Module II

Syllabus
 Induction motors and drives, configuration, controls and applications
in EV/HEV’s;
 Permanent magnet motors-neodymium and ferrite and samarium
cobalt types and drives configuration,
 Brushless DC Motor (BLDC)
 Interior Permanent magnet (IPM)
 Switch reluctance motors (SRM) W-Axial,
 3 phase Induction controls and applications in EV/HEV’s

1. Induction Motor
1.1. Introduction
An induction motor (also known as an asynchronous motor) is a
commonly used AC electric motor. In an induction motor, the electric
current in the rotor needed to produce torque is obtained via
electromagnetic induction from the rotating magnetic field of the stator
winding. The rotor of an induction motor can be a squirrel cage rotor or
wound type rotor. Induction motors are referred to as ‘asynchronous
motors’ because they operate at a speed less than their synchronous speed.
 Synchronous speed is the speed of rotation of the magnetic
field in a rotary machine and it depends upon the frequency
and number poles of the machine.

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  An induction motor always runs at a speed less than
synchronous speed because the rotating magnetic field which is
produced in the stator will generate flux in the rotor which
will make the rotor to rotate, but due to the lagging of flux
current in the rotor with flux current in the stator, the rotor
will never reach to its rotating magnetic field speed. i.e. the
synchronous speed.
 An AC motor's synchronous speed, is the rotation rate of the
stator's magnetic field, which is expressed in revolutions per
minute as

Where,
f is the motor supply's frequency in hertz
p is the number of magnetic poles. i.e., for a six-pole three-phase motor
with three pole-pairs set 120° apart, p equals 6 and ns equals 1,000 RPM
and 1,200 RPM respectively for 50 Hz and 60 Hz supply systems.
Induction motors, particularly squirrel cage IM, have many advantages
when compared to DC motors. They are,
 Ruggedness
 Lower maintenance requirements
 Better reliability
 Low cost, less weight and volume
 Higher efficiency

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  Induction motors are able to operate in dirty and explosive
environments.
Because of the above said advantages, induction motors are predominantly
used in many industrial applications. But induction motors were used only
for applications requiring constant speed. DC motors were used for
variable speed applications as their speed control is cheap and efficient
when compared to induction motors.
After the advent of power electronic converters, it was able to design
variable speed drives for induction motors. Because speed control of IM
using power electronic converters have become cheap and less costly
when compared to dc drives.
1.2. Rotating Magnetic Field
 When a 3-phase winding is energized from a 3-phase supply, a
rotating magnetic field is produced.
 This field is such that its poles do not remain in a fixed position on
the stator but go on shifting their positions around the stator.
 For this reason, it is called a rotating field. The magnitude of this
rotating field is constant and is equal to 1.5 Φm, where Φm is the
maximum flux due to any phase.

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 Fig 1.1: Fluxes produced by line current
1.3. Construction of Induction Motor
A three phase Induction motor mainly consists of two parts called as the
Stator and the Rotor. The stator is the stationary part of the induction
motor, and the rotor is the rotating part. The construction of the stator is
similar to the three-phase synchronous motor, and the construction of
rotor is different for the different machine.
a. Stator: The stator is built up of high-grade alloy steel laminations
to reduce eddy current losses. It has three main parts, namely outer
frame, the stator core and a stator winding.
Outer frame: It is the outer body of the motor. Its main function is
to support the stator core and to protect the inner parts of the
machine. For small machines, the outer frame is casted, but for the
large machine, it is fabricated. The figure below shows the stator
construction.

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 Fig 1.2: Stator view
Stator Core: The stator core is built of high-grade silicon steel
stampings. Its main function is to carry the alternating magnetic
field which produces hysteresis and eddy current losses. The
stampings are fixed to the stator frame. Each stamping are insulated
from the other with a thin varnish layer. The thickness of the
stamping usually varies from 0.3 to 0.5 mm. Slots are punched on
the inner side of the stampings to accommodate stator winding.

Fig 1.3: Stator slots for winding

Stator windings: The core of the stator carries three phase windings
which are usually supplied from a three-phase supply system. The
six terminals of the windings (two of each phase) are connected in
the terminal box of the machine. The stator of the motor is wound

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 for a definite number of poles, depending on the speed of the motor.
If the number of poles is greater, the speed of the motor will be
less and if the number of poles is less than the speed will be high.
As the relationship between the speed and the pole of the motor is
given as

b. Rotor: The rotor is also built of thin laminations of the same

material as the stator. The laminated cylindrical core is mounted
directly on the shaft. These laminations are slotted on the outer side
to receive the conductors. There are two types of rotor.
1. Squirrel Cage Rotor
2. Phase Wound Rotor
Squirrel Cage Rotor: A squirrel cage rotor consists of a laminated
cylindrical core. The circular slots at the outer periphery are semi-
closed. Each slot contains uninsulated bar conductor of aluminium
or copper. At the end of the rotor the conductors the short-circuited
by a heavy ring of copper or aluminum. The rotor slots are usually
not parallel to the shaft but are skewed.

