1086 Journal of Power Electronics, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp.

1086-1098, July 2018

https://doi.org/10.6113/JPE.2018.18.4.1086
JPE 18-4-13 ISSN(Print): 1598-2092 / ISSN(Online): 2093-4718

Filterless and Sensorless Commutation Method for

BLDC Motors
Shahin Mahdiyoun Rad* and Mohammad Reza Azizian†
†,*
Department of Electrical Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran

Abstract
This study presents a new sensorless commutation method for brushless direct current motors to replace Hall sensor signals
with virtual Hall signals. The importance of the proposed method lies in the simultaneous elimination of the phase shifter and the
low-pass filters, which makes the method simple and cost-effective. The method removes high ripple switching noises from
motor terminals, thereby decreasing motor losses. The proposed method utilizes unfiltered line voltages with notches caused by
current commutation. Hence, specific sign signals are defined to compensate for the effects of commutation noise. The proposed
method is free from phase delay that originates from low-pass filters. The method directly produces virtual Hall signals, and thus,
it can be interfaced with low-cost commercial commutation integrated circuits based on Hall sensors. Simulation and experimental
results show the effectiveness and validity of the proposed method.

Key words: Brushless DC motor, Current commutation, Filterless, Rotor position detection, Sensorless

shift. In the aforementioned method, the terminal voltage of

I. INTRODUCTION
the inactive phase is monitored relative to the virtual neutral
Brushless direct current (BLDC) motors are extensively used point. This back-EMF sensing technique requires a virtual
in the industry due to their advantages, which include high neutral point. Moreover, the measured neutral point voltage
efficiency, low maintenance, light weight, good controllability and the terminal voltages include high-frequency ripples due
over a wide range of speed and compact structure [1]-[3]. to the pulse-width modulation (PWM) switching of the
BLDC motors require rotor position information to properly inverter. Therefore, the conventional sensorless method
perform current commutation in stator windings. In general, requires low-pass filters (LPFs) to eliminate switching noises.
rotor position is detected by Hall sensors placed within a motor. The main problem in the use of LPFs is that it causes
These position sensors complicate system configuration and speed-dependent phase delay and position error, particularly
increase motor cost and size. In addition, these sensors can at high speeds. Consequently, this approach limits the
reduce system reliability because sensor failure may cause high-speed operation capability of BLDC motors because the
control system instability. Furthermore, the operation of phase delay of the estimated position signal causes the
BLDC motors is limited because of the sensitivity of Hall misalignment of the phase current with the rotor position.
sensors to noise, temperature, and mechanical vibrations [4]- Therefore, torque ripples occur, which reduce the average
[6]. To overcome these disadvantages, sensorless commutation torque and motor efficiency [8]. Furthermore, the detected
methods have received considerable attention. zero-crossing points (ZCPs) inherently lead the actual
The first sensorless commutation method for BLDC commutation points (CPs) by 30° in this method. Hence, a
motors was introduced in [7]. In this method, commutation is phase shifter is required to determine the appropriate CPs.
performed via the zero-crossing detection of back Phase-shifting makes the sensorless commutation process
electromotive force (EMF) and 30 electrical degrees phase complicated because it requires an expensive digital signal
processor (DSP). Studies that have been conducted to
Manuscript received Aug. 11, 2017; accepted Mar. 13, 2018 improve the traditional back-EMF-based sensorless method
Recommended for publication by Associate Editor Kwang-Woon Lee.
† can be classified into two groups: 1) studies that have
Corresponding Author: [email protected]
Tel: +98-41-33459352, Fax: +98-41-33454322, Sahand Univ. Tech. eliminated only LPFs [9]-[15], and 2) studies that have
*
Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Iran removed only phase shifters [16]-[19].
© 2018 KIPE
 Filterless and Sensorless Commutation Method for BLDC Motors 1087

