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Closed loop speed control of a BLDC Motor drive prototype using position
sensor.

Conference Paper · March 2018

DOI: 10.1109/NPEC.2017.8310453

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2017 National Power Electronics Conference (NPEC)
College of Engineering Pune, India. Dec 18-20, 2017

Closed loop speed control of a laboratory fabricated

Brush-less DC Motor drive prototype using position sensor
Pinaki Mukherjee1 , Mainak Sengupta2
Dept. of Electrical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur,
Howrah - 711103, W.B., India
E-mail: 1 pinaki.mukherjee.besus@gmail.com, 2 msg@ee.iiests.ac.in

Abstract—This paper presents steps and procedures of de-
signing a closed loop speed controller for a surface mounted
permanent magnet(SM-PM) brush-less DC machine(BLDC). The
closed- loop speed control technique has been implemented using
Hall-effect position sensor. The BLDC motor control algorithm
has been modelled and simulated first. The same has been
thereafter practically implemented on a 0.75 hp, 1500 r.p.m
BLDC motor that was designed and developed as a lab prototype.
Both the simulation and the experimental results are in excellent
in agreements.
Index Terms—Permanent magnet, Brush-less DC motor,
Closed loop speed control, position sensor, Hysteresis current
control, Simulation results, Experiments on BLDC motor.
I. I NTRODUCTION
Brush-less DC Motor(BLDC)[1] is emerging as an attractive
alternative to induction motors(IM) in different variable speed
drive applications for reasons which are well known - the
most important ones being high energy density and absence
of brushed contacts. The use of permanent magnets (PMs)
in electrical machines in place of electromagnetic excitation
results in many advantages such as elimination of excitation
losses, improved efficiency, fast dynamic performance, lower
maintenance, higher speed ranges and high torque or power
density([1], [2], [4]).
Unlike a brushed DC motor, the commutation of a
BLDC motor is controlled electronically in an appropriate
sequence[1]. The rotor position may be also sensed by us-
ing Hall-effect sensors mounted on the stator[2], resolvers,
inductive modular absolute system(IMAS), shaft-mounted in-
cremental encoders [3] etc.
BLDC motors are used for position , speed and torque
control[2], [3] for variable speed drive in motion control
applications. For speed control applications, an outer position
control loop is not required and the set speed serves as
the command signal. Torque control is incorporated in high
performance motion control through closed -loop regulation of
phase currents in synchronization with rotor rotation through
shaft position feedback. In majority of the BLDC motors,
torque is linearly related to currents and torque command
maps onto current commands through a simple proportionality
constant. Current regulation in the phase windings of BLDC
motors (rectangular waveforms)[3] is carried out using current
controlled voltage source inverter(VSI). Pulse Width mod-
ulation(PWM), hysteresis and predictive current controllers
([2],[8]-[11]) are used to generate the switching signals to the
devices of the inverter to keep winding currents close to the
set reference/command currents. Speed control is generally
achieved by using a speed feedback and generating speed
command through speed controller which outputs a command
signal for torque controller. Position control is implemented
through position feedback and position command using po-
sition controller. The output of the position controller[2]
provides the speed command for the inner speed loop.
In this paper, a speed control technique of BLDC motor
has been designed, analysed and finally implemented on a
laboratory developed 0.75hp BLDC motor prototype. The
speed control technique presented here is valid for 4-quadrant
VSD applications ([2], [3]), though implementation has been
done here for 2-quadrants (i.e. forward motoring and forward
braking) only.
II. BASICS OF BLDC MOTOR SPEED CONTROL
A. Modelling of a BLDC motor
The BLDC motor can be viewed as a permanent magnet AC
(PMAC) motor with trapezoidal back emf. The motor is oper-
ated with 1200 rectangular current pulses(2 phase conducting
at a time), such that its operating characteristics (torque-speed
characteristics) are similar to that of a DC shunt motor. To
turn-on and turn-off the switches of the inverter/converter
(shown in Fig.1) in synchronism with the rotor position and
at the rotational frequency of the rotor, a position sensor is
required to feedback the rotor position signal. The stator (3-
phase) windings are placed in slots within 60o e phase belts.
Fig.2 shows the ideal phase back-emf pattern and the
corresponding the phase current wave-shape. It also shows the
converter switching sequences required to achieve the desired
current and hence mmf wave-shape for each phase of a BLDC
motor.
The dynamic machine model ([2], [5]) of BLDC motor can
be described by (1), (2), (3) and (4).

⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞
van Rs 0 0 ia L Lm L ia ea
⎝ vbn ⎠ = ⎝ 0 Rs 0 ⎠⎝ ib ⎠ + p⎝ Lm L Lm ⎠⎝ ib ⎠ + ⎝ eb ⎠ (1)
vcn 0 0 Rs ic Lm Lm L ic ec

978-1-5386-3236-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 166

 d
where, p = dt operator, v =applied phase voltage, e =phase phases. ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’ , ‘n’ are the three phase terminals and
back emf, Lm = mutual inductance between phases, L=self neutral terminal respectively. In a 3-phase 3 wire system, since
inductance of each phase,and Rs = resistance of each stator ia + ib + ic = 0.

⎞ ⎛
⎛ ⎞⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞
ia 1 0 0 van Rs 0 0 ia ea
(L − Lm )p⎝ ib ⎠ = ⎝ 0 1 0 ⎠⎝ vbn ⎠ − ⎝ 0 Rs 0 ⎠⎝ ib ⎠ − ⎝ eb ⎠ (2)
ic 0 0 1 vcn 0 0 Rs ic ec

where, B= co-efficient of damping, J=moment of inertia of

rotor with dead load, Ml =load torque, ωm = rotor mechanical
speed in rad/s.
At any instant, the inverter output voltage,vis =±Vdc , is
applied to the combination of two phases(let phase ’a’ & ’c’) in
series, having a net impedance of Z = 2{Rs + p(L − Lm )} =
Ra + pLa and ia = -ic in case of star connected stator. The
voltage equation for the stator is given by (5).
vis = (Ra + pLa )ia + ea − ec
⇒ vis = (Ra + pLa )ia + Eb
⇒ vis = (Ra + pLa )ia + kb ωm (5)

Fig. 1. Schematic showing BLDC motor power converter

where, ea = ec =λp ωm and the emf constant for both the
g
configuration[6]. phases is combined into one constant as kb = 2λp , V/rad/s.
(5) can be written in Laplace domain as, (6).
Vis (s) = (Ra + sLa )Ia (s) + kb ωm (s) (6)
The average electromagnetic torque for two phases combined
is given by
Me = 2λp Id = kb Id N-m (7)
where, Id = average dc-link current. The load torque is assumed
proportional to the speed: Ml =Bl ωm and Ba = co-efficient for
air damping. So, the net damping coefficient B = Bl + Ba .
B. BLDC motor control
A two loop control technique[2] is used here. Fig.3 shows
the schematic diagram for the closed loop speed control of a
BLDC motor. The outer speed control loop generates equiva-
lent torque reference(i∗p ) for the inner current loop that is used
to generate current references for each phases respectively i.e.
i∗a ,i∗b and i∗b . The current control loop uses a hysteresis control
technique. The line current is sensed using a Hall sensor. This
leads to a sensor reduction, since 2 phases are on at a time
without much effect on the transient performance. The error
signal (ei = i∗a −ia ) is passed through the hysteresis controller
Fig. 2. Ideal Back- emf and phase current wave shapes and correspond-
ing converter switching sequences for a BLDC motor. and controller output control the switching instants device
turned on or off to keep error current in a specific band(Δi).
Three inner current control loop are required for each phase
where, L-M=La is the equivalent self-inductance per phase.
current. The design of control algorithm is done based on a
The electromagnetic and mechanical torque equations are
0.75 hp BLDC motor drive ([6],[7]). The parameters of the
0.75 hp BLDC motor is given in Table-I.
e a ia + e b ib + e c ic
Me = (3)
ωm
dwm
Me = J + Ml + Bωm (4)
dt

167
 Fig. 3. Schematic of closed loop speed control of BLDC motor

Fig. 4. Block diagram of the inner current loop with the BLDC motor model

Fig. 5. Block diagram of the complete controller.

