash Kumar (2K11/EE/025) and Bhotik Singh (2K11/EE/030) in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree in Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering. They have worked under my supervision on the project titled Modelling and Simulation of Closed Loop BLDC Motor Control during the Odd Semester 2013-14.

Dr. Madhusudan Singh

Professor and Head Department of Electrical Engineering Delhi Technological University

ii | Closed Loop Control of BLDC Motor

Acknowledgements

We are highly grateful to our mentor Dr. Madhusudan Singh for his guidance and support. Special thanks to our seniors Bharat Garg and Rohit Gupta for advising us in times of difficulties throughout the project.

ii | Closed Loop Control of BLDC Motor

Abstract

Brushless Direct Current Motors or BLDC Motors are currently growing in popularity owing to the advent of power electronic switching circuits and further improvements in sensing technologies. As such, now, a lot of fields employ this machine for varied purposes primary among them being motion control, positioning and actuation systems. The industrial engineering industry is shifting to BLDC use due to its high power density, good speed torque characteristics, high efficiency and wide-speed ranges. Also being brushless, they require lesser maintenance than their brushed counterparts. The following report presents the Modelling and Simulation of Closed Loop BLDC Motor Control along with its construction, mechanism of working, applications and advantages. Basically, control of BLDC motor consists of supplying the gating pulses for the inverter bridge configuration in order to excite the phases in a particular sequence. Hall sensor input is fed back to the control circuit which then determines which phase to excite next in order to move the motor in a particular direction. This control can then be applied in a closed loop scheme, where a reference input can be used to adjust the output of the control circuit to get the desired gating pulses. This reference input is usually taken as the speed for fixed speed operation or to provide variable speed operation to the user independent of the load. For this, the speed is also taken as an output from the motor normally by using a shaft encoder. It is then fed to the control circuitry after suitable conversion. The aim of our minor project is to create such a closed loop control for the brushless DC motor which will provide constant speed operation independent of the shaft torque.

iii | Closed Loop Control of BLDC Motor

Table of Contents
Chapter Title Page Number

Title Page..i Abstract....ii Table of Contents........iii List of Figures.iv List of Tablesv List of Abbreviations...vi Chapter1Introduction.1 1.1 BLDC Motor Construction.1 1.2 BLDC Motor Operation and Characteristics..2 1.3 Comparison of BLDC motor and Brushed Motor..4 1.4 Comparison of BLDC and PMSM.4 Chapter 2 Control Schemes....6 2.1 Types of Control.....6 2.2 Open Loop Control.....6 2.3 Closed Loop Control..6 Chapter 3 Modelling in SIMULINK.9 3.1 Machine Specifications..9 3.2 MATLAB model....9 3.3 Generation of Error Signal.......10 3.4 Generation of Pulses.....11 3.5 Results of Manual Tuning12 Chapter 4 Hardware Implementation...17 4.1 Suggested Hardware Model.17 4.2 Bipolar power Supply...18 Chapter 5 Conclusion...20
iv | Closed Loop Control of BLDC Motor

5.1 Conclusion20 References.21

v | Closed Loop Control of BLDC Motor

List of Figures
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. Constructional view of a BLDC Motor..1 Waveforms in two phase ON operation and the torque ripple2 Hall sensor waveforms and corresponding phase voltage waveforms...3 Control strategy 1 : Speed feedback...6 Control strategy 2 : No speed/ current feedback.7 Control strategy 3 : Speed and current feedback7 Comparison of torque outputs for sinusoidal and trapezoidal BEMFs...8 Simulink Model of the system..10 Generation of the error signal...11 Generation of pulses for excitation of gates.11 Current regulator for generation of pulses12 Circuit showing connection between inverter and machine.12 Wr vs. Wref for no load13 Fluctuations in speed at steady state conditions...13 Current waveform of calculated current I*abc.13 Current waveform of output at motor...13 Waveform of torque vs. reference torque.14 Wr vs. Wref for 2.5 N-m...14 Fluctuations in speed at steady state conditions for 2.5 N-m...14 Waveforms for I*abc for 2.5 N-m15 Waveforms for I abc for 2.5 N-m.15 Torque vs. reference torque for 2.5 N-m..15 Wr vs. Wref for 5 N-m..................................15 Fluctuations in speed at steady state conditions for 5 N-m..16 I*abc waveforms for 5 N-m..16 I abc waveforms for 5 N-m...16 Torque vs. reference torque for 5 N-m.16 Wr vs. Wref for 6.5 N-m load...17 Selected set of values from the iterations.17 Circuit diagram for bipolar power supply.18 Circuit implementation of the bipolar power supply19