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 Fig 1.4: Rotor view
The skewing of the rotor conductors has the following advantages given
below.
 It reduces humming and provide smooth and noise free operation.
 It results in a uniform torque curve for different positions of the
rotor.
 The locking tendency of the rotor is reduced, as the teeth of the
rotor and the stator attract each other and lock.
 It increases the rotor resistance due to the increased length of the
rotor bar conductors.
1.4. Working Principle
 The motor which works on the principle of electromagnetic
induction is known as the induction motor. The electromagnetic
induction is the phenomenon in which the electromotive force
induces across the electrical conductor when it is placed in a
rotating magnetic field.

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 When the three phase supply is given to the stator, the rotating
magnetic field produced on it. The figure below shows the rotating
magnetic field set up in the stator.
 The polarities of the magnetic field vary by concerning the positive
and negative half cycle of the supply. The change in polarities
makes the magnetic field rotates.
 The conductors of the rotor are stationary. This stationary conductor
cut the rotating magnetic field of the stator, and because of the
electromagnetic induction, the EMF induces in the rotor. This EMF
is known as the rotor induced EMF, and it is because of the
electromagnetic induction phenomenon.

Fig 1.5: Schematic view of induction motor

 The conductors of the rotor are short-circuited either by the end
rings or by the help of the external resistance. The relative motion
between the rotating magnetic field and the rotor conductor induces

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 the current in the rotor conductors. As the current flows through the
conductor, the flux induces on it. The direction of rotor flux is same
as that of the rotor current.
 Now we have two fluxes one because of the rotor and another
because of the stator. These fluxes interact each other. On one end
of the conductor the fluxes cancel each other, and on the other end,
the density of the flux is very high. Thus, the high-density flux tries
to push the conductor of rotor towards the low-density flux region.
This phenomenon induces the torque on the conductor, and this
torque is known as the electromagnetic torque.
 The direction of electromagnetic torque and rotating magnetic field
is same. Thus, the rotor starts rotating in the same direction as that
of the rotating magnetic field.
 The speed of the rotor is always less than the rotating magnetic
field or synchronous speed. The rotor tries to the run at the speed of
the rotor, but it always slips away. Thus, the motor never runs at
the speed of the rotating magnetic field, and this is the reason
because of which the induction motor is also known as the
asynchronous motor.
1.5. Slip
Induction motor rotor always rotate at a speed less than synchronous

speed. The difference between the main flux speed (Ns) and their rotor

speed (N) is called slip.

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 1.6. Torque Slip Characteristic of an Induction Motor
The Torque Slip Characteristic is represented by a rectangular
hyperbola. For the immediate value of the slip, the graph changes from
one form to the other. Thus, it passes through the point of maximum
torque when R2 = sX2. The maximum torque developed in an
induction motor is called the Pull Out Torque or the Breakdown
Torque. This torque is a measure of the short time overloading
capability of the motor.
The torque slip characteristic curve is divided roughly into three regions.
They are given below.
 Low slip region
 Medium slip region
 High slip region
The torque equation of the induction motor is given below.

Low Slip Region: At the synchronous speed, s = 0, therefore, the torque

is zero. When the speed is very near to synchronous speed. The slip is
very low and (sX2)2 is negligible in comparison with R2. Therefore,

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If R2 is constant, the torque becomes

When k2 = k1/R2
From the equation shown above, it is clear that the torque is proportional
to slip. Hence, in the normal working region of the motor, the value of
the slip is small. The torque slip curve is a straight line.
Medium Slip Region: As the slip increases, the speed of the motor
decreases with the increase in load. The term (sX2)2 becomes large. The
term R22 may be neglected in comparison with the term (sX2)2 and the
torque equation becomes as shown below.

At the standstill condition, the torque is inversely proportional to the slip.

High Slip Region: Beyond the maximum torque point, the value of
torque starts decreasing. As a result, the motor slows down and stops. At
this stage, the overload protection must immediately disconnect the motor
from the supply to prevent damage due to overheating of the motor.
The motor operates for the values of the slip between s = 0 and s = sM.
Where, sM is the value of the slip corresponding to the maximum torque.
For a typical induction motor, the pull-out torque is 2 to 3 times the rated
full load torque. The starting torque is about 1.5 times the rated full load
torque.

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The curve shown below shows the Torque Slip Characteristic of the
Induction Motor.

Fig 1.6: Torque slip characteristics

1.7. Torque Speed Characteristic of an Induction Motor
Torque Speed Characteristic is the curve plotted between the torque and
the speed of the induction motor.
At the maximum torque, the speed of the rotor is expressed by the
equation shown below.

The curve below shows the Torque Speed Characteristic.

