2023 International Conference for Advancement in Technology (ICONAT)

Goa, India. Jan 24-26, 2023

Sensorless Control of a BLDC Motor using Back-

EMF Detection Method
Dattatray S. Sawant Y. Srinivasa Rao Rajendra R. Sawant
Department of Electronics and Department of Electronics and Department of Electronics and
Telecommunication Engineering Telecommunication Engineering Telecommunication Engineering
2023 International Conference for Advancement in Technology (ICONAT) | 978-1-6654-7517-4/23/$31.00 ©2023 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ICONAT57137.2023.10079963

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Sardar Patel Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Sardar Patel Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Sardar Patel
Institute of Technology Institute of Technology Institute of Technology
Mumbai, India Mumbai, India Mumbai, India
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract— Different ways of sensorless control of Brushless B. Working of BLDC Motor

DC Motor (BLDC) and its merits over sensored control are
The control circuit is attached to the stator windings of
discussed. Due to complexity of motor control system and high
the BLDC motors. The proper winding is energized by the
cost, sensorless control of a BLDC motor using zero crossing
detection of Back-EMF is proposed in this paper. A
control circuit in a similar pattern that rotates around the
mathematical model and MATLAB Simulink Model based on stator. The permanent magnets of the rotor are aligned on the
Back-EMF zero crossing detection method is also energized electromagnet of the stator and once they align ,
implemented. The function of the different blocks in the model the next set of electromagnets are energized. The six steps
have also been discussed in detail. commutation diagram is shown in Fig. 2 below which
highlights the rotation of the rotor magnet for 360 degrees.
Keywords—Back-EMF, ZCD, Brushless DC Motor,
Sensorless Control.

I. INTRODUCTION
There are two types of commutations used to control DC
motor named Electronic Commutation and Mechanical
Commutation. Electronic Commutation is preferred than
mechanical commutation due to high torque-to-weight ratio
and higher efficiency. As Brushless DC Motors (BLDC) are
electronically commutated, BLDC are commonly used in
various industrial applications. Brushless DC Motors are
Fig. 2. Timing Diagram for three phase BLDC Motor
type of Permanent Magnet Synchronous machines (PMSMs)
having trapezoidal type excitation. C. Mathematical Model Of BLDC Motor [1]
A. Construction of BLDC Motor Applying Kirchhoff’s voltage law for the three-phase
stator winding circuit and we get:
The major differentiation between brushless and brushed
motors is that, brushed has mechanical commutation and the ‫ݒ‬௔ ൌ ܴ௔ ݅௔ ൅  ‫ܮ‬௔
ௗ௜ೌ
൅ ‫ܯ‬௔௕
ௗ௜್
൅  ‫ܯ‬௔௖
ௗ௜೎
൅  ݁௔ (1)
later has electronic commutation. BLDC motor consists of ௗ௧ ௗ௧ ௗ௧
mainly two parts, named as rotor and stator. In BLDC motors ௗ௜್ ௗ௜ೌ ௗ௜೎
‫ݒ‬௕ ൌ ܴ௕ ݅௕ ൅  ‫ܮ‬௕ ൅ ‫ܯ‬௕௔ ൅  ‫ܯ‬௕௖ ൅  ݁௕ (2)
the permanent magnets are positioned on rotor, and the stator ௗ௧ ௗ௧ ௗ௧
consists of number of poles windings. The control circuit and ௗ௜೎ ௗ௜ೌ ௗ௜್
the stator assembly are integrated together and connected. ‫ݒ‬௖ ൌ ܴ௖ ݅௖ ൅  ‫ܮ‬௖ ൅ ‫ܯ‬௖௔ ൅  ‫ܯ‬௖௕ ൅  ݁௖ (3)
ௗ௧ ௗ௧ ௗ௧
The above description clearly indicates a constructional
variance between brushless DC motor and DC motor. There
are three configurations of Brushless Motors. The most Where, Va, Vb and Vc are the respective three-phase
widely used configuration is three-phase BLDC. The voltages of the stator winding, Ra, Rb and Rc are the stator
construction of a BLDC motor is shown in Fig.1. resistances, ia, ib and ic are the stator phase currents, La, Lb
and Lc are the self-inductances, Mab, Mac, Mba, Mbc, Mca
and Mcb are the mutual inductances and ea, eb and ec are the
three-phase Back-EMFs.
The following are the features of 3 phase BLDC motors:
x The Back-EMF is a function of the position of
rotor.
x The difference between the phases of Back-EMF is
120 degrees, hence the following is the equation of
each phase:

Fig. 1. Construction of BLDC Motor

݁௔ ൌ ݇Ǥ ߱Ǥ ݂ሺߠሻ (4)

978-1-6654-7517-4/23/$31.00 ©2023 IEEE 1

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 ݁௕ ൌ ݇Ǥ ߱Ǥ ݂ ቀߠ െ  ቁ
ଶగ
(5) accumulation error at low speeds in which the voltage
ଷ equation is integrated in a relatively large period [7].
ଶగ
݁௕ ൌ ݇Ǥ ߱Ǥ ݂ ቀߠ ൅  ቁ (6) 4) Free-wheeling Diode Conduction Method
ଷ
In this technique, freewheeling diode current estimate
where ߱ : Angular speed of the rotor, zero crossing of the BACK-EMF. In the silent phase, a small
k : Back-EMF constant, amount of current flows through the free wheeling diode,
ߠ : Rotor position. when BACK-EMF reaches to zero. But in transient states,
position errors of commutation instants are seen in this
The electromagnetic torque equation is represented method. The most serious drawback of this method is the
mathematically : requirement of six additional isolated power supplies for the
ଶగ comparator circuitry to detect current flowing in each
ܶ௘ ൌ  ݅௔ Ǥ ‫ܭ‬Ǥ ݂ሺߠሻ ൅  ݅௕ Ǥ ‫ܭ‬Ǥ ݂ ቀߠ െ  ቁ freewheeling diode [8].
ଷ
ଶగ II. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED MODEL
൅݅௖ Ǥ ‫ܭ‬Ǥ ݂ ቀߠ ൅  ቁ (7)
ଷ
In sensor control of the BLDC motor, the position of
D. Sensorless Control Techniques rotor must be determined by a sensor. Fig. 3. Shows the basic
block diagram model of the proposed system. Block
The position of the motor rotor is determined with Diagram of proposed system consist of zero crossing
respect to the stator in sensor controlled application. In this detector, 3 phase inverter, BLDC motor and PI controller. In
way the motor is controlled in a simple manner. The hall the proposed model, ZCD of Back-EMF estimates the
effect sensor changes state and the processor waits for it and position of rotor.
depending on the output of hall effect it determines the rotor
position and regulate the motor windings. At the same time
sensor control is having the following drawbacks:
x Additional costs includes mounting of sensors on
motors,wires of sensors etc along with its original sensor
cost.
x Motor failure is due to sensor failure.
x It is not feasible to use sensors in all conditions. E.g.,
suppose the motor is flooded the sensor is subject to fail
first before the motor fails..
Fig. 3. Block Diagram Representation of Proposed System [9]
Hence for the above reasons sensorless BLDC control is
A. BACK-EMF
proposed.
The characteristics of BACK-EMF signal are as follows
1) Back-EMF Sensing Technique which are important for sensorless control:
The Back-EMF is in the shape of trapezoid for the
BLDC motor. The phase Back-EMF measured from terminal x The speed is proportional to the magnitude of the
voltages in the silent phase is monitored continuously so that BACK-EMF.
the zero-crossing of the Back-EMF is detected. At stationary x The slope of the BACK-EMF increases as the speed
position the BACK-EMF is zero and proportional to speed of becomes high.
motor. The zero crossing detection is not possible at low
speed due to large signal to noise ratio from the measured x At 0 V the BACK-EMF signal becomes symmetric.
terminal voltage. Also, the estimated commutation points
that are shifted by 30ι from zero crossings of Back-EMFs Due to their design, BLDC motors have a trapezoidal
have position errors in transient states [1] – [4]. BACK-EMF shape and are commonly controlled by
trapezoidal (six-step) commutation [10]. Fig. 4. Shows ideal
2) Back-EMF Integration Method
In this technique, the Back-EMF of the silent phase is
integrated and information about position is extracted. When
the BACK-EMF of open phase crosses zero, the integration
begins. In order to stop the integration a threshold is set
which then controls the commutation instant. Due to error
accumulation problem, this method also has a problem at low
speeds [5],[6].
3) Flux Linkage-Based Technique
Using the measured voltage and current flux linkage is
determined. Hence flux can be calculated using the voltage
equation and applying integration to the voltage and current.
The estimation of rotor position can be determined from
relation between rotor position and its flux linkages,
parameters of machine and its initial position. But at low
speed ,this also shows a prominent error. An improper error
of parameters and sampled current is the reason for Fig. 4. Ideal Back-EMF Characteristics