vi | Closed Loop Control of BLDC Motor

List of Tables 1. 2. 3. 4.
Comparison between brushed DC and brushless DC motors4 Comparison between BLDC and PMSM...5 Machine specifications for the model used9 Table of excitation sequence....12

vii | Closed Loop Control of BLDC Motor

List of Abbreviations

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

BLDC Brushless Direct Current PMSM Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor BEMF Back EMF PI Proportional Integral PID Proportional Integral and Derivative

viii | Closed Loop Control of BLDC Motor

Chapter 1 Introduction
Conventional dc motors are highly efficient and their characteristics make them suitable for use as servomotors. However, their only drawback is that they need a commutator and brushes which are subject to wear and require maintenance. When the functions of commutator and brushes were implemented by solid-state switches, maintenance-free motors were realised. These motors are now known as brushless dc motors.

1.1 BLDC Motor Construction

The construction of modern brushless motors is very similar to the ac motor, known as the permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM). Fig.1 illustrates the structure of a typical brushless dc motor. The stator windings are similar to those in a polyphase ac motor, and the rotor is composed of one or more permanent magnets. Brushless dc motors are different from ac synchronous motors in that the former incorporates some means to detect the rotor position (or magnetic poles) to produce signals to control the electronic switches. The most common position/pole sensor is the Hall element, but some motors use optical sensors.

Figure 1: Constructional view of a BLDC Motor [1]

2| Closed Loop Control of BLDC motor

1| Closed Loop Control of BLDC motor

1.2 BLDC Motor Operation and Characteristics

The biggest advantage that a BLDC motor has over conventional brushed DC motors is that it requires electronic commutation. This is achieved with the help of input from the motor in the form of hall sensor output and electronic control circuitry that controls the firing pulses for the inverter configuration. The principle of the BLDC motor is, at all times, to energize the phase pair, which can produce the highest torque. To optimize this effect the back EMF shape is trapezoidal. The combination of a DC current with a trapezoidal back EMF makes it theoretically possible to produce a constant torque. In practice, the current cannot be established instantaneously in a motor phase; as a consequence the torque ripple is present at each 60 phase commutation.

Figure 2: Waveforms in two phase ON operation and the torque ripple [2]

The key to effective torque and speed control of a BLDC motor is based on relatively simple torque and back EMF equations, which are similar to those of the DC motor. The back EMF magnitude can be written as [3]: E = 2NIRBw and the torque term as: T = i2 Where, N = number of winding turns per phase, l = length of the rotor, r = internal radius of the rotor, B = rotor magnet flux density, w = motors angular velocity, 2| Closed Loop Control of BLDC motor - B2 + Brli

i = phase current, L = phase inductance, = rotor position, R = phase resistance.

The first two terms in the torque expression are parasitic reluctance torque components. The third term produces mutual torque, which is the torque production mechanism used in the case of BLDC motors. To sum up, the back EMF is directly proportional to the motor speed and the torque production is almost directly proportional to the phase current. The BLDC motor is characterized by a two phase ON operation to control the inverter. In this control scheme, torque production follows the principle that current should flow in only two of the three phases at a time and that there should be no torque production in the region of the back EMF zero crossings.[4] The easiest way to know the correct moment to commutate the winding currents is by means of a position sensor. Many BLDC motor manufacturers supply motors with a three-element Hall Effect position sensor. Each sensor element outputs a digital high level for 180 electrical degrees of electrical rotation, and a low level for the other 180 electrical degrees. The three sensors are offset from each other by 60 electrical degrees so that each sensor output is in alignment with one of the electromagnetic circuits.