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 Fig 1.7: Speed torque characteristics
The maximum torque is independent of the rotor resistance. But the exact
location of the maximum torque Tmax is dependent on it. Greater, the
value of the R2, the greater is the value of the slip at which maximum
torque occurs. As the rotor resistance increases, the pull-out speed of the
motor decreases. In this condition, the maximum torque remains constant.
1.8. Induction motor speed control
The conventional methods of speed control of induction motors are,
Stator Side
 Stator voltage control
 Variable frequency control
 Stator current control
 V/f control
 Changing the number of poles on stator
Rotor Side
 Rotor resistance control
 Injecting emf in the rotor
1.8.1.Stator voltage control: Speed of induction motor can be varied in
a narrow range by varying the voltage applied to the stator
winding.
Torque developed by 3 phase induction motor is directly
proportional to the square of the stator voltage as given by the
equation,

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In low slip region (S.X2) is very small as compared to R2. So, it can be
2

neglected. So equation becomes,

Since rotor resistance R2 is constant, the torque equation becomes,

Here E2 is proportional to the supply voltage V1. Hence,

From the above equation, it is clear that any reduction in supply voltage
will reduce the motor speed. Meanwhile, it is seen that any reduction in
supply voltage will reduce the torque also. So in this method of speed
control, torque reduces when supply voltage reduces. Hence this method
is used in applications where torque demand reduces with reduction in
voltage. In general, this method can be used for small range of speed
variation. In this method of speed control, the slip increases at low
speeds. Hence the efficiency of the drive reduces.
 Examples: Fans and pump drives.
1.8.2.Stator frequency control: In an induction motor, we know that

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 From the above equation, it is clear that changing the supply
frequency will change the synchronous speed and hence the rotor
speed.
 Emf equation in ac machines is given by,

 The above equation states that the flux φ will be constant if V1 and
f are kept constant. If frequency is reduced with constant V1, then
the flux φ increases. Hence the core gets saturated.
 This will increase the magnetizing current of the motor. Hence
power losses increased and efficiency decreases. It also produces
noise.
 If the frequency is increased by keeping the V1 constant, then flux
decreases. This will reduce the maximum torque produced by the
motor. So this method is rarely used in practice.
1.8.3.Voltage / frequency control: Varying the voltage alone or
frequency alone has some disadvantages with regards to the
operation of induction motor.
 The maximum torque in an induction motor is given by,

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  Here K is a constant and Ls & Lr’ are the stator and stator
referred rotor inductances.
 At high frequencies, the value of (Rs / f) will be very much less
than 2π (Ls+ Lr’). So (Rs / f) can be neglected and hence the
torque equation becomes,

 From equation 3, it is clear that if the ratio (V / f) is kept constant,

the motor can produce a constant maximum torque, Tmax. i.e
constant torque operation.
 At low frequencies (when speed is reduced), the term (Rs / f) will
be high and it cannot be neglected in equation 1. Hence the motor
torque reduces.
 This is because of the fact that the flux reduces as the frequency is
decreased as per flux equation (refer 1.8.2)
 Hence if maximum torque needs to be maintained constant at low
speeds, then (V / f) ratio must be increased.

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 Near to base speed (or rated speed), the supply voltage will be
maximum and it cannot be increased further. Therefore, above base
speed, the frequency is changed by keeping supply voltage constant.
 But this will decrease the maximum torque produced by the motor
as per the equation 3

.
Fig 1.8: V-f relation
 From the graph of Fig. 1.8, it is clear that
o (V/f) ratio is increased at low frequency to keep maximum
torque constant.
o (V/f) ratio is kept constant at high frequencies up to base
frequency
o V is kept constant and frequency is varied above base
frequency.
1.8.4.Rotor resistance control: In this method of speed control, an
external resistance is added with rotor circuit and it is varied to
control the speed of the induction motor. This method is
applicable only to slip ring induction motor. We know that

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 From the above equation, it is clear that any increase in R2 will
increase slip S. Increase in slip means reduction in speed. Hence
rotor resistance varies the speed.
 Rotor resistance does not affect the value of maximum torque
produced by the motor. But it changes the speed at which the
maximum torque is produced. It is shown in Fig. 1.9.
 It is clear from Fig.1.9 that for the same value of motor torque, the
speed reduces with an increase in rotor resistance.

Fig 1.9: Speed – torque relation

 In this method of speed control, the motor torque does not change
even at low speeds. Also this method is less costly when compared
to variable frequency operations.

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 Because of its low cost and high torque producing capabilities, this
method is used in cranes.
 But major disadvantage of this method is its low efficiency due to
additional power losses in the external resistance connected to the
rotor.
 These losses occur in the external resistor. So the heat produced
around the external resistor does not increase the heat of the motor.
1.8.5.Static Rotor resistance control: In a three phase slip ring
induction motor, a three phase diode rectifier, a chopper and a
single resistor is connected as shown in Fig. 1.10.
 An inductor Ld is connected to reduce the ripple present in the
dc link current. The rotor current waveform is shown in Fig.
1.10.
 The rms value of rotor current is given by,

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 Fig 1.10: Drive circuit and current flow
 The ac output voltage from rotor windings is rectified using diode
bridge and it is fed to the parallel combination of fixed resistor and
a transistor.
 The effective value of this resistance connected between the
terminals A & B is varied by varying the duty cycle of the
transistor.
 The resistance between A & B is zero when transistor is ON.
Resistance between A & B is maximum (i.e R) when transistor is
off.
 The effective resistance connected between A & B is given by,

Where  is the duty cycle.

