2015 Fifth International Conference on Communication Systems and Network Technologies

Mathematical Modeling of Permanent Magnet

Brushless DC Motor for Electric Scooter
PRAKHYATH SHETTY NITIN SUBRAMONIUM A K M SATHYENDRA KUMAR
PG student, (Energy systems PG student, (Micro Electronics Professor Electrical and
engineering), and Control systems), Electronics Engg department
NMAM Institute of Technology, NMAM Institute of Technology, NMAM Institute of Technology,
Nitte, Udupi, India Nitte, Udupi, India Nitte, Udupi, India
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract - Permanent magnet brushless dc (PMBLDC) motor will have relatively high power density and high
motors are successfully developed to find the wide application in efficiency because of the absence of field losses and less space
low power automotives due to high efficiency, silent operation, accommodation by permanent magnets [9]. However the
compact size, lower maintenance and high reliability. Due to the drawbacks of DC motors due to commutator and brushes is
advancement in power electronics; PM Brushless dc motors have not solved by permanent magnet application, thus these are
become potential drive for automotive applications. This paper
less suitable for electric vehicle application as it does not
mainly deals on simulation using Matlab / Simulink for
mathematical model of the PMBLDC motor for electric scooter contribute the maintenance-free operation. By replacing the
application. The steady state and transient models of PMBLDC field winding of conventional synchronous motors with
motor is analyzed for efficient performance of control. The permanent magnets, PM synchronous motor is formed which
transfer function of the motor is derived to arrive at the stability eliminates the brushes, field losses and slip-rings. By inverting
of the motor. The communication system and network topology the stator and rotor of PM DC motors, PM brushless dc motors
of the motor drive is discussed and presented. are generated thus results in the removal of brushes and
commutation, leading to elimination of problem associated
Keywords— Permanent Magnet (PM); trapezoidal back emf; with brushes. This configuration allows more cross-sectional
PMBLDC motor drive. area for armature winding and improves the conduction of
heat through the frame, thus increases the electric loading and
I. INTRODUCTION power density. Thus makes suitable for electric vehicle
application [10].
Permanent magnet (PM) brushless motors are an efficient
and compact solution for the motion of equipment in the range The advantage of electric scooter is low emission due to the
from fraction to a few kilowatts [1]. The PM excitation in absence of combustion engines. Considering the need of
electrical machines was first used in 19th century, but due to design and development of electric vehicles, research activities
lower efficiency, performance and quality of PM materials in the field of eco-friendly vehicles alternatives for the
these were not commercialized. In 1932, the PM excitation existing vehicles is going on. To drive this electric vehicle a
systems were used for lower power application ranging small suitable electric motor is used as a prime mover. To control
and fractional horse power machines with the invention of this electric motor an electronic controller is used. A battery
Alnico [2-6]. bank is used to store the electrical energy which is placed
along with the vehicle. The battery operated electric vehicle is
In 20th century the squirrel cage induction motors came up parked for few hours for charging the battery pack. A separate
with wide application due to its rugged construction. The battery charger is provided which take the power from A.C.
advancement in power electronics and digital signal Mains. Then the charged battery pack is used to drive the
processors has made these motors more suitable and motor, which is controlled by a suitable motor controller. The
convenient for industrial applications. These motors work with electric motor develops the required tractive effort. The
low power factor and efficiency and non-variable speed battery bank, controller and motor must have excellent
control, thus synchronous motors succeeded the drawbacks of efficiency, adequate capacity and low weight along with
these motors. But synchronous motors and dc commutation regenerative compatibility. The electric vehicles provide the
motors uses the dynamic parts like brushes and commutators solution for the global energy crisis.
that leads to low speed, higher noise and EMI. These problems
lead to the development of Permanent Magnet Brushless DC The application of BLDC motor is increasing day by day
motor which uses PM excitation on the rotor [7-8]. due to the availability of high energy and cost effective PM
materials like Samarium cobalt (Sm-Co) and Nd-Fe-B which
The D.C motor consisting of field winding which is minimizes the losses and increases the performance of motor.
replaced by permanent magnet to form PM dc motors. PM dc The advancement in design and geometry innovation made the
motor to find the application in domestic, commercial fields