Figure 3: Hall sensor waveforms and corresponding phase voltage waveforms

Another precaution against both drivers being active at the same time is called dead time control. When an output transitions from the high drive state to the low drive state, the proper amount of time 3| Closed Loop Control of BLDC motor

for the high side driver to turn off must be allowed to elapse before the low side driver is activated. Drivers take more time to turn off than to turn on, so extra time must be allowed to elapse so that both drivers are not conducting at the same time. The high drive period and low drive period of each output is separated by a floating drive phase period. This dead time is inherent to the three phase BLDC drive scenario, so special timing for dead time control is not necessary. The BLDC commutation sequence will never switch the high-side device and the low-side device in a phase, at the same time.

1.3 Comparison of BLDC Motor and Conventional DC motors

Although it is said that brushless dc motors and conventional dc motors are similar in their static characteristics, they actually have remarkable differences in some aspects. When we compare both motors in terms of present-day technology, a discussion of their differences rather than their similarities can be more helpful in understanding their proper applications. When we discuss the functions of electrical motors, we should not forget the significance of windings and commutation. Commutation refers to the process which converts the input direct current to alternating current and properly distributes it to each winding in the armature. In a conventional dc motor, commutation is undertaken by brushes and commutator; in contrast, in a brushless dc motor it is done by using semiconductor devices such as power transistors, thyristors, power MOSFETs etc. A tabulated study is shown between the distinctive properties of both the motors below.

S No. 1. 2. 3.

Property Mechanical Structure Distinctive feature Commutation method

4.

Detecting method of rotor position

Conventional Motors Field magnets/ windings on stator Quick response and excellent controllability Mechanical contact between brushes and commutator Automatically detected by brushes

BLDC Motors Field magnets on the rotor. Long lasting and easy maintenance Electronic switching using transistors Hall element, encoder optical

Table 1 : Comparison between brushed DC and brushless DC motors

1.4 Comparison of BLDC and PMSM motors

Both BLDC and PMSM motors have permanent magnets on the rotor, but differ in the flux distributions and back-EMF profiles. While one is excited by DC supply (BLDC) the other is supplied through a three phase AC supply.

4| Closed Loop Control of BLDC motor

S.No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

BLDC Synchronous Machine Fed with direct currents Trapezoidal Back EMF Stator Flux position commutation each 60 Only two phases ON at the same time Torque ripple at commutations Low order current harmonics in the audible range Higher core losses due to harmonic content Less switching losses

PMSM Synchronous Machine Fed with sinusoidal currents Sinusoidal Back EMF Continuous stator flux position variation Possible to have three phases ON at the same time No torque ripple at commutations Less harmonics due to sinusoidal excitation Lower core loss Higher switching losses at the same switching frequency

Table 2 : Comparison between BLDC and PMSM[5]

Thus, from the above comparison it can be seen that even though both PMSM and BLDC are similar in construction the use depends on the kind of control strategy employed and the power source used to drive the motor.

5| Closed Loop Control of BLDC motor

Chapter 2 Control Schemes 2.1 Types of Control

Control of BLDC Motor can be carried out both in : i. ii. Open Loop control Closed Loop control

2.2 Open Loop Control

Open loop control of BLDC motor does not require any speed comparison for negative feedback. The hall sensor input is fed to the PWM control unit which decides the sequence of pulses based on the output of the hall sensor.

2.3 Closed Loop Control

Closed Loop control of BLDC can be done by any one of the following standard methodologies: 1.