2. Permanent magnetic motors

By using high energy magnets such as rare earth-based magnets, a PM
machine drive can be designed with high power density, high speed and

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high operation efficiency. These advantages are attractive for their
application in EVs and HEVs. The major advantages of PM machines are:
 High efficiency: The PM machines have a very high efficiency due
to the use of PMs for excitation which consume no power.
Moreover, the absence of mechanical commutators and brushes
results in low mechanical friction losses.
 High Power density: The use of high energy density magnets has
allowed achieving very high flux densities in the PM machines. As
a result of high flux densities, high torque can be produced from a
given volume of motor compared to other motors of same volume.
 Ease of Control: THE PM motors can be controlled as easily as DC
motors because the control variables are easily accessible and
constant throughout the operation of the motor.
However, the PM machines also suffer from some disadvantages such as:
 Cost: Rare-earth magnets commonly used in PM machines are very
expensive.
 Magnet Demagnetization: The magnets can be demagnetized by
large opposing magnetomotive force and high temperatures.
 Inverter Failure: Due to magnets on the rotor, PM motors present
major risks in the case of short circuit failures of the inverters. The
rotor is always energized and constantly induces EMF in the short-
circuited windings. A very large current circulates in those windings
and an accordingly large torque tends to block the rotor. The

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 dangers of blocking one or several wheels of a vehicle are non-
negligible.
Based on the shape of the back e.m.f induced in the stator windings, the
PM motors can be classified into two types:
 Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine with sinusoidal back e.m.f

Fig 2.1: Sinusoidal back e.m.f

 Brushless Permanent Magnet DC Machines (BLDC) with trapezoidal
back e.m.f

Fig 2.2 : Trapezoidal back e.m.f

In a DC motor, an armature rotates inside a magnetic field. Basic working
principle of DC motor is based on the fact that whenever a current
carrying conductor is placed inside a magnetic field, there will be
mechanical force experienced by that conductor.

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All kinds of DC motors work in this principle only. Hence for
constructing a DC motor it is essential to establish a magnetic field. The
magnetic field is obviously established by means of magnet. The magnet
can by any types i.e. it may be electromagnet or it can be permanent
magnet. When permanent magnet is used to create magnetic field in a DC
motor, the motor is referred as permanent magnet DC motor or PMDC
motor. Have you ever uncovered any battery operated toy, if you did, you
had obviously found a battery operated motor inside it. This battery
operated motor is nothing but a permanent magnet DC motor or PMDC
motor. These types of motor are essentially simple in construction. These
motors are commonly used as starter motor in automobiles, windshield
wipers, washer, for blowers used in heaters and air conditioners, to raise
and lower windows, it also extensively used in toys. As the magnetic field
strength of a permanent magnet is fixed it cannot be controlled externally,
field control of this type of DC motor cannot be possible. Thus permanent
magnet DC motor is used where there is no need of speed control of
motor by means of controlling its field. Small fractional and sub fractional
KW motors now constructed with permanent magnet.
2.1. Permanent Magnets
The PMs are a source of mmf, much like a constant current source with
relative permeability μr just greater than air, i.e., μr ≈ 1.05–1.07. The
PM characteristics are displayed in the second quadrant of the B–H plot,
as shown in Figure 2.1, conforming with the fact that these are sources of
mmf. The magnets remain permanent as long as the operating point is

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within the linear region of its B–H characteristics. However, if the flux
density is reduced beyond the knee-point of the characteristics ( Bd), some
magnetism will be lost permanently. On removal of the demagnetizing
field greater than the limit, the new characteristics will be another straight
line parallel to but lower than the original. The common types of magnets
used in PM machines are the ferrites, samarium cobalt (SmCo), and
neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB). The features and properties of these
three magnets are discussed below.
2.1.1.Ferrites
 They have been available for decades.
 Their cost is low.

Fig. 2.3: Characteristics of commonly used PMs.

 The residual flux density Br at 0.3–0.4T is much lower than the
desired range of gap flux density for high power density.
 Bd is higher for those ferrites for which Br is higher.
 Ferrites have high resistivity and low core losses.
 They can be operated up to 100°C.
 An increase in temperature increases Br and decreases Bd.

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 2.1.2.Samarium Cobalt
 This material has a higher value of Br, 0.8–1.1 T.
 Bd is well into the third quadrant.
 Br decreases somewhat with temperature, while Bd increases.
This leads to increased sensitivity to demagnetization as
temperature increases.
 The resistivity is 50 times that of Cu.
 Their cost is relatively high, reflecting the cost of rare earth
element and an expensive metal.
2.1.3.Neodymium–Iron–Boron
Neodymium (NdFeB) magnets have become most popular magnets in
recent years and replaced. More advantages over the other types of
magnet in many applications in modern products that require strong
permanent magnets, such as motors in cordless tools, hard disk drives and
magnetic fasteners. Neodymium magnets can be used to invent a new
method of energy generation by using the magnetic field of magnet and
convert the magnetic energy into kinetic energy without using any kind of
fuel and overcoming the energy generation problem such as building a
magnetic turbine.
 Sintered NdFeB developed in Japan in 1983 provided the major
impetus to PM motors.
 Br is in the range of 1.1–1.25 T at room temperature. This is
adequate to produce a flux-density of 0.8–0.9 T across a
relatively large air gap.