The first group of studies has focused on eliminating LPFs. signals (VHSs) are estimated by applying a set of proposed
In [9], the PWM signal is applied only to upper switches, and logical operations to the defined sign signals. The method can
the terminal voltage of the unexcited phase is sampled only be easily implemented using simple circuits without requiring
during PWM off time. The disadvantage of this approach is high-cost DSP. Furthermore, the VHSs obtained from the
that it requires minimum PWM off time to properly sample method are free from phase delay because no LPF is used.
the terminal voltage, which limits the duty cycle and yields Hence, the proposed method can be utilized at a wide range
incomplete use of the direct current (DC) voltage source. of speed.
Moreover, this approach is unsuitable at high speeds when The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section
PWM off time is extremely short. To solve this problem, a II investigates the effect of current commutation on motor
complementary method is introduced in [10]. This method voltage. The proposed method for generating compensator
samples terminal voltages during either PWM on time or off signals and extracting VHSs is presented in Section III. The
time. In [11]-[13], CPs are extracted by detecting and then 30° simulation and experimental results are provided in Sections
shifting the ZCPs of the line voltage differences sampled IV and V, respectively, to verify the effectiveness of the
during PWM on time. In [14], a Z-source inverter was proposed sensorless commutation method. Finally, the
utilized to supply the BLDC motor, and the unexcited phase conclusions of the study are summarized in Section VI.
voltage was sampled in the shoot-through vectors. Although
the methods presented in [9]-[14] do not need an LPF, they
II. CURRENT COMMUTATION EFFECTS ON LINE
require a phase shifter and a special PWM switching scheme
VOLTAGES
to correctly sample motor voltages. In [15], a digital filtering
procedure was applied to the unfiltered terminal voltages In general, the PWM method is used to control BLDC
relative to the neutral point. Although this method eliminated motors. For a high-speed BLDC motor, the PWM method
LPFs, it is complicated and requires a phase shifter and a produces large high-frequency ripples in the current, which
neutral point voltage. will inevitably increase copper and rotor iron losses [20]-[22],
In the second group of studies, the phase shifter has been [26]-[30]. Furthermore, the variable DC-link inverter can
eliminated, but the phase delay resulting from LPFs has not provide a more stable performance for the sensorless control
been considered and discussed. In [16], it is shown that the of a BLDC motor than the PWM method at high speeds [31].
ZCPs of the line back-EMFs coincide with the actual CPs, Fig. 1 shows the equivalent circuit of a three-phase
and thus, the phase shifter can be eliminated. Furthermore, Y-connected BLDC motor that is fed by a full-bridge inverter.
the line voltages contain the corresponding line back-EMFs. A buck converter is used in front of the three-phase inverter
Consequently, filtered line voltages are used instead of line to regulate the DC-link voltage via the duty cycle of switch S7
back-EMFs in [16]-[19]. However, phase delay is inevitable as follows:
because LPFs are used to eliminate switching and
V dc  DV in (1)
commutation noises. In [19], phase delay caused by LPFs
was nearly compensated for but only at the nominal speed of where V dc is the DC-link voltage, Vin is the buck converter
the motor by adjusting the hysteresis band of the comparators. input voltage, and D is the duty cycle of converter switch S7.
Hence, this approach is inappropriate for variable speed drives. The voltage equations of the BLDC motor shown in Fig. 1
In [20], [21], specific methods based on 90   or are given as
150   phase shifting were presented. In these methods, the
V ag   ia   i a   e a  V Ng 
ZCPs of heavily filtered motor voltages are used to determine     d     
CPs. In addition to their complexity, these methods require V bg   R  i b   L  i b    eb   V Ng  (2)
  i  dt      
variable phase shifting because the total phase delay varies V cg   c  i c   ec  V Ng 
  
with motor speed. Line voltages were also used in [22].
However, the developed method is more complicated and where V ag , V bg , and V cg are the motor terminal voltages
requires two-step filtering and neutral point voltage. The with respect to the DC-link ground g. The stator phase
methods proposed in [23]-[25] determined CPs based on the currents are indicated by i a , i b , and i c . Stator resistance,
ZCPs of the specific error functions obtained from the filtered
stator inductance, and motor neutral point voltage relative to
voltages of a four-switch drive. Although the phase shifter is
the ground g are denoted by R, L, and V Ng , respectively.
eliminated, the phase delay that originates from LPFs
deteriorates motor performance. The trapezoidal back-EMF voltages of the BLDC motor
To overcome the aforementioned drawbacks, the method indicated by e a , eb , and ec are defined as
proposed in the current study simultaneously eliminates LPFs ea  K e m F (e )
and the phase shifter. Accordingly, unfiltered line voltages
eb  K e m F (e  2 3) (3)
are used and new sign signals are defined and introduced to
ec  K e m F (e  2 3)
compensate for the commutation ripple effects. Virtual Hall
1088 Journal of Power Electronics, Vol. 18, No. 4, July 2018