Figure 4: Control strategy 1 : Speed feedback [4]

In the above model, speed is computed from the VI measurement at the terminals of the BLDC motor. The hall sensor output is used for synchronization and PWM control, while the speed that is calculated from the BLDC motor is fed back as negative feedback for calculating the error in the desired speed. The error is fed back to the PI controller which is again used in PWM generation. The above mentioned control system is advantageous as VI measurement is easy at the terminals of the output. 2.

6| Closed Loop Control of BLDC motor

Figure 5 : Control strategy 2 : No speed/ current feedback[4]

The second type of control strategy as described in the above block diagram employs a current control loop configuration. In this only a reference current is fed to the PID controller. VI measurement is again done at the terminals of the BLDC motor. The current is used to generate the gate pulses for the inverter by comparing it to the terminal output.

3.

Figure 6 : Control strategy 3 : Speed and current feedback [4] This method of BLDC motor closed loop speed control has similar feedback as seen in the first scheme. However, the feedback is fed at different points of the control path. The speed is first compared to the reference speed. The error is passed through a PI controller and reference current is calculated. The current is then compared to the current at the terminal of the output and this is again fed through a PID controller for further tuning. By far the most complex strategy, the scheme requires two stages of tuning and more circuitry. The output of the PID controller is then fed to the PWM control unit which generates the logic pulses for the PWM control.

The BLDC motor is characterized by a two phase ON operation to control the inverter. In this control scheme, torque production follows the principle that current should flow in only two of the three phases at a time and that there should be no torque production in the region of the back EMF zero crossings. This control structure has several advantages: Only one current at a time needs to be controlled Only one current sensor is necessary (or none for speed loop only) 7| Closed Loop Control of BLDC motor

The principle of the BLDC motor is, at all times, to energize the phase pair, which can produce the highest torque. To optimize this effect the back EMF shape is trapezoidal. The combination of a DC current with a trapezoidal back EMF makes it theoretically possible to produce a constant torque. In practice, the current cannot be established instantaneously in a motor phase; as a consequence the torque ripple is present at each 60 phase commutation.[7]

If the motor used has a sinusoidal back EMF shape, this control can be applied but the produced torque is not constant but made up from portions of a sine wave. This is due to its being the combination of a trapezoidal current control strategy and of a sinusoidal back EMF. But a sinusoidal back EMF shape motor controlled with a sine wave strategy (three phase ON) produces a constant torque. Also, the torque value produced is weaker. Comparison of Torques produced due to sinusoidal and trapezoidal back EMFs is shown below.

Figure 7 : Comparison of torque outputs for sinusoidal and trapezoidal BEMFs

8| Closed Loop Control of BLDC motor

Chapter 3 Modelling in SIMULINK 3.1 Machine Specifications:

Machine Type Voltage Maximum Torque Rated Speed Number of poles Stator resistance per phase BLDC 48 V 17.8 N-m 500 rpm 4 0.1 ohm

Table 3 : Machine specifications for the model used

3.2 SIMULINK Model

The modelling of the closed loop BLDC motor control is done using Simulink. Following figure shows the entire model as developed on Simulink using machine specifications as specified above:

Figure 8: Simulink Model of the system

9| Closed Loop Control of BLDC motor

The Simulink model can be divided into two parts above, one the driving circuitry which comprises of the error detection from speed, the Discrete PI controller and the pulse generator. The other part is the inverter and the BLDC motor.

It is seen from the Simulink model that the following variables /parameters are taken as output (or sensed) from the machine: Hall sensor output Phase currents Speed Torque

Thus, any or all of these parameters shall be employed in the feedback for control scheme to be used in the system. All outputs are used somewhere or the other as inputs to eliminate errors in the running scheme of the machine.