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  Br decreases by about 0.1% for each degree rise in temperature.
 The knee-point of flux density (Bd) increases rapidly with
temperature.
 This imposes a limit on maximum temperature for NdFeB in the
range of 100°C–140°C, depending on the detailed composition.
 The cost of these sintered NdFeB materials is still high mainly
because of the manufacturing complexity of the sintering process.
 The cost may reduce in the future with increase in volume use.
 Fe(77%), B(8%) cost relatively little and Nd is one of the more
prevalent rare earth elements.
 Bonded NdFeB magnets can be produced at a lower cost, but Br
is lower at about 0.6–0.7 T.
PM machines are designed with adequate considerations for magnet
protection. Demagnetization may occur if flux density is reduced below
the knee-point of flux density Bd. Most PM motors are designed to
withstand considerable overload currents (2–4 times the rated) without
danger to the magnets.

3. Brushless DC Motor (BLDC)

 Permanent magnet synchronous motors have received a considerable
attention in the industrial application since 1970’s. Nowadays they
are used in various applications such as automotive, aerospace,
medical equipment, industrial automation and instrumentation.
Permanent magnet synchronous motors are mainly divided into two

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 various types based on their back-EMF waveform; the one with a
sinusoidal-wave back-EMF that is called Permanent Magnet
Synchronous AC Motor (PMSM) and the other with a trapezoidal-
wave back-EMF that is called Permanent Magnet Brushless DC
(BLDC) Motors. The trapezoidal-shaped back-emf waveforms in
these machines are due to the concentrated windings of the machine
used instead of the sinusoidally distributed windings used in the
PMSMs.
 Permanent magnet rotors can vary from two pole pairs to eight pole
pairs. Magnet material is chosen with respect to the required
magnetic field density in the rotor. Ferrite magnets are usually used
to make the permanent magnet rotor of the BLDC motor, however
they have the disadvantage of low flux density. In contrast, alloy
materials such as Neodymium (Nd), Samarium Cobalt (SmCo),
Ferrite and Boron (NdFeB) have higher magnetic density. Hence
these alloy magnets produce more torque for the same volume
compared to the ferrite magnets.
 BLDC motor needs a complex control algorithm due to the
electronic commutation that is done according to the exact position
of the permanent magnet rotor. There are two algorithms for rotor
detection; one method that uses sensors and the other does not that
is called sensorless.
 A set of three Hall sensors mounted on the stator facing a magnet
wheel fixed to the rotor and placed 120° apart can easily give this

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 position information. This eliminates the need for a high resolution
encoder or position sensor required in PMSMs, but the penalty paid
for position sensor simplification is in the performance. Vector
control is not possible in PM BLDC machines because of the
trapezoidal shape of the back-emfs.

Fig 3.1: Back-emf and ideal phase currents in the three phases of
a PM brushless DC motor.
 The three-phase back-emf waveforms and the ideal phase currents of
a PM BLDC motor are shown in Figure 3.1. The back-emf
waveforms are fixed with respect to the rotor position. Square wave
phase currents are supplied such that they are synchronized with the
peak back-emf segment of the respective phase.
 BLDC motors are a novel type of the conventional DC motors
where commutation is done electronically, not by brushes. The
controller achieves this objective using rotor position feedback
information. The motor basically operates like a DC motor with its

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 electronic controller; hence, the motor is called the brushless DC
motor.
 Therefore a BLDC motor needs less maintenance, has lower noise
susceptibility and lesser power dissipation in the air gap compared
to a brushed DC motor due to absence of the brushes.
3.1. Construction
BLDC motors have many similarities to AC induction motors and brushed
DC motors in terms of construction and working principles respectively.
Like all other motors, BLDC motors also have a rotor and a stator.
Depending on the stator windings, these can be configured as single-
phase, two-phase, or three-phase motors. However, three-phase BLDC
motors with permanent magnet rotor are most commonly used.

Fig 3.2: Sectional view of BLDC

Stator: Stator of a BLDC motor made up of stacked steel laminations to
carry the windings. These windings are placed in slots which are axially
cut along the inner periphery of the stator. These windings can be

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arranged in either star (Y) or Delta (Δ). The major difference between the
two patterns is that the Y pattern gives high torque at low RPM and the
Δ pattern gives low torque at low RPM. This is because in the Δ
configuration, half of the voltage is applied across the winding that is not
driven, thus increasing losses and, in turn, efficiency and torque. Most
BLDC motors have three phase star connected stator. Each winding is
constructed with numerous interconnected coils, where one or more coils
are placed in each slot. In order to form an even number of poles, each
of these windings is distributed over the stator periphery. The stator must
be chosen with the correct rating of the voltage depending on the power
supply capability. For robotics, automotive and small actuating
applications, 48 V or less voltage BLDC motors are preferred.
Rotor: BLDC motor incorporates a permanent magnet in the rotor. The
number of poles in the rotor can vary from 2 to 8 pole pairs with
alternate south and north poles depending on the application requirement.
In order to achieve maximum torque in the motor, the flux density of the
material should be high. A proper magnetic material for the rotor is
needed to produce required magnetic field density. The rotor can be
constructed with different core configurations such as the circular core
with permanent magnet on the periphery, circular core with rectangular
magnets, etc.
Hall Sensors: Hall sensor provides the information to synchronize stator
armature excitation with rotor position. Since the commutation of BLDC
motor is controlled electronically, the stator windings should be energized

