An Improved Phase Variable Model for Performance Analysis of a PM Claw Pole SMC Motor with Brushless DC Control

Youguang Guo1, Jiaxin Chen2,1, Jianguo Zhu1, Haiwei Lu1, Haiyan Lu3, and Jianxun Jin4 1 Faculty of Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia 2 College of Electromechanical Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 200051, China 3 Faculty of Information Technology, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia 4 Centre of Applied Superconductivity, U. of Electronic Sci. & Tech. of China, Chengdu, China youguang@eng.uts.edu.au, chjiaxin@dhu.edu.cn, joe@eng.uts.edu.au ABSTRACT
This paper presents an improved phase variable model for the performance analysis of a permanent magnet (PM) claw pole motor with soft magnetic composite (SMC) stator core under brushless DC control scheme. For accurate computation of key motor parameters such as back electromotive force (emf), winding inductance, cogging torque and core loss, magnetic field finite element analyses are conducted. The new phase variable model, which can account for the real waveforms of applied voltages and back emfs of phase windings, rotor position dependence of winding inductance, and cogging torque, is built and implemented in Matlab/Simulink. By using the proposed simulation model, the motor performance in both steady and dynamic conditions is predicted and analysed. The simulations are verified by the experimental results on the claw pole SMC motor prototype. featuring a much shorter CPU time than FEA but with the same level of computational accuracy. In the model, key motor parameters such as winding inductance, back emf and cogging torque, are obtained by performing magnetic field FEAs. In a BLDC motor, there always exists a phase winding which is open-circuited and the input voltage of the phase is immeasurable, so the equation-based model cannot be applied to BLDC directly. In [8], an alternative model, composed of several circuit components, was used. This paper presents an improved phase variable model using a purely mathematical approach, by which the voltage of the central point of Y-connected 3-phase windings can be obtained, such that the equation-based simulation model can be directly applied to BLDC motors. The improved phase variable model has been implemented in the Matlab/Simulink environment and employed to analyse the performance of a three-phase three-stack PM claw pole motor with soft magnetic composite (SMC) stator core with a BLDC control scheme [9]. In the model, key motor parameters such as winding flux, back emf, inductance and core loss are accurately determined based on three-dimensional (3D) magnetic field FEAs, which can take into account the details of motor structure and dimensions and the nonlinear properties of ferromagnetic cores. The simulations agree with the experimental results on the PM claw pole SMC motor prototype operated with the BLDC control scheme.

1.

INTRODUCTION

Permanent magnet (PM) synchronous motors with brushless DC (BLDC) control scheme have achieved wide applications thanks to a series of advantages: good controllability due to the linearity between torque and current and the linear relation of speed and applied voltage, high reliability of brushless structure, and high efficiency, etc. [1-3]. For the design of high performance BLDC motors driven by power electronic switching devices, an accurate and efficient model is crucial. A large amount of work has been carried out on the performance simulation of BLDC motors by various researchers [4-6]. However, these analyses are generally based on many assumptions and simplifications such as ideal trapezoidal back electromotive force (emf), constant inductance versus rotor position, and negligible cogging torque. To accurately analyse the performance of BLDC motor, the real waveforms of winding flux, back emf, inductances and cogging torque should be included in the simulation models [7-8]. For performance evaluation, compared to the equivalent magnetic circuit method, the time-stepping nonlinear magnetic field finite element analysis (FEA) provides more accurate results but can be time consuming. A phase variable model based on FEA and its coupling with external circuits has been developed in [8],

2.