D7
L0 u

S7 S1 ea
D1 S3 D3 S5 D5
a R L
+ -
ia eb
+ + L
b R + -
D0 N
Vin Vdc C0
ib ec
- - R L
+ -
S4 D4 S6 D6 S2 D2 c ic

g
S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
Ha
Hb
Gate Signals of S 1-S6
Hc

Fig. 1. Equivalent circuit of the Y-connected BLDC motor and its inverter topology based on the buck converter.

where K e ,  m , and e are the motor voltage constant,

angular velocity, and electrical position of the rotor,
respectively. F represents the trapezoidal function and can
be expressed as
(6  )e 0  e   6

1  6  e  5 6

F e   1  (6  ) e  5 6  5 6  e  7 6 (4)

1 7 6  e  11 6
1  (6  )   11 6  11 6  e  2
 e

Fig. 2 shows the phase currents, trapezoidal back-EMF

voltages, electromagnetic torque, and ideal Hall signals (IHSs)
of the BLDC motor in an ideal case. For the normal operation
of a BLDC motor, its phase currents and back-EMFs should
be aligned to produce smooth and ripple-free torque, as
shown in Fig. 2. Otherwise, the efficiency of the motor will
Fig. 2. Phase currents, trapezoidal back-EMF voltages,
decrease. Therefore, rotor position identification is of particular
electromagnetic torque, and Hall signals of a BLDC motor in an
importance in the sensorless commutation of BLDC motors.
ideal case.
As mentioned earlier, CPs can be obtained without a phase
shifter by detecting the ZCPs of filtered line voltages.
However, LPFs cause the estimated commutation signals to
lag behind IHSs. To eliminate the speed-dependent phase
delay resulting from LPFs, unfiltered line voltages are used in
the present work. In this regard, switches S1 to S6 in Fig. 1
are turned on and off only when they perform current
commutation. Therefore, motor terminal voltages do not have
undesirable high-frequency PWM switching noise, and
consequently, no LPF is required. We define a set of sign
signals for line voltages as follows:
D ac  (1  sign(V ag V cg )) 2
Dba  (1  sign(V bg V ag )) 2 (5)
Dcb  (1  sign(V cg V bg )) 2

where all the voltages are unfiltered. Fig. 3 shows the unfiltered
line voltage Vac, its sign signal, and IHS. The ripples due to Fig. 3. From top to bottom: unfiltered line voltage V ac , phase
current commutation appear in unfiltered line voltages. current, sign signal of V ac , and IHS for phase “a”.
 Filterless and Sensorless Commutation Method for BLDC Motors 1089

(a) (b)

(c) (d)
Fig. 4. Equivalent circuit of the motor and its inverter: (a) Before the first notch, (b) During the first notch, (c) After the first notch,
(d) During the second notch.

Therefore, the sign signal obtained from the unfiltered line di b di

V dc V f  R ib  L  eb  ec  L c  Ri c V f  0
voltage differs from the IHS. dt dt
Two notches are found in the line voltage waveform. These di c di a
V f  Ri c  L  ec  e a  L  Ri a V D  0 (7)
notches cross the zero axis and cause zero-crossing errors. dt dt
We consider the first notch that appears in the positive half i a  ib  ic  0
cycle of Vac. Before the first notch, switches S1 and S2 are on;
The current of phase “a” is derived as follows by solving
thus, phases “a” and “c” are conducting. The equivalent
Eq. (7):
circuit is shown in Fig. 4(a). The voltage and current equations
t t
can be expressed as  1 
i a (t )  I e   (V dc  2V D  2ea  ec  eb )(1  e  ) (8)
V ac V dc  2V f 3R
(6)
i a  i c  I and i b  0 where  
L is the time constant, and I is the motor phase
R
where V f denotes transistor forward voltage drop. Voltage current prior to starting the current commutation process.
V ac indicates a positive value during this interval. At the end When the current of phase “a” becomes zero, current
commutation is completed and commutation duration can be
of this interval, switch S1 turns off and switch S3 turns on.
calculated as
This situation transfers the current from phase “a” to phase
“b”. The current of phase “a” does not immediately decrease L 1
tc1   Ln ( ) (9)
to zero due to the inductance of the stator windings. Hence, R 1  3RI (V dc  2V D  2ea  eb  ec )
diode D4 conducts until ia becomes zero. The equivalent At the end of the commutation period, diode D4 turns off
circuit during this period is shown in Fig. 4(b). Current and the equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 4(c). The
commutation causes the voltage Vac to change from the amplitude of voltage V ac immediately after the end of the
previous positive value of V dc  2V f to the negative value
current commutation can be approximately obtained as
of V D V f (V D denotes diode forward voltage drop).
di c di
When the Kirchhoff current law is applied to the neutral V ac  ea  ec  L  Ri c  2K e m  L c  Ri c  0. (10)
dt dt
point N and the Kirchhoff voltage law is applied to the inner
loops of the equivalent circuit, the voltage and current The current of phase “c” is negative in this interval
equations can be written as according to the equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 4(c). Hence,
1090 Journal of Power Electronics, Vol. 18, No. 4, July 2018