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in sequence in order to rotate the motor. Before energizing a particular
stator winding, acknowledgment of rotor position is necessary. So the Hall
Effect sensor embedded in stator senses the rotor position. Most BLDC
motors incorporate three Hall sensors which are embedded into the stator.
Each sensor generates Low and High signals whenever the rotor poles
pass near to it. The exact commutation sequence to the stator winding can
be determined based on the combination of these three sensor’s response.
3.2. Working Principle
 BLDC motor works on the principle similar to that of a
conventional DC motor, i.e., the Lorentz force law which states that
whenever a current carrying conductor placed in a magnetic field it
experiences a force. As a consequence of reaction force, the magnet
will experience an equal and opposite force.
 In case BLDC motor, the current carrying conductor is stationary
while the permanent magnet moves. When the stator coils are
electrically switched by a supply source, it becomes electromagnet
and starts producing the uniform field in the air gap.
 Though the source of supply is DC, switching makes to generate an
AC voltage waveform with trapezoidal shape. Due to the force of
interaction between electromagnet stator and permanent magnet
rotor, the rotor continues to rotate.
 Consider the figure 3.3, in which motor stator is excited based on
different switching states. With the switching of windings as High
and Low signals, corresponding winding energized as North and

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 South poles. The permanent magnet rotor with North and South
poles align with stator poles causing motor to rotate.
 Observe that motor produces torque because of the development of
attraction forces (when North-South or South-North alignment) and
repulsion forces (when North-North or South-South alignment). By
this way motor moves in a clockwise direction.

Fig 3.3: Working of BLDC

3.3. Torque and Efficiency
For the study of electric motors, torque is a very important term. By
definition, torque is the tendency of force to rotate an object about its
axis.

Thus, to increase the torque, either force has to be increased – which

requires stronger magnets or more current – or distance must be
increased – for which bigger magnets will be required. Efficiency is
critical for motor design because it determines the amount of power

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consumed. A higher efficiency motor will also require less material to
generate the required torque.

Having understood the above provided equations, it becomes important to

understand the speed vs. torque curve.

Fig 3.4. Speed torque characteristics of BLDC

As can be seen from the graph-

 With an increase in speed, the torque reduces (considering the input
power is constant).

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  Maximum power can be delivered when the speed is half of the “no
load” speed and torque is half of the stall torque.

3.4. BLDC Drive control

The block diagram of BLDC drive system is shown in Figure 3.4. It
consists of a three phase inverter, position sensors, signal conditioner and
a digital controller. The commutation of a BLDC motor is controlled
electronically. The stator windings should be energized in a sequence in
order to rotate the motor. Rotor position should be known in order to
switch the winding in sequence. A permanent magnet brushless dc motor
incorporates some means of detecting the rotor position.
The BDLC motor detects the position of the rotor using Hall sensors.
Three sensors are required for position information. With three sensors,
six possible commutation sequences could be obtained. In the Hall sensor
technique, three Hall sensors are placed inside the motor, spaced 120
degrees apart. Each Hall sensor provides either a High or
Low output based on the polarity of magnetic pole close to it. Rotor
position is determined by analyzing the outputs of all three Hall sensors.
Based on the output from hall sensors, the voltages to the motor's three
phases are switched.
BLDC motor control is to have only one current at a time. Because of
which current sensor is not advised to be placed on each phase of the
motor; one sensor placed in the line inverter input is sufficient to control

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the current of each phase. Insulated systems are not required when sensor
is on the ground line.
The torque and speed of motors is managed by microcontroller. A
sufficient amount of processing power is required to solve the algorithms
needed to generate Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) outputs for motor. By
simply varying the voltage across the motor, one can control the speed of
the motor. When using PWM outputs to control the six switches of the
three-phase bridge, variation of the motor voltage can be achieved easily
by changing the duty cycle of the PWM signal. The three-phase BLDC
speed control is done by using both open loop and closed loop
configurations. Open-loop control is used to control the speed of the
motor by directly controlling the duty cycle of the PWM signal that
directs the motor-drive circuitry. The duty cycle of the PWM signal
controls the ON time of the power switches in the half bridges of the
motor-drive circuit and this in turn controls the average voltage supplied
across the motor windings. Closed loop control regulates the speed of the
motor by directly controlling the duty cycle of the PWM signals that
direct the motor-drive circuitry. The major difference between the two
control systems is that the open-loop control considers only the speed
control input to update the PWM duty cycle, whereas, the closed-loop
control considers both speed-input control and actual motor speed
(feedback to controller) for updating the PWM duty cycle and, in turn,
the motor speed. A PID controller is a closed-loop control implementation
that is widely used and is most commonly used as a feedback controller.