168
 Fig. 6. Simplified model of speed control loop
TABLE I
0.75 HP BLDC: PARAMETER DETAILS
Parameter Values
Rs /ph (Ω) 7.4
Ld (mH) 43.75
Lq (mH) 43.75
leakage Ll /ph (mH) 16.8
EMF constant Ke 245
l−l /1000rpm)
(E
Torque constant 2.35
Kt (N-m/A)
Net moment of inertia J
(kg-m2 ) 10.324 × 10−3
Net damping co-efficient B
(Nm-sec/rad) 22.676 × 10−3
1) Logic pulse generation: H1 , H2 and H3 are three po-
sition sensor pulses which are synchronized with the line to
line induced emf eAB , eBC and eCA accordingly (shown in
Fig.7 and Fig.9(b) ). These position sensor output pulses are
used to generate the control logics for running the BLDC
motor in open loop condition. The logic pulses for each
switching device of the BLDC converter (shown in Fig.1) are
as following: Q1 =H1 H3 , Q2 =H2 H3 , Q3 =H1 H2 , Q4 = H1 H3 ,
Q5 = H2 H3 and Q6 = H1 H2 . In case of closed-loop control,
these logic pulses are used to generate the current references
for respective phases accordingly like Q1 & Q4 for generating
i∗A (shown in Fig 3). The hysteresis controller output pulses of
each phases are logically ’AND’ -ed with respective main logic
pulses (i.e. open loop switching logic pulses) appropriately to
achieve 120o quasi-square current waveform.
2) Closed loop controller design: Fig. 4 and 5 show the
current and speed control loops. T1 , T2 shown in Fig.5 mostly
depend on the electrical and mechanical time constant. The
width of hysteresis band for the current control loop is kept
as 5% of the rated load current.
For the speed control loop , current loop appears ideal due
to high mechanical time constant(i.e.Tm = J/B ) of the BLDC
motor. The band-width of speed control loop is kept within 3
Hz. Fig.6 shows a simplified model of speed control loop. A
tacho-generator is used to provide the speed feedback of the
rotor shaft. The gain of the techo-generator is 2.33× 10−3
169
Fig. 7. Position sensor waveforms H1 , H2 and H2 accordingly at 25Hz.
2.33×10−3
V/r.p.m. and the transfer function is Hw (s)= 1+0.0165S .
The transfer function of the speed loop PI-controller is tuned
−3
through trial and error as (Kp + Ksi ) = (0.061+ 3.052×10
s )=
s
1+
0.061( 2π × 7.95mHz. ) whose corner frequency is
s
2π × 7.95mHz.
7.95mHz and the gain is chosen 0.061 using phase margin
and gain margin (via Bode plots) method. So, the total loop
gain of the speed-control loop (Fig.4) is given by T(s)=
−3
G(s)H(s)= (Kp + Ksi )kt Js+B
1
Hw (s) =(0.061+ 3.052×10
s
)
2.35 −3
(10.324×10−3 )s+(22.676×10−3 )
( 2.33×10
1+0.0165s
). Fig.8 shows
the bode plot of total loop gain T(s). From the Bode plot
we found, gain margin = ∞, phase margin= 90.8o & gain
cross-over frequency = 0.1188 mHz. So, close loop speed
loop is stable.
The closed loop speed control technique of BLDC motor
presented here is valid only in the constant torque region.
As the speed increases, the back emf increases proportional
to speed, and eventually, the current control is lost when the
PWM controller saturates at the edge of the constant torque
region. The constant torque ([3], [13]) region is limited by
the rated voltage of BLDC motor. It is difficult for a SMPM-
BLDC motor to perform at constant power operation (above
base/rated speed) because field wreaking operation is very
difficult to be implemented over a wide range [14], [15].
The SMPM-BLDC motor has constant flux characteristics, low
magnetizing inductance Lm , and negligible salient pole effect(
Lad =Laq =Lm ). A very high demagnetizing component of
stator current is required to perform field weakening operation,
because the magnetizing inductance Lm is very low in BLDC
motor.
III. R ESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Closed loop speed control of BLDC motor has been im-
plemented on a 400 V DC, 0.75hp, 1500 rpm star connected
BLDC motor ([6],[7]) which was also designed and fabricated
by the present authors. An important point may be made here.
The design of the motor was done earlier([6],[7]) so as to
reduce the torque ripple/ cogging torque etc. Additionally, the
control strategy implemented here reduces the torque ripple
further. Table II enlists the effect of design and control on the
torque ripple.