978-1-4799-1797-6/15 $31.00 © 2015 IEEE 1222

DOI 10.1109/CSNT.2015.110
and industries [11-13]. These are best suitable for low power stable stator current, as motor speed is directly proportional to
application in medium sized industrial drives due to their back EMF and torque developed is almost proportional to
excellent dynamic capability, reduced losses and high phase current and also torque is higher in PMBLDCM when
torque/weight ratio [14-15]. compared to PSMS. Hence these PMBL machines as used in
robotics, numerical control machines, solar tracking
etc.,.where higher accuracy is required. However PMBLDC
II. STATE OF ART motors find application where silent operation, higher
accuracy, reduced cost, compact size and low maintenance.
PMBLDC motors are generally powered by three-phase
voltage source inverter (VSI) or current source inverter (CSI) IV. CONSTRUCTION
which is controlled by rotor position sensing using hall
sensors, revolvers or optical encoder. These position sensors
PMBLDC motors are usually three phase, the stator of these
increases complexity of control and reduce the reliability. Due
motors are three phase concentrated windings; however, the
to higher cost of motor drive and controllers these motors were
windings vary on the user requirements. Advancement in the
less commercialized thus these motors were regretted by
technology and geometry of the PM rotor the improvement in
researcher’s choice.
power density and efficiency by flux enhancement, armature
reaction has been reported in literature survey. There is
Recently it was found that PMBLDC motor forms the prime
classification in rotors according to the configuration, one is
mover in the low power electric vehicles and hybrid vehicle
surface mounted magnet where magnet is mounted on the
application. This development also adds for the environmental
outer surface of magnet and second is buried type where
concern by reducing the vehicular emission. These motors
magnets are mounted inside the magnetic structure of rotor.
hold the basic characteristics for the vehicle like high power
density, high efficiency, reduced volume, high torque, ease of
Other than these categories PMBL motor can be classified
control, simple hardware and software and low maintenance.
on its axis of magnetic flux as axial field machine where the
direction of magnetic field is axial instead of radial. This
The main concern of PMBLDC motor drive is high cost;
category includes a single stator and single rotor
the cost is concerned to two main components; motor and
configuration, a single stator sandwiched between two rotor
controller. Due to the advancement in power electronics and
and visa-versa (double air gap), multiple combination of stator
extensive research work it is made possible to reduce cost and
and rotor (multiple air gap).
increase the efficiency of the motors. These motor are now
finding the application in low power and variable speed drives
The stator consists of slots; the number of slots depends on
due to its ease of operation and lowered maintenance.
rotor poles, phase number and winding configuration.
Generally fractional pitch or pole is preferred to reduce
III. CONSTRUCTION OF PMBLDC MOTOR cogging. The type of winding configuration may be lap-wound
or concentric-wound; the coil pitch would be full-pitch of
short-pitch; depending on the crust width of the back EMF
Permanent magnet brushless motors can be classified into
desired. One of the above factors is used to best suit the
two categories.
inverter design.
First category is supplied with sinusoidal voltage and
current to the motor by using continuous rotor position
feedback. Here the motional EMF is sinusoidal, thus produces V. MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF PMBLDC
constant torque with low ripple because of sinusoidal MOTOR
interaction. This is called Permanent Magnet Synchronous
Motor (PMSM) drive or Permanent Magnet Brushless AC
motor drive. A. Principle operation of PMBLDC motor
Second category is supplied with three-phase rectangular The synchronizing magnetic field of a PMBLDC motor is
block of 120° duration; here the motional EMF is trapezoidal produced by the stator winding with magnetic field of the
in which constant part of timed waveform coincides with the rotor. The stator windings are switched on and off depending
constant phase current intervals. This requires rotor- on the rotor position, thus rotor and stator magnetic field
positioning only at commutational points for every 60° generated will be synchronized. The switching operation of
interval in three phase motor. This is called Permanent Magnet the windings is performed electronically with application of
Brushless DC motor (PMBLDCM) or trapezoidal Brushless power transistors to produce a rotating magnetic field in the air
drive. gap that stays at a fixed position with respect to the field
produced by the rotor. The voltage applied to the switching
By construction the losses in the motor are mainly in the circuit may be Alternating Current (AC) or Direct Current
stator; thus heat is dissipated to atmosphere by itself easily. In (DC), the frequency of the voltage supplied to stator windings
PMBLDC motor the torque can be maintained constant by varies with load, this results with motor to operate as a

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synchronous motor at that frequency. The torque developed by dI a Va  I a .Ra  ea

the motor is directly proportional to the armature current. dt L (2)
dI b Vb  I b .Rb  eb

