A quantitative comparison between BLDC, PMSM, Brushed DC

and Stepping Motor Technologies

Stijn Derammelaere1, Michiel Haemers1, Jasper De Viaene1, Florian Verbelen1,
Kurt Stockman1
1
Department of Industrial System and Product Design, Ghent University campus Kortrijk, Belgium
E-mail:
[email protected]

Abstract- Brushless DC machines (BLDC), Permanent Magnet N

Synchronous Machines (PMSM), Stepping Motors and Brushed
DC machines (BDC) usage is ubiquitous in the power range below
1,5kW. There is a lot of common knowledge on these technologies.
Stepping Motors are ideally suited for open loop positioning,
BLDC machines are the most obvious candidate for high-speed
applications, etc. However, literature lacks comprehensive
research comparing these machines over a large range of
applications. In this paper, more than 100 motors are considered.
Their characteristics are compared and presented in a
comprehensive way. These results support the common knowledge S
concerning the field of application of each technology and new
insights follow from this quantitative comparison.
I.
INTRODUCTION Figure 1: Operating principle of a permanent magnet Brushed DC machine

Within the power range up to 1500W, machine constructors

often doubt between different motor technologies for their
drivetrains. In this paper, a range of properties of the machines e› Position
control
n› Speed
control
i* Current
controller
v Brushed DC
Machine
Enc.
+ _ + _
in Table I are considered and compared to each other in order
to back up the choice between motor technologies with concrete
numbers. Before comparing these technologies based on data in Figure 2: Position control of a Brushed DC Machine
section III, a summary of the common knowledge and operating
principles of these machines is given in section II.
Table I: Machines considered in this study
Motor technology Number of Number of B.
Brushless DC machines
machines suppliers For Brushless DC machines (BLDC) the rotor is equipped
Brushed DC 23 2
with permanent magnets but the stator field position should be
BLDC 21 2
PMSM 26 2 changed over discrete positions to generate torque as depicted
Stepping Motor 34 3 in Fig. 3. Consequently, optimal current wave form as depicted
in Fig. 4 takes the form of square waves. Even at high speeds
this current waveform is not demanding for current controllers.
II.
OPERATING PRINCIPLES Together with these current waveforms the absence of brushes
means the BLDC motor is the best candidate for high speed
A.
Brushed DC machines applications [4]. Therefore, these motors are mostly used for
In Brushed DC machines the rotor field position is adapted by continuous operation in compressor, pump and ventilation
means of brushes. This results in the simplest machine from a systems [4]–[6].
user’s perspective as providing a constant DC voltage is enough On the other hand, position feedback is necessary to determine
to drive the motor. When permanent magnets are used to the optimal commutation of the current. However, this feedback
generate the stator field, a compact construction is possible [1]. can take the form of discrete and rather cheap Hall sensor
On the other hand, the brushes used for commutation reduce the signals.
robustness [2]. Due to wear of the commutator or the brushes,
the lifetime of these motors is limited [3]. This is the major
drawback of this technology. Driving a Brushed DC machine in Driving a Brushless DC machine (BLDC) in its simplest form
its simplest form is depicted in red in Fig. Figure 2. Position and is depicted colored in Fig. Figure 6. As indicated a drive and
speed control (depicted in grey in Fig. Figure 2) is possible if position feedback are minimum requirements to drive a BLDC
some kind of position feedback is available. motor. In commercial drives speed control in the higher speed
range is often already possible using the available Hall sensors
[7]. For position control and speed control at lower speeds more
accurate position feedback is necessary.
 (also often called permanent magnet excited AC motors
(PMSM)) have a more complex construction compared to
brushless DC machines resulting in a higher price. As accurate
position feedback is necessary for torque generation these
motors are ideally suited for high-end industrial position or
speed controlled applications [10]–[12]. Figure 9 shows the
basic configuration of a PMSM system (colored) and the
optional speed and position control loops. The latter are easily
implementable in the drive as the encoder is already necessary
for torque control.

Figure 5: Operating principle of a brushless DC machine

e› Position n› Speed i* Drive with: BLDC e

Current Enc.
control control Machine
+ _ + _ controller
Hall
sensors


Figure 6: Position control of a BLDC machine

 











Figure 8: Back-EMF and optimal current profiles for a three phase PMSM

 e› Position n› Speed
control
i* Drive with:
Current PMSM Enc.
control _
+ _ + controller


Figure 9: Position control of a PMSM machine


 D.
Stepping motors

The two-phase hybrid stepping motor principle is illustrated

 
 
 
 


 
 in Fig. Figure 10 [13], [14]. The stator is equipped with
Figure 7: Back-EMF (blue) and optimal current profiles (red) in each phase concentrated windings while the multitoothed rotor is
together with Hall sensor signals (black) magnetised by means of permanent magnets. The rotor teeth are
attracted by the excited stator phase. When a new full-step
C.
Permanent magnet synchronous Machines command pulse is given by the user program to the drive, the
excitation of one phase is released while a second phase is
When the placement of stator magnets in a BLDC is adapted so excited. Using half- and micro-stepping algorithms, two phases
that the back-EMF takes a sinusoidal form as depicted in Figure are excited simultaneously in order to increase the number of
8, a PMSM motor is obtained. Optimal and ripple free torque rotor position steps in a single revolution [15].
generation is obtained if the current waveform follows the By counting the step command pulses, the theoretical rotor
sinusoidal waveform of the back-EMF. Therefore, accurate position is known and open-loop positioning is achieved. This
continuous position feedback is necessary. The construction means no sensor or cascaded control is needed for positioning.
and drive methods of these machines result in a good Therefore, stepping motors are very appealing for industrial and
performance, negligible torque ripples [8] and energy- domestic positioning applications.
efficiencies up to 97% [9]. However, these brushless AC motors
 However, basic open-loop drive algorithms such as full-, half-
and micro-stepping result in torque and speed ripples, noise,
III.
QUANTITATIVE COMPARISON
vibrations, a poor energy efficiency and no control on step loss
[15]–[17]. While the previous description of motor technologies and their
pros and cons is well known, the novelty in this paper is the
comprehensive quantitative comparison between the 100
NXT machines listed in table I. This comparison is done based on the
following properties: volume, nominal torque, maximum
torque, maximum speed, power, rotor inertia, maximum
t acceleration and price.
A1
NXT B
A2 A.
Speed
A A
Enable
μController Drive B1 N
S
N S When the nominal rotational speed of the electrical motors is
Dir