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The actual motor speed is calculated by tracking the time period between
successive Hall events, which represents a part of the mechanical cycle of
the motor. In a 3-phase BLDC motor control, one electrical cycle has six
Hall states and, depending on the number of poles pairs in the motor, the
electrical angle measured between successive Hall state changes can be
translated to a respective mechanical angle.

Fig 3.4: BLDC Drive control system

4. Switched Reluctance Motors

In these kinds of motors, motion is produced as a result of the variable
reluctance in the air gap between the rotor and the stator. When a stator
winding is energized, producing a single magnetic field, reluctance torque
is produced by the tendency of the rotor to move to its minimum
reluctance position. This phenomenon is analogous to the force that
attracts iron or steel to permanent magnets. In those cases, reluctance is
minimized when the magnet and metal come into physical contact. As far
as motors that operates on this principle, referred as the switched
reluctance motor (SRM).

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The Switched Reluctance Motor is a brushless AC motor. The switched
reluctance motor (SRM) is a type of a stepper motor, an electric motor
that runs by reluctance torque. Unlike common DC motor types, power is
delivered to windings in the stator rather than the rotor. This greatly
simplifies mechanical design as power does not have to be delivered to a
moving part, but it complicates the electrical design as some sort of
switching system needs to be used to deliver power to the different
windings.
4.1. Construction
The SRM is the simplest of all electrical machines. Only the stator has
windings. The rotor contains no conductors or permanent magnets. It
consists simply of steel laminations stacked onto a shaft. It is because of
this simple mechanical construction that SRMs carry the promise of low
cost, which in turn has motivated a large amount of research on SRMs in
the last decade.
The mechanical simplicity of the device, however, comes with some
limitations. Like the brushless DC motor, SRMs cannot run directly from
a DC bus or an AC line, but must always be electronically commutated.
Also, the saliency of the stator and rotor, necessary for the machine to
produce reluctance torque, causes strong non-linear magnetic
characteristics, complicating the analysis and control of the SRM. Not
surprisingly, industry acceptance of SRMs has been slow. This is due to a
combination of perceived difficulties with the SRM, the lack of

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commercially available electronics with which to operate them, and the
entrenchment of traditional AC and DC machines in the marketplace.
The switched reluctance motor (SRM) is a doubly salient, singly excited
reluctance machine with independent phase windings on the stator. The
stator and the rotor are made of magnetic steel laminations, with the latter
having no windings or magnets. The SRMs can be of various stator–rotor
pole combinations related to different phase configurations. The cross-
sectional diagrams of a four-phase, 8–6 SRM and a three-phase, 12–8
SRM are shown in Figure 4.1.

Fig 4.1: Cross sectional view of SRM Machines

The three-phase, 12–8 machine is a two-repetition version of the basic
6–4 structure within the single stator geometry. The two-repetition
machine can alternately be labeled as a four-poles/phase machine,
compared to the 6–4 structure that can be called a two-poles/phase
machine. The stator windings on diametrically opposite poles are
connected either in series or in parallel to form one phase of the motor.
When a stator phase is energized, the most adjacent rotor pole-pair is
attracted toward the energized stator in order to minimize the reluctance

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of the magnetic path. Therefore, it is possible to develop constant torque
in either direction of rotation by energizing consecutive phases in
succession. The aligned position of a phase is defined to be the
orientation when the stator and rotor poles of the phase are perfectly
aligned with each other, attaining the minimum reluctance position. The
unsaturated phase inductance is maximum ( La) in this position. The phase
inductance decreases gradually as the rotor poles move away from the
aligned position in either direction.
When the rotor poles are symmetrically misaligned with the stator poles
of a phase, the position is said to be the unaligned position. The phase
has the minimum inductance (Lu) in this position. Although, the concept
of inductance is not valid for a highly saturating machine like SRM, the
unsaturated aligned and unaligned inductances are two key reference
positions for the controller.
Several other combinations of the number of stator and rotor poles exist,
such as 10–4, 12–8, etc. A 4–2 or a 2–2 configuration is also possible,
but these have the disadvantage that if the stator and rotor poles are
aligned exactly, then it would be impossible to develop a starting torque.
The configurations with higher number of stator/rotor pole combinations
have less torque ripple and do not have the problem of starting torque.
4.2. Torque–speed characteristics
The torque–speed plane of an SRM drive can be divided into three
regions, as shown in Figure 4.2. The constant torque region is the region
below the base speed ω b, which is defined as the highest speed when

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maximum rated current can be applied to the motor at rated voltage with
fixed firing angles. In other words, ωb is the lowest possible speed for the
motor to operate at its rated power.