the voltage V ac expressed in Eq. (10) indicates a positive

value and is changed compared with the previous negative
value of V D V f .
To date, we have analyzed the commutation of the positive
current from phase “a” to phase “b”. We then consider the
negative half cycle of line voltage V ac , in which the
negative current transfers from phase “a” to phase “b”. The
second notch can be studied by adopting the same procedure.
The equivalent circuit of the motor and inverter during this
commutation interval is shown in Fig. 4(d). The value of line
voltage Vac is obtained as V D V f , which confirms that the
polarity of the line voltage has changed. Thus, current
commutation unfavorably alters the polarity of line voltage
Vac twice a cycle and makes its sign signal unsuitable for
sensorless commutation. The motor is symmetrical, and thus,
Fig. 5. Motor terminal voltages and the resultant line voltage.
the same process is applied to the other two unfiltered line
V shifted
voltages, namely, Vcb and Vba.
V ag V ag
V ag V ag R 4
R1 C
D1
III. PROPOSED METHOD FOR DETERMINING VHSS D2 R 3 Z1

The unfiltered voltages (Vcg and Vag) and the line voltage R 2
(Vac), which is generated by subtracting V cg from V ag , are Negative clamping circuit Zener Diode Clipping

shown in Fig. 5. The notches of V ag coincide with those of (a) (b)

Fig. 6. Proposed sensing circuit to address the rescaling problem.
the line voltage that cross zero. Hence, we investigate V ag
for extracting compensator signals. We consider the
waveform of V ag shown in Fig. 5. In Section 1, the upper
switch of the phase “a” (S1) is turned on (Fig. 4(a)). Hence,
the amplitude of V ag is V dc V f . In Section 2, the current
commutates from phase “a” to phase “b” and the lower
freewheeling diode of phase “a” (D4) is conducting (Fig.
4(b)). Therefore, the amplitude of V ag is −VD. In Section 3,
phase “a” is floating (Fig. 4(c)). In Section 4, the lower
switch of phase “a” (S4) is turned on and the amplitude of
V ag is V f . In Section 5, the current is commutating from
(a) (b)
phase “a” to phase “b” and the upper freewheeling diode of Fig. 7. (a) Voltage of phase “a” relative to the ground and the
phase “a” (D1) is conducting (Fig. 4(d)). Thus, the value of extracted voltage for compensating the first notch of V ac . (b)
V ag is Vdc+VD. The value of V ag is negative only when Voltage V ag compared to the shifted voltage V shifted (top) and
diode D4 is conducting, i.e., in Section 2, which coincides  for compensating the second notch
the extracted voltage V ag
with the first notch of V ac . Hence, we can use the sign signal
of V ac (bottom).
of V ag to compensate for the first notch of V ac . In Sections
2 and 4, however, the amplitude of V ag is extremely small
 R 2
compared with the maximum voltage value. Therefore, when ( ) (V ag V D ) V D V ag V D
   R 2  R1
V ag (11)
we rescale voltage V ag for a low-voltage control circuit, its V V ag V D
 ag
magnitude becomes extremely small in the aforementioned
sections. Consequently, its detection will be difficult. To 
where V ag is the rescaled voltage and R 1  3R 2
address this problem, an efficient sensing circuit is proposed, (calculated for the motor of Table I). The proposed circuit
as shown in Fig. 6(a). Diode D1 causes the circuit to have rescales the input voltage if it is greater than VD; otherwise,
two different rescaling ratios as follows: the input voltage will be left unchanged. In Fig. 7(a), voltage
 Filterless and Sensorless Commutation Method for BLDC Motors 1091