compared to the rated power in Fig. Figure 11 the theoretical
B2
B statement that a BLDC machine is ideally suited for high speed
applications is confirmed. Especially smaller BLDC machines
with low inertia are able to obtain high rotational speeds.
Stepping motors on the other hand seem to be a rather bad
NXT
option for high speed applications. The maximum speed of
Permanent Magnet Machines is limited by the ability of the
t power convertor to generate a sinusoidal current profile.
Finally, the Brushed DC machine maximum speed will be
A1


limited by the wear of the brushes at higher speeds.
NXT S B
A2 
N

μController Enable Drive B1 A A

Dir #
S

B2


N B



Figure 10: Hybrid stepping motor principle and control hardware 
# 
  
E.
Theoretical conclusion   

Based on the theoretical description of the motor technologies    ! " #

and their operating principles the following, common 
 
knowledge guidelines for choosing a motor technology can be
Figure 11: Nominal motor speed compared to rated power
summarized:
•
A Brushed DC machine is still interesting in some cases
B.
Torque
due to its very simple torque generation for which no
drive is needed. However, its lifetime is limited due to Depicting the torque compared to the volume as in Fig. Figure
wear. 12 reveals the supreme torque density of stepping motors.
•
BLDC machines are ideally suited for high speed Thanks to the optimal commutation PMSM machines are
applications. characterized by a higher torque density compared to BLDC
• PMSM machines give the best performance. and Brushed DC machines. The latter shows the lowest
maximum torque compared to volume.
•
Stepping motors are ideally suited for open loop
positioning. !#


All four motor technologies allow for position control.

!
However, for some motor technologies this means extra
components such as feedback or a drive are needed. Only




using the colored minimal configuration depicted in Figure 2, #  

Figure 6, Figure 9 and Figure 10 the following control is 
possible:  
!
•
Open loop drive of a Brushed DC machine.
# ! !#
•
Speed control (only accurate at higher speeds) with a 
$ !"
BLDC machine. Figure 12: Nominal motor torque compared to motor volume



•
Position control (if a cascade control loop is implemented

in the drive) with a PMSM machine.
•
Simple open loop position control with a stepping motor.
C.
Power Density %'

If volume is an issue, fig. Figure 13 shows the optimal machine %#

 
in terms of power density is a PMSM closely followed by

 
!
stepper motors thanks to their high torque capabilities. $'

!
$#


' 
#
 
"
#




# %'# '## ('# $###




! $&
 Figure 15: Overload capacity compared to motor power
#
 
E.
Price
 Finally, the price can be a very strong argument to choose for
 
 #  # a certain motor technology. Therefore the price of the minimal

$ "

 motor configuration (colored in Figure 2, Figure 6, Figure 9
Figure 13: Motor power compared to motor volume
and Figure 10), given on the internet or in publicly available
datasheets, is plotted against the nominal speed (Figure 16),
D.
Acceleration and overload capacity
the motor torque (Figure 17) and the motor power (Figure 18).
For dynamic applications the maximum acceleration is of This means the prices mentioned in Figs. 16 to 18 enable
interest. Therefore, the maximum motor torque is divided by position control with PMSM (if a cascaded control loop is
the rotor inertia and plotted against the rated power in Fig. implemented and tuned) , stepping motors, speed control with
Figure 14. The load inertia should be included as well but this a BLDC (if a speed control loop is implemented and tuned)
greatly depends on the application and therefore Fig. Figure 14 and open loop operation with a Brushed DC machine. The
only mentions the maximum motor acceleration. This graph graphs reveal the cheap character of a stepping motor drive
illustrates the high dynamic performance of BLDC machines in combination while a PMSM-encoder-drive combination is in
the power range below 500W. However, at higher rated powers all cases the most expensive solution.
the PMSM becomes equally interesting in terms of dynamics. !"
Overall the stepping motors is not that interesting for dynamic
applications.   % %

(##### %
#"



 

'#####  

 

 " 




)

&##### !"
  
  %

%##### 
  #" "

 $
  
# Figure 16: Unit price compared to motor speed
# %## &## '## (## $###

 
Figure 14: Maximum acceleration compared to motor power
#%""

' '
'

Brushed DC, PMSM and BLDC datasheets mention a nominal 

torque Tnom (Fig. Figure 12) and maximum torque Tmax #"""
 
 

applicable for a short period of time. The ratio between these

two can be seen as the overload capacity. This capacity, given
in Figure 15, can be useful in high dynamic applications as extra %""
temporarily available torque can be beneficial for quick
'
acceleration. Surprisingly the Brushed DC machine is the best
suited motor when it comes to overload capacity. Depending on
"
the rated power the BLDC scores slightly better than the PMSM " # $
(below 750W) or the other way round (higher then 750W). #



Figure 17: Unit price compared to motor torque

 V.
REFERENCES
#&""
 * *

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#"""
[2] E. Kallenbach, H.-D. Stölting, and W. Amrhein, Handbook of



*
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#
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