Fig. 8. Bode plot of the total loop gain T(s)
(a) Line back emf eAB (magenta) and
phase back emf eA (red) [Ch1: Y axis-
5V/div; Ch2: Y axis-5V/div,probe gain:
25; x axis-5ms/div]
(b) Line back emf eAB (magenta)
and position hall sensor output H1
(red)[Ch1: Y axis-5V/div; Ch2: Y axis-
5V/div, probe gain: 25; X axis-5ms/div]
. experimental waveforms of speed and the phase current during
Fig. 9. Experimental waveforms of a 4 -pole, 0.75 hp BLDC motor in
generating mode at 850 rpm.
The closed loop control scheme of BLDC motor has been
tested at 560W load at 1500 rpm. A 0.5 hp, 1500 rpm
separately exited DC generator has been mechanically coupled
with the BLDC motor for loading . The closed loop control
algorithm has been simulated first and then implemented on
the the above mentioned system.
Fig.9(a)shows waveforms motor of the line to line induced
emf eAB and corresponding phase emf eA in the generating
mode at 850 rpm while Fig.9(b) shows line to line induced
emf eAB and position hall sensor pulses H1 of corresponding
170
Fig. 10. Simulated waveforms of motor speed ωm (blue) and line current
IA (green)
Fig. 11. Experimental waveforms of motor speed ωm (red) and line
current IA (blue) at 34 Hz i.e 1034 rpm. [Ch1: Y axis-2V/div, probe
gain-1A/V; Ch2: Y axis-2V/div, tachogenerator gain-240 rpm /V; X
axis-10 ms/div ]
line voltage. Hall sensor pulse H1 and line to line voltage vAB
has been set such that are in phase. It can be easily proved that
this ensures the maximum utilization of motor and converter
KVA.
Fig.10 shows the simulated waveforms of speed and line
current IA for a steady state speed of 1000 rpm. Fig. 11
shows the corresponding experimental waveforms. The line
current IA is trapezoidal in nature and has a value of 1.6A
at 34 Hz with 0.5 hp load. Fig.12(a) shows the simulated
waveforms line current of two phases iA & iB and while
Fig12(b) shows corresponding experimental waveforms. Line
currents are 120o e phase displaced. Fig.13 shows experimental
waveforms of position sensor pulse H1 and line current iA of
1.2 A at 40Hz i.e at 1200 r.p.m shaft speed. Fig.14 shows the
sudden decrease of speed reference reference. It clearly shows
the transient nature of motor speed and line current under
motor generator loading.
IV. C ONCLUSIONS
In this paper the design of a closed loop speed controller for
BLDC motor has been presented. Torque rippler eduction has
been achieved both through motor design (earlier [6],[7]) and
then through closed loop control strategy. The BLDC machine
has been modelled first and then simulated with closed loop
speed control algorithm. An appropriate speed control strategy
has also been implemented on a 0.75hp, 1500 r.p.m, 400V
(DC-link) surface mounted BLDC motor in FPGA platform.
A 0.5 DC shunt generator coupled with the BLDC motor has
 Fig. 13. Experimental waveforms of Position sensor output( H1(upper) and
(a) Simulated waveforms of 4 pole BLDC at 1045 rpm line current Iph (lower) at 1200 rpm with 75/[Ch1: Y axis-5V/div; Ch2: Y
with 2A max. current level. axis-100mV/div, current probe gain-10A/V; X axis-5ms/div]

(b) Experimental waveforms of 4-pole

BLDC at 1045 rpm with 400W load[Ch1:
Y axis-1V/div,gain-3.5A/V; Ch2: Y axis-
1V/div,gain-3.5A/V; X axis-5ms/div ] Fig. 14. Experimental waveforms: sudden decrease of speed (1200 rpm to 650
. rpm); motor speed(upper) and line current(lower)[Ch1: Y axis-2V/div,gain-
500r.p.m/V; Ch2: Y axis-5V/div,gain-1A/V; X axis-5s/div]
Fig. 12. BLDC motor line current waveforms of two phases under hysterisis
current control (a) simulated waveforms (b)experimental waveforms.

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ripple(%) McGRAW HILL, 1968.
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