 as is the output of the proposed

V ag is the input and V ag
sensing circuit. The figure confirms that the diode/transistor
forward voltage drop is detectable compared with the peak (a)
value of the output voltage. The rescaled voltage V kg 
(k=a,b,c) should replace the terminal voltage in Eq. (5).
The amplitude of V ag is greater than the DC-link voltage
(b)
only when diode D1 is conducting, i.e., in Section 5, which
coincides with the second notch of V ac . Hence, this property
of V ag can be used to generate an appropriate signal to (c)
compensate for the second notch of V ac . Accordingly, we
use a negative unbiased clamp circuit, as shown in Fig. 6(b),
to shift voltage V ag downwards by Vdc. When V ag is
positive, diode D2 conducts and capacitor C charges to the (d)
peak positive value of V ag minus the forward voltage drop  ,
Fig. 8. From top to bottom: sign signals of the line voltage, V ag
 , and the extracted VHS.
V ag
on D2 , i.e., (V dc V D ) V D V dc . When V ag is negative,
diode D2 does not conduct. Therefore, the output voltage
 ) Dag
Sa  ( Dac  Dag 
can be expressed as the voltage stored in C plus the input
 ) Dbg
Sb  ( Dba  Dbg  (14)
voltage. Accordingly, the output voltage of the clamping
circuit in Fig. 6(b) can be obtained as  ) Dcg
Sc  ( Dcb  Dcg 

V s hifted V ag V dc (12) where S x ( x  a , b , c ) denotes the VHS extracted using the

proposed method. The symbols  and  represent the
Voltage V shifted is compared with V ag in Fig. 7(b). In
“AND” and “OR” operators, respectively. The extracted VHS
the next step, V shifted is fed to a Zener diode clipping circuit of phase “a” is shown in Fig. 8(d).
(Fig. 6(b)) to limit the peak negative value of the output
voltage V ag and make it applicable to a low-voltage control IV. SIMULATION RESULTS OF THE PROPOSED
circuit. Moreover, by clipping voltage V shifted at V Z 1  2.2 V , SENSORLESS METHOD
the forward voltage drop across the diode/transistor becomes To implement the proposed method, Eq. (5), (13), and (14)
more detectable compared with the peak negative value of the are simulated in PSpice software using the three designed
output voltage. Fig. 7(b) shows V ag and confirms that it is circuits numbered 1–3, as shown in Fig. 9. The rescaled
voltages V ag , V bg
 , V cg , V ag
 , V bg
 , and V cg
 are fed to the
detectable at any time.
To compensate for the undesirable level changes of the designed circuits. In the first circuit, which is numbered “1”,
sign signals of the line voltages, we define the specific sign the rescaled voltages V ag , V bg , and V cg
 are fed to the
 and V kg
signals for the extracted voltages V kg  (k=a,b,c) as subtracters to create the appropriate line voltages. Then, the
line voltages are compared with the zero level by using
1 1
  (1  sign(V ag
Dag  )) , Dag   (1  sign(V ag
 )) Schmitt trigger comparators and the sign signals D ac , D ba ,
2 2
1 1 and Dcb are generated. Similarly, the second circuit
  (1  sign(V bg
Dbg  ) , Dbg  (1  sign(V bg )) (13)
2 2 receives the voltages V ag , V bg
 , and V cg and generates the
1 1  , Dbg  . The third circuit receives
 , and Dcg
  (1  sign(V cg )) , Dcg
Dcg   (1  sign(V cg )) sign signals D ag
2 2
the rescaled voltages V ag , V bg
 , and V cg and produces the sign
Figs. 8(a) to 8(c) show the sign signals that are required to
 , Dbg
signals D ag  , and Dcg
 . In this study, comparators with
generate the VHS for phase “a”. The commutation ripple that
causes the first notch of D ac also affects Dag  . The other a hysteresis loop are adopted instead of conventional
comparators to achieve noise-free and clean zero-crossing
commutation ripple that creates the second notch of D ac
signals. A small hysteresis of 100 mV is integrated into the
 . In accordance with the arrangement of
also influences Dag comparator to prevent the noise within the hysteresis band
the commutation notches, a set of logical equations is defined from crossing the threshold and producing false ZCPs.
to generate VHSs as Therefore, additional noise immunity and stability can be
1092 Journal of Power Electronics, Vol. 18, No. 4, July 2018