3.3 Generation of Error Signal

With the speed as feedback parameter, it is passed through a low pass filter (discrete) and then subtracted from reference speed to get error value as shown in the given block:

Figure 9: Generation of the error signal

The error signal is fed to a PI controller which is to be tuned to generate appropriate closed loop response. The output of the PI controller is fed to a system block that generates the pulses required to switch ON the gate signals of the three phase inverter bridge.

3.4 Generation of Pulses

The signal from the Discrete PI Controller is fed through a multiplier that calculates the value of current from the value of torque using the given input and set relation between current and torque. The hall input is then used to find the next state of excitation. This is done by passing it through a suitable logic circuitry designed for this specific use. The pulses are then multiplied to the calculated value of current. This gives the value of current in pulsed form. Finally, this output is compared to current at the terminals of the motor. The logic is explained with the help of diagrams below.

10 | C l o s e d L o o p C o n t r o l o f B L D C m o t o r

Figure 10: Generation of pulses for excitation of gates

For generation of pulses, the Te* input from the PI controller is used to compute the current Iabc* which is multiplied to the output of the hall sensors. The hall sensor output is passed through a logic circuit to correspond to a specific switching sequence. The truth table is given below: Ha 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 Hb 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 Hc 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 Emf_a 0 0 -1 -1 +1 +1 0 0 Emf_b 0 -1 +1 0 0 -1 +1 0 Emf_c 0 +1 0 +1 -1 0 -1 0

Table 4: Table of excitation sequence

The Iabc output is then used as a feedback and compared with the calculated values of Iabc* which is then passed through a current regulator, which converts the difference between the calculated and measured currents to give pulsed output.

Figure 11: Current regulator for generation of pulses 11 | C l o s e d L o o p C o n t r o l o f B L D C m o t o r

The pulses are then fed to the three phase inverter to drive the gates of the MOSFETs.

Figure 12: Circuit showing connection between inverter and machine

3.5 Results of Manual Tuning

The above model has been manually tuned with the following results: 1. For No- load at Kp = 2.7 and Ki = 100

Figure 13: Wr vs. Wref for no load

Figure 14: Fluctuations in speed at steady state conditions

12 | C l o s e d L o o p C o n t r o l o f B L D C m o t o r

Figure 15: Current waveform of calculated current I*abc

Figure 16: Current waveform of output at motor

Figure 17: Waveform of torque vs. reference torque

2. For a load of 2.5 N-m the outputs are as shown below :

Figure 18: Wr vs. Wref for 2.5 N-m

13 | C l o s e d L o o p C o n t r o l o f B L D C m o t o r

Figure 19: Fluctuations in speed at steady state conditions for 2.5 N-m

Figure 20: Waveforms for I*abc for 2.5 N-m

Figure 21: Waveforms for I abc for 2.5 N-m

Figure 22: Torque vs. reference torque for 2.5 N-m

3. For a load of 5 N-m, the outputs are as shown below 14 | C l o s e d L o o p C o n t r o l o f B L D C m o t o r

Figure 23: Wr vs. Wref for 5 N-m

Figure 24: Fluctuations in speed at steady state conditions for 5 N-m

Figure 25 : I*abc waveforms for 5 N-m

Figure 26: I abc waveforms for 5 N-m

15 | C l o s e d L o o p C o n t r o l o f B L D C m o t o r

Figure 27: Torque vs. reference torque for 5 N-m 4. For a load of 6.5 N-m, an over damped response is obtained

Figure 28: Wr vs. Wref for 6.5 N-m load

Thus, no response is obtained for a torque of 6.5 N-m and above. However , if the output limits in the PI controller are increased then a suitable response may be obtained

Figure 29: Selected set of values from the iterations A certain set of values have been taken from the tabulated results obtained during the process of tuning. It is seen here that in the highlighted value, for 5 N-m the values of system response i.e. rise time, peak time, peak overshoot and steady state error are obtained and well within reasonable limits. Further improvements can be done by online tuning once the hardware is set up.