Fig 4.2: Torque–speed characteristics of SRM

Region 1: In the low-speed region of operation, the current rises almost
instantaneously after turn-on, since the back-emf is small. The current can
be set at any desired level by means of regulators, such as hysteresis
controller or voltage pulse-width modulation (PWM) controller. As the
motor speed increases, the back-emf soon becomes comparable to the DC
bus voltage, and it is necessary to phase advance the turn-on angle so that
the current can rise up to the desired level against a lower back-emf.
Maximum current can still be forced into the motor by PWM or chopping
control to maintain the maximum torque production. The phase excitation
pulses also need to be turned off at a certain time before the rotor passes
alignment to allow the freewheeling current to decay so that no braking
torque is produced.

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Region 2: When the back-emf exceeds the DC bus voltage in high-speed
operation, the current starts to decrease once pole overlap begins and
PWM or chopping control is no longer possible. The natural characteristic
of the SRM, when operated with fixed supply voltage and fixed
conduction angle θdwell (also known as the dwell angle), begins when the
phase excitation time falls off inversely with speed and so does the
current. Since the torque is roughly proportional to the square of the
current, the rapid fall in torque with speed is countered by adjusting the
conduction angle. Increasing the conduction angle increases the effective
amps delivered to the phase. The torque production is maintained at a
level high enough in this region by adjusting the conduction angle θdwell

with the single-pulse mode of operation. The controller maintains the

torque inversely proportional to the speed; hence, this region is called the
constant power region. The conduction angle is also increased by
advancing the turn-on angle until the θdwell reaches its upper limit at speed
ωp. The medium speed range through which constant power operation can
be maintained is quite wide and very high maximum speeds can be
achieved.
Region 3: The θdwell upper limit is reached when it occupies half the rotor
pole pitch, i.e., half the electrical cycle. θdwell cannot be increased further
because otherwise the flux would not return to zero and the current
conduction would become continuous. The torque in this region is
governed by the natural characteristics, falling off as 1/ω2.

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The torque–speed characteristics of the SRM are similar to that of a DC
series motor, which is not surprising considering that the back-emf is
proportional to current, while the torque is proportional to the square of
the current.
4.3. Speed Control
4.3.1.Sensor based control system

Fig 4.3: Block diagram of typical SRM control scheme

The position of rotor is sensed by the rotor position sensor and it
provides its corresponding output to the error detector. Error detector
compares reference speed and actual speed to generate error signal which
is given to controller block. The controller gives appropriate control signal
to the converter according to the error signal. The speed of the motor is
controlled by the converter through proper excitation of the corresponding
windings in the stator.
4.3.2.Sensorless speed control
The general block diagram of the observer-based adaptive estimator for
SRM drives has shown in Fig.4.4.

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 Fig 4.4: Block diagram of Sensorless control drive
The system has three main parts:
 SRM drive.
 PID Controller.
 Flux estimator.
The terminal measurements of phase current and voltages are used to
calculate and estimate the flux linkage and then the error of the calculated
and estimated values are used in binary observer to estimate the speed
and angle. A fuzzy PID controller was used to speed controller.

5. Internal Permanent Magnet (IPM) Motor control

The Interior Permanent Magnet (IPM) synchronous motors, built with
magnets placed inside the rotor body, are attracting great attention in
several variable speed applications, such as electric vehicles, industrial and
domestic appliances, where the most challenging requirements are high
efficiency, high torque density, good overload capability and extended
speed range. Additional features are the robustness of the rotor structure,

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mechanically suited to high speed operation, and the presence of magnetic
saliency: the “direct” d-axis inductance is substantially different from the
“quadrature” q-axis inductance, where the d-axis is aligned with the
Permanent Magnet (PM) flux according to the equivalent Park model of
the synchronous machine. This characteristic is particularly suited for
extending the torque/speed operating region by proper “field weakening”
control techniques: the most popular approach is to combine the
maximum torque per ampere trajectory with the voltage constraint-
tracking field-weakening control.

5.1. Sectional view of IPM

 Reduce the risk of a magnet being peeled off by centrifugal force
 Higher total torque (IPM motor produces both magnetic and
reluctance torque due to the rotor magnetic circuit design)
 Higher speed range (IPM motor has higher field weakening
capability, due to the insertion of the permanent magnets inside the
rotor)

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  Reduce the risk of Permanent Magnets demagnetization
 Higher efficiency, especially at high speed range (lower permanent
magnet eddy current losses)
The technological transition from conventional to more electric
transportation means has been facilitated over the last years, due to the
intensified awareness shift towards energy efficiency and environmentally
friendly technology platforms. This tendency has been particularly evident
in modern automotive and servo applications. Electric traction applications
require high performance motors with high torque density, high efficiency
over a wide speed operating range and high temporary overload
capability, characteristics entirely fulfilled in IPM motor configuration.
Typical IPM motor torque-speed and power-speed curves are described in
the figures 5.2 and 5.3, consisting of Constant Torque Region (CTR) and
Constant Power Region (CPR). It is evident that in the CPR region the
torque reduction for the same motor current is low, especially for lower
loading conditions, due to the increased reluctance torque added to the
magnet torque.

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 Fig 5.2: Torque-speed characteristics

Fig 5.3: Power-speed characteristics

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