EQUATION-BASED MODEL

PHASE

VARIABLE

The phase variable model is composed of several electrical and mechanical equations. The voltage equations of three phase windings can be written as

va ra v = 0 b vc 0

0 rb 0

0 ia sa ea i + d + e 0 b sb b dt sc ec rc ic

(1)

where va, vb and vc are the voltages of three phase windings, ra, rb and rc the three phase winding resistances, ia, ib and ic the three phase currents, sa, sb and sc the flux linkage of three phase windings contributed by the stator currents, and ea, eb and ec the

three phase back emfs. The flux linkage can be expressed in term of apparent inductances as

sa Laa = L sb ba sc Lca

Lab Lbb Lcb

Lac ia Lbc ib Lcc ic

For the symmetrically distributed three phase windings, which are star-connected without central line, one can obtain

(2)

ia + ib + ic = 0 ra = rb = rc Lab = Lba , Lbc = Lcb , Lca = Lac

The electromagnetic torque and motion equation are

(6) (7) (8)

As the flux linkage is the function of stator currents and rotor position, , the second term of (1) can be expanded as

dsa sa dt ia d sb = sb dt ib dsc sc dt ia

sa ib sb ib sc ib

sa dia sa ic dt sb dib sb d + (3) ia dt dt sc dic sc ic dt

Tem =

eaia + ebib + ecic

+ Tcog

(9) (10)

dr Tem TL 0r = dt J

where Tem is the electromagnetic torque including the effect of cogging torque Tcog, TL the load torque, 0 the friction coefficient, and J the total inertia of the rotating parts. The profiles of back emf, apparent and incremental inductances, and cogging torque are obtained from nonlinear time-stepping magnetic field FEA solutions, in which the rotor position dependence and saturation effect are taken into account. All these parameters are stored in tables and will be retrieved during performance simulation according to the rotor position or time.

Substituting (2) into (3) and considering that the apparent inductances are independent of winding currents, one can obtain

dsa dt L d aa sb = Lba dt dsc Lca dt dLaa d dL + ba d dLca d

Lab Lbb Lcb

dia Lac dt di Lbc b dt Lcc dic dt dLac d ia dLbc ib r d dLcc ic d

3.

VOLTAGE OF CENTRAL POINT

Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of a typical drive circuit of BLDC motors.

dLab d dLbb d dLcb d

(4)

where Lij (i, j=a, b, c) are the incremental inductances of three phase windings, and r=d/dt is the rotor angular speed. By substituting (4) into (1), the voltage equations of three phase windings become

Figure 1: A typical drive circuit for brushless DC motor

va ra v = 0 b vc 0 dLaa d dL + ba d dLca d

0 rb 0

0 ia Laa 0 ib + Lba rc ic Lca dLab d dLbb d dLcb d

Lab Lbb Lcb

dia Lac dt di Lbc b dt Lcc dic dt

Suppose the electrical potentials (voltages) of terminals a, b, c and N (the neutral point) are Ua, Ub, Uc and UN, respectively, one can obtain

dLac d ia ea dLbc ib r + eb d ec ic dLcc d

va Ua UN v = U U b b N vc Uc UN
Then

(11)

(5)

UN =

(U
j =a

vj)
(12)

Substituting (5) into (12) and considering (6) and (7), the central point potential becomes
di d ( Laa + Lba + Lca ) iar ] [U a ( Laa + Lba + Lca ) a dt d UN = 3

By defining that

vam = ( Lab

di d (Lab + Lbb + Lcb ) [Ub (Lab + Lbb + Lcb ) b ibr ] dt d + 3 dic d (Lac + Lbc + Lcc ) [U c (Lac + Lbc + Lcc ) icr ] dt d + 3
-

dib di + Lac c ) dt dt dL dL dL + ( aa ia + ab ib + ac ic )r d d d

(19)

we have

va = (raia + Laa va = va vam

Similarly,

(ea + eb + ec ) 3

(13)

dia ) + vam + ea dt di = (raia + Laa a ) + ea dt

(20) (21)