16 | C l o s e d L o o p C o n t r o l o f B L D C m o t o r

Chapter 4 Hardware Implementation

4.1 Suggested Hardware Model

The hardware implementation to the above can be done using the following method: The hall sensor inputs that are taken as feedback from the motor are fed back to the brushless motor controller from Texas Instruments, UC2625. This IC is used to generate the requisite response to the hall sensor output and this output is fed to the MOSFET driver also from Texas Instruments. This MOSFET driver is to be connected to the three phase inverter circuit that is to be fed from the rectified AC mains power supply. Thus, in total, the following hardware has to be developed : 1. 2. 3. 4. Circuit for UC2625 and pin connections for hall input and MOSFET driver output. Connection of MOSFET driver output to three phase inverter Single phase rectifier to convert AC mains to rectified supply DC-DC step down converter to convert rectified output of rectifier to the range of input voltage of motor i.e. around 48 V. 5. Three-phase inverter to convert DC supply to AC. 6. Current sensing circuit to sense phase current at the terminal of BLDC motor. 7. Shaft encoder circuit to capture speed of motor at the shaft.

4.2 Bipolar Power Supply

For the current sensing circuitry, the team is using a TELCON HTP25 current sensor. This requires a bipolar supply of + 15 V. We have tested the circuit of the bipolar power supply for the same. The circuit diagram and the circuit are as shown below:

Figure 30: Circuit diagram for bipolar power supply

17 | C l o s e d L o o p C o n t r o l o f B L D C m o t o r

The circuit execution for the same is as shown below:

Figure 31: Circuit implementation of the bipolar power supply

We shall now begin work on the implementation of the circuitry of the UC2625 and the rectifier circuit.

18 | C l o s e d L o o p C o n t r o l o f B L D C m o t o r

Chapter 5 Conclusion 5.1 Conclusion

The above results show that even after much iteration in the tuning process only a passable accuracy is achieved. More accuracy can be achieved by online tuning of the same. This can be achieved only after hardware implementation is complete. We plan to completing the hardware during the inter-sem period and then testing it in the next semester. The results achieved thus far show that the closed loop BLDC control can be achieved pretty accurately by modelling it in the manner suggested above. With the widespread use of power electronic devices and dedicated solutions from key players Closed loop control of BLDC motor is now easily possible. The use of BLDC also is now growing with the spurt in increase of electric vehicles on the roads. Efficiency and longevity of these machines have proven to be a big advantage as compared to conventional machines. Also, since they pack more power density than other types of the same rating they are preferred in applications where size is a constraint. Thus, BLDC has a huge advantage to offer for several applications. We look forward to executing the hardware for the above simulation and software model by the next semester and obtain suitable results for our implementation.

19 | C l o s e d L o o p C o n t r o l o f B L D C m o t o r

References

[1] R. Kasim, K.A. Ismail, A. Jidin, N. Bahari Modelling and Simulation of Brushless DC Machines, University of Technical Malaysia [2] S. Lee Application of an Intelligent Motor Controller to the Three-Phase Brushless DC Motor Drives, Penn State University [3] Trapezoidal Control of BLDC Motors Using Hall Effect Sensors, Application Report Texas Instruments [4] 3-Phase BLDC Motor Control with Hall Sensors, Application Note, Freescale Semiconductors [5] Power Electronics Circuits, Devices and Applications, M.H. Rashid 6th Ed. [6] Control System Engineering, I.J. Nagrath and M. Gopal [7] Brushless DC Motor Control, Microchip Appnote AN857 [8] I. Alphonse, S. HosiminThilager, F. Bright Singh Design of Solar Powered BLDC Motor Driven Electric Vehicle [9] Power Electronics, Dr. Ali Mohamed Eltamaly [10] Analysis of Electric Machinery and Drive Systems, Paul C. Krause, Oleg Wasynczuk 2nd edition. [11] Modern Power Electronics and AC Drives, Bimal K. Bose

20 | C l o s e d L o o p C o n t r o l o f B L D C m o t o r