V ag
V bg
V cg

 V bg
V ag  V cg
 V ag
 V bg
 V cg


R3 R1
R2 R1
V ba 
V bg
Dba
R1 
V ag
R1
D ac R3 R1
Dba R2
V ac
R1 
V ag
Dcb Dac
R1 
V cg
R1
R3 R1
R2
V cb
R1 
V cg
Dcb
R1 
V bg
R1
Dac
R3
Sa 
D ag
 R2
D ag R3 Dag
Dba

Dag R2
Sb 
Dbg 
Dbg 
Dcg 
V ag
R3

Dbg 
Dcg 
V cg R2
Dcb


Dbg
Sc Dcg 
V bg

Dcg
R3
R2

Dag R3 
Dag

Dbg R2

Dcg 
V ag

Dcg R3

V cg R2

Dbg

V bg

Fig. 9. Overall schematic of the proposed sensorless commutation method for BLDC motors.

obtained and the performance of the sign signal generator TABLE I

circuit can be improved. In accordance with Eq. (14), the sign SPECIFICATIONS OF THE EC-22-167129 MAXON MOTOR
signals are used to derive the VHSs by using circuit number 4 Parameter Value
shown in Fig. 9. Rated power 50 W
The specifications of the EC-22-167129 Maxon motor that Speed constant 702 rpm/V
is used to run the simulations in MATLAB/Simulink are Torque constant 13.6×10−3 Nm/A
listed in Table I. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed Pole pairs 1
method, we compare its results with those of the traditional Rated voltage 32 V
filtered line voltage ZCP detection method. The phase delay Rotor inertia 4.2 ×10−7 kg.m2
Stator resistance 0.4985 Ω
caused by LPFs used in the traditional method depends on
Stator inductance 0.0735 mH
their cutoff frequency. Hence, to improve comparison, Fig.
Rated speed 20200 rpm
10 shows the simulated phase delay of LPFs with different
Voltage constant 13.6×10−3 V/rad/s
cutoff frequencies at varying rotor speed values. A low cutoff
frequency leads to a considerable phase delay. By contrast, an
The line voltage, phase current, electromagnetic torque,
LPF with a high cutoff frequency cannot completely
and rotor speed obtained from the proposed and traditional
eliminate switching and commutation noise. Consequently, a
methods are shown in Figs. 11 and 12, respectively. In Figs.
trade-off is required between LPF phase delay and noise
elimination. In this study, the cutoff frequency of 2 kHz is 11(d) and 12(d), the IHS ( H a ) is compared with the VHS
selected for the LPFs used in the traditional method. ( S a ) extracted using the proposed and traditional methods.
 Filterless and Sensorless Commutation Method for BLDC Motors 1093

(a)

(b)

Fig. 10. Comparison of the simulated phase delay vs. the rotor
speed caused by LPFs with different cutoff frequencies.
(c)

(a) (d)

(b)

(e)
Fig. 12. Simulated waveforms of the traditional method under an
intermediate load at a speed of 10000 rpm: (a) Line voltage, (b)
Phase current, (c) Electromagnetic torque, (d) IHS and VHS, (e)
(c) Rotor speed.