The values of Ua, Ub and Uc are decided by the switching states of inverter with the three phase windings, the state of PWM, and phase currents. Under the BLDC mode, there are only two phase windings that are excited at each commutation sequence, e.g. the current enters phase b and flows out from phase c via the central point, and phase a is non-energised. Considering (6) and (8), UN and Ua can be decided by

vbm = ( Lba

dib dLbb ibr ] dt d UN = 2 di dL [Uc Lcc c cc icr ] (e + e ) dt d + b c 2 2 [Ub Lbb

dia di + Lbc c ) dt dt dLba dLbb dL +( ia + ib + bc ic )r d d d dib vb = (rbib + Lbb ) + vbm + eb dt di vb = vb vbm = (rbib + Lbb b ) + eb dt vcm = ( Lca dia di + Lcb b ) dt dt dLca dLcb dL +( ia + ib + cc ic )r d d d dic vc = (rcic + Lcc ) + vcm + ec dt di vc = vc vcm = (rcic + Lcc c ) + ec dt

(22) (23) (24)

(14)

(25) (26) (27)

U a = U N + ( Laa + Lba + Lca )

dia + ea dt
(15)

di di dL dL + ( ab ib + ac ic )r + ( Lab b + Lac c ) dt dt d d

When the phase current is not equal to zero and PWM is under the duty-off state, the potential of input port of the phase winding is decided by

4.

PERFORMANCE SIMULATION OF A PM CLAW POLE SMC MOTOR

SIMULINK-BASED SIMULATION MODEL

U a = U bus if I a > 0 U a = 0 if I a < 0

(16) (17)

4.1.

where Ubus is the potential of the power bus line. By using (14)-(17), one can find out the potentials of the input ports and the central point of the three phase windings, and hence the three phase voltages. Referring to (5), the voltage equation of phase a is

According to (1)-(17), a complete Matlab/Simulinkbased phase variable model is built as shown in Figure 2, where vam, vbm and vcm, va, vb and vc, va, vb and vc can be obtained from a Matlab function based on (18)-(27). The rest of work is similar to that of modelling a conventional DC motor, so the proposed model can be easily realised in the Simulink environment. This model can be applied to analyse the steady and dynamic performances of BLDC motors to predict if the design requirements can be met, e.g. the dynamic performance of starting-up, i.e. whether or not the motor can reach the required steady speed under the full load when the rated DC voltage of the inverter is applied.

va = (raia + Laa

di di dia ) + ( Lab b + Lac c ) dt dt dt dLaa dLab dLac +( ia + ib + ic )r + ea d d d

(18)

Figure 2: Simulink-based phase variable model of the BLDC motor

4.2.

A PM CLAW POLE SMC MOTOR PROTOTYPE

As an example, the developed phase variable model is applied to predict the performance of a PM claw pole motor prototype with SMC stator core, which has been developed for investigating the application potential of SMC materials in electrical machines [9-11]. Figure 3 illustrates the magnetically relevant parts of the motor, including an inside SMC stator and an outside mild steel rotor with 3 arrays of PMs mounted on the inner surface of the yoke. The three phases are stacked axially on a shaft with an angular shift of 120o electrical to each other. The major dimensions include a stator outer diameter of 80 mm, an effective axial length of 93 mm, and a main airgap length of 1 mm. The motor is designed to operate under a BLDC control scheme, delivering a torque 2.65 Nm at 1800 rev/min.

(b)
Figure 3: Magnetically relevant parts of the claw pole SMC motor: (a) Rotor and (b) Stator

It is known that the magnetic flux in a claw pole motor is 3D due to the complex structure of the motor. For example, the flux generated by the rotor PMs passes the airgap to enter the stator claw pole via both front and side surfaces (3D path). Furthermore, there is a large amount of flux leakage between the claw poles, which is 3D in nature. Therefore, 3D numerical analysis like FEA is essential for accurate computation of the motor parameters. Figure 4 illustrates the PM flux, defined as the flux of one phase winding generated by the rotor PMs, which is obtained from the no-load magnetic field FEA solutions at different rotor angles. The back emf can be inferred from the PM flux waveform, which is almost sinusoidal and hence a formula of sinusoid can be used rather than the look-up table for the winding emfs for fast simulation.

(a)

5.

PERFORMANCE SIMULATION

Claw pole motors have