B. Analysis of PMBLDC motor dt L (3)
The motor is fed with the output of the inverter as the dI c Vc  I c .Rc  ec

PMBLDC motor requires AC input. Fig.1 shows the equivalent dt L (4)
model of the motor in which output of the inverter is connected
to the PMBLDC motor. The previous works carried out shows
that frictional constant is very small and neglected but in the
present work it is taken into consideration and the same is
reflected in the transfer function derived as below. The analysis
is based on the following assumptions for simplification,
 Stator resistances and inductances of all windings are
equal. Fig 2: Scheme of mechanical System
 All the three phases have an identical induced emf
shapes. The mechanical system shown schematically in Fig.2 is
 Power semi-conductor devices are ideal. defined by the equation,
 Iron losses are negligible.
 d r
Constant self and mutual inductance. Te  TL J Bm r
 Armature reactions are ignored. dx (5)
 Uniform air gap, Motor is not saturated. d e P
( ) r
dt 2 (6)

Ra= Rb =Rc Rotor resistance of each phase in ohms,

La=Lb =Lc Rotor inductance of each phase in henry
M=mutual inductance of each phase.
Ia, Ib, Ic ,=Rotor phase current of each phase in ampere
Fig.1: The equivalent model of PMBLDC motor Va, Vb,Vc =Rotor phase voltage of each phase in volts
Ea, Eb,Ec = Back EMF voltage of each phase in volts
TABLE 1: Motor Drive requirements Ke=Back emf constant in volt/(rad/sec)
=Torque constant in N-m/Ampere,
Rated voltage 48V DC Te=Torque developed by the motor in N-m,
Rated power 500 W Tl=Load torque by the motor in N-m
Rated torque 1.27 Nm Θe =angle between the phase and the rotor in radians
Rated speed 3000 rpm J =Moment of inertia of motor and load in Kg-m2/rad,
Rated current 11.4 A B =frictional constant of motor and load in N-m/(rad/sec)
Peak current 34.2 A
Peak torque 3.81 Nm With the above equations the obtained mathematical model is
Resistance 0.94 Ohms simulated using matlab software package. The block diagram
Inductance 1.19 mH of the PMBLDC motor is similar to that of the DC motor
Electrical time constant 1.26 ms which is shown in Fig.3
Mechanical time constant 4.91 ms
Voltage constant 10.1 v/krpm V(s) ω(s)
Torque constant 0.128 Nm/A 1/L 1/s Kt 1/J 1/s
a
Rotor moment of inertia 0.51 Kg.cm2
Motor length 130 Mm
1/R 1/B

Ke
 Va   ia  Ra 0 0  LM 0 0   ia   ea 
      d   
 Vb    ib  0 Rb 0   0 L  M 0  dt  ib   eb  Fig.3: Block diagram of BLDC motor
 V   i  0 0 R   0 0 L  M   ic  e 
c c c c
(1)
The transfer function of the PMBLDC motor is given by

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 (s) Kt

V ( s ) JL ( s 2 J .Ra B.La B.Ra K t .K e
a ( )s ( )
J .La J .La(7)
The equation (7) is so simple that for computation only
motor torque constant Kt has been taken. The stability of the
motor is analyzed by root locus method, and the same is
simulated in Matlab. Table I shows the motor parameters for
which the analysis has been done.

The motor taken for the study is manufactured by Kinavo Fig.6: Transient analysis of the motor
Servo Motor (Changzhou) Limited, Japan.
Form the root locus plot shown in Fig.5, it is clear
The transfer function of the motor for the parameters of that the motor is stable as the plot lies on the leftside of the
Table1 is given by plane. Fig.6 shows the transient analysis obtained from the
step input which shows 73.5% overshoot and 9.02 ms settling
( s) 2.109e06 (8) time.
G( s)   2
V (s) s 831.6s 2.133e07
The output current of the motor is sinusoidal as shown in
Fig.7. The PMBLDC motors stands apart from other motors
because of the back-emf generated during the dynamics, the
VI. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS trapeoidal back-emf waveform of the motor is shown in Fig.8.

A simple Matlab model for the PMBLDC motor has been

obtained which is as shown in Fig.4, the input source
voltage is taken from the basic voltage equations, and
separate blocks are generated for per phase back-emf and
current output.

Fig.7: Output current waveform of PMBLDC motor

Fig.4: Simulink model of PMBLDC motor

Fig.8: Back-emf generated by the PMBLDC motor

Fig.5: Root Locus plot of PMBLDC motor

Fig.9: torque pulsating dring the commutation

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 The advantages of PMBLDC motor is low noise, high
efficiency, reduction of excitation requirement, low
maintenance, ease of control, lighter and more compact
construction and ease in cooling. Like all other modern
machines it also has disadvantages like cost of permanent
magnet, possibility of demagnetization of PM and dangerous
nature of large magnets.
The presented model gives a complete view of the
PMBLDC motor which can be implemented in all real time
applications. By varying the magnitude of the current
waveforms of the PMBLDC motor, the speed and acceleration
of motor is manipulated and can be implemented to the
required applications.
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