and 60% of the average torque for the proposed and

traditional methods, respectively. Therefore, the rotor speed
(d) of the proposed method produces smaller ripples than the
traditional method as shown in Figs. 11(e) and 12(e).
Another simulation is conducted under an intermediate
load at a speed of 15000 rpm. The results of the proposed and
traditional methods are shown in Figs. 13 and 14, respectively.
(e)
Fig. 11. Simulated waveforms of the proposed method under an
The commutation angle error for the proposed method is
intermediate load at a speed of 10000 rpm: (a) Line voltage, (b) approximately 3°, whereas that for the traditional method is
Phase current, (c) Electromagnetic torque, (d) IHS and VHS, (e) significant and approximately 14°. The torque ripple is
Rotor speed. approximately 33% and 83% of the average torque for the
proposed and traditional methods, respectively. The peak-to-
The simulation results are presented under an intermediate peak value of the phase current is 3 A and 5 A for the proposed
load at a speed of 10000 rpm. The VHS obtained using the and traditional methods, respectively. The current ripple
proposed method clearly exhibits good agreement with the produced by the proposed method is smaller than that
IHS. The commutation angle error is approximately 3.5° for produced by the traditional method. Evidently, the larger the
the proposed method, whereas it is significant and position error, the larger the rotor speed ripple, as shown in
approximately 11° for the traditional method. The slight Figs. 13(e) and 14(e).
difference between the IHS and the proposed VHSs is due to We repeat the simulation at different rotor speeds to
the voltage drop on the stator resistance. The current and compare the position error of the proposed method with that
torque distortion are determined to be smaller when the of the traditional method. Fig. 15 shows the simulated
proposed method is used by comparing the electromagnetic performance of the proposed and traditional methods at
torque and phase current waveforms of the proposed and different speeds. Evidently, the commutation angle error of
traditional methods. The peak-to-peak values of the phase the traditional method increases with an increase in rotor
current are 3 A and 4 A for the proposed and traditional speed. Consequently, the traditional method is unsuitable for
methods, respectively. Furthermore, the torque ripple is 30% a wide range of speed. By contrast, increasing or decreasing
1094 Journal of Power Electronics, Vol. 18, No. 4, July 2018

(a)

(b)

Fig. 15. Comparison of the simulated phase delay vs. rotor speed
(c) for the proposed and traditional methods.

(d)

(e)
Fig. 13. Simulated waveforms of the proposed method under an
intermediate load at a speed of 15000 rpm: (a) Line voltage, (b)
Phase current, (c) Electromagnetic torque, (d) IHS and VHS, (e)
Rotor speed. Fig. 16. Comparison of the simulated phase delay vs. load torque
at a speed of 20000 rpm for the proposed and traditional
methods.

rpm. The negligible phase delay of the proposed method

(a) originates from the voltage drop on the stator resistance. The
phase delay is zero under no-load condition for the proposed
method. By contrast, the traditional method exhibits a
remarkable phase delay even under no-load condition.
(b)

V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The experimental setup (Fig. 17) includes a Maxon BLDC
(c) motor with the specifications listed in TABLE I, a DC
generator (used as the load), a digital oscilloscope, the
designed circuits (for the proposed sensorless operation), and
a three-leg inverter. Moreover, a Lutron DT-2236C digital
(d) tachometer is used to measure rotor speed. Phase currents are
measured by using very small resistors connected in series to
motor phases. The required voltages are generated by the
circuits shown in Fig. 6. The experimental waveforms of the
(e) voltages V ag , V ag , V shifted , and V ag extracted from the
Fig. 14. Simulated waveforms of the traditional method under an proposed circuits are illustrated in Fig. 18. They justify the
intermediate load at a speed of 15000 rpm: (a) Line voltage, (b) capability of the proposed sensing circuits to properly
Phase current, (c) Electromagnetic torque, (d) IHS and VHS, (e) generate compensator signals. Fig. 19 shows the experimental
Rotor speed. waveforms of the voltages V ac , V ag , and V ag , along with
rotor speed does not significantly affect the performance of their sign signals.
the proposed method. The experimental waveforms of the line voltage, phase
Fig. 16 shows the phase delays of the proposed and current, motor speed, electromagnetic torque, IHS produced
traditional methods vs. the load torque at a speed of 20000 by the Hall sensors placed within the motor, and VHS extracted
 Filterless and Sensorless Commutation Method for BLDC Motors 1095

Fig. 17. Experimental setup of the proposed sensorless

commutation method.

Fig. 19. From top to bottom: Experimental waveforms of

 (5 V/div), V ag
V ac (5 V/div), V ag  (2 V/div), D ac , Dag
 , and Dag
 .