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 output, the commutation logic block triggers the three-phase
inverter block, which in turn provides current to the motor.
For the sake of this model, the reference speed and is kept
constant at 2000 rpm however, practically, the speed of the
motor is varied with the help of a process called Pulse Width
Modulation (PWM).
A. Fucntion of Various Blocks Used in the Model
1) Zero Cross Detection Block
The Hit-Crossing block used in the model detects the
zero-cross events in the Back-EMF profile of the motor [12].
This data is then fed into the Counter block which
increments the value by ‘1’ every time a zero-cross event
occurs. The Counter counts to a maximum value of ‘6’, after
which it is reset to ‘1’.The values 1 - 6 represent the different
sectors of the motor as shown in Table 2. These values are
then fed to the Commutation Logic block. Fig. 7. shows the
Fig. 5. Zero Crossing ZCD block.
Back-EMF characteristics.
B. Zero Crossing
The occurrence of zero cross event is at 30 degrees
before the next commutation occurs. Hence the algorithm
identifies the zero cross event and the estimated rotor
position, thus commutating the windings on the correct time
period. Hence this sensorless algorithm detects the zero cross
event accurately. Fig. 5 shows the Zero Cross Event.
III. MATLAB/ SIMULINK MODEL
In the above model shown in Fig.6, the BLDC motor Fig. 7. ZCD Block
block has four inputs. The three-phase currents (A, B & C) 2) Commutation Logic Block
drive the motor and the Load Torque block. The outputs of The Commutation Logic block consists of a switch. It
the BLDC motor block are the speed of the rotor and the takes input from the ZCD block and depending on the input,
Back-EMFs of the three phases of the motor. The speed of it outputs the corresponding Switching pattern of the
rotor is converted to rpm (rotations-per-minute) from matching sector to the Three Phase Inverter. Fig. 8. shows
(radians-per-second) and fed to the summer which is a part the Commutation Logic Block.
of the error correction system. The Back-EMFs of the three
phases of the motor are fed to the Zero-Cross detection block
where the zero crossings are detected and depending on the

Fig. 6. MATLAB/ Simulink Model of Proposed System

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 Fig. 9. Three Phase Inverter

IV. SIMULATION RESULTS

The Back-EMF of the motor initially after starting it is
abrupt because there is no way of knowing the position of the
motor and because at very low speeds the Back-EMF is
almost negligible [12]. Therefore, we randomly commutate
the motor in a sector (In this case, Sector 1). The Back-EMF
characteristics of the motor is shown in Fig. 10. The ripples
and noise are filtered from the waveform in application-
based scenarios using a low-pass filter, so we can get a
cleaner output.
Fig. 8. Commutation Logic Block

The commutation logic is mentioned in the below

TABLE I.

TABLE I. . COMMUTATION LOGIC

Sector AH AL BH BL CH CL

1 1 0 0 0 0 1

2 0 0 1 0 0 1

3 0 1 1 0 0 0

Fig. 10. BACK-EMF of the Motor

4 0 1 0 0 1 0

5 0 0 0 1 1 0

6 1 0 0 1 0 0

3) Three Phase Inverter

In order to control the phases during the six step
commutation process, it uses a three phase inverter to direct Fig. 11. BACK-EMF (Magnified) showing a trapezoidal waveform
the DC power which switches between positive and negative
currents. The high side is given the positive current and the Fig. 12. shows the Zero Cross Event. The vertical yellow
lower side is given the negative current and accordingly the line is the BACK-EMF waveform. The green line shows the
switches need to be turned on and off. Fig. 9 shows the small spike generated by the Hit Crossing block when the
Three phase inverter block. BACK-EMF waveform crosses the zero point.

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