Fig. 18. From top to bottom: experimental waveforms of

 (2 V/div), V ag (10 V/div), V ag
V ag  (1 V/div), and V shifted (5 V/div).

using the proposed and traditional methods at a speed of

10000 rpm are shown in Figs. 20 and 21, respectively. The
position errors from the proposed and traditional methods are
4° and 13°, respectively. The peak-to- peak values of the
phase current are approximately 2.5 A and 4 A for the
proposed and traditional methods, respectively. The position
error of the proposed method is smaller than that of the
traditional method. Consequently, the current ripple of the
Fig. 20. Experimental waveforms obtained using the proposed
proposed method is less than that of the traditional method. method at a speed of 10000 rpm (from top to bottom): line
Furthermore, the ripples of speed and torque are smaller in voltage (5 V/div), phase current (2 A/div), IHS, VHS, rotor
the proposed method compared with those in the traditional speed (5000 rpm/div), and electromagnetic torque (0.02
method. N.m/div).
1096 Journal of Power Electronics, Vol. 18, No. 4, July 2018

Fig. 23. Experimental waveforms obtained using the traditional

method at a speed of 15000 rpm (from top to bottom): line
voltage (5 V/div), phase current (2 A/div), IHS, and VHS.

Fig. 21. Experimental waveforms obtained using the traditional

method at a speed of 10000 rpm (from top to bottom): line
voltage (5 V/div), phase current (2 A/div), IHS, VHS, rotor
speed (5000 rpm/div), and electromagnetic torque (0.02
N.m/div).

Fig. 22. Experimental waveforms obtained using the proposed Fig. 24. From top to bottom: experimental waveforms of rotor
method at a speed of 15000 rpm (from top to bottom): line speed (CH1: 10000 rpm/div), line voltage (CH2: 5 V/div), and
voltage (5 V/div), phase current (2 A/div), IHS, and VHS. current (CH3: 2 A/div) during a sudden change in rotor speed.

The experimental results of the proposed and traditional TABLE II

methods at a speed of 15000 rpm are shown in Figs. 22 and COMPARISON OF THE SPECIAL FEATURES IN [16]–[22] AND THE
23, respectively. The position errors from the proposed and PROPOSED METHOD
traditional methods are 4° and 16°, respectively. The position Special Features [16]–[19] [20] [21] [22]
Proposed
error from the traditional method increases with an increase Method

in rotor speed. Number of

3 3 1 4 3
Voltage Sensors
To test the dynamic performance of the proposed method,
Current Sensor × × √ × ×
motor speed is suddenly changed from 3000 rpm to 15000
Neutral Point × × √ √ ×
rpm. The waveforms of rotor speed, V ac and i a , are shown Phase Shifter × √ √ × ×
in Fig. 24. They verify the good performance of the proposed LPF √ √ √ √ ×
method when the speed of the motor suddenly changes. × = Not required, √ = required
 Filterless and Sensorless Commutation Method for BLDC Motors 1097

VI. CONCLUSIONS IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., Vol. 61, No. 2, pp. 738-752,
Feb. 2014.
A new sensorless commutation method for BLDC motors [9] S. Jianwen, D. Nolan, M. Teissier, and D. Swanson, “A
is introduced in this study. The proposed method uses novel microcontroller-based sensorless brushless DC
unfiltered line voltages. Specific voltage sensing circuits are (BLDC) motor drive for automotive fuel pumps,” IEEE
proposed to generate the appropriate compensator signals. Trans. Ind. Appl., Vol. 39, No. 6, pp. 1734-1740, Nov. 2003.
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method is less complicated due to the absence of a phase DC motor drive based on the zero-crossing detection of
shifter. The proposed approach can be easily implemented back electromotive force (EMF) from the line voltage
using simple comparators without requiring high-cost DSP. difference,” IEEE Trans. Energy Convers., Vol. 25, No. 3,
pp. 661-668, Sep. 2010.
The position error and torque ripple of the proposed method
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experimental results prove the effectiveness of the proposed [13] X. Z. Zhang and Y. N. Wang, “A novel position-sensorless
method, which is simple and cost-effective. Hence, this control method for brushless DC motors,” Energy Convers.
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method can be implemented in integrated circuits for mass
[14] X. Changliang and L. Xinmin, “Z-source inverter-based
production. The comparison of some features of the proposed approach to the zero-crossing point detection of back EMF
method and the methods presented in [16]–[22] is for sensorless brushless DC motor,” IEEE Trans. Power
summarized in Table II. Electron., Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 1488-1498, Mar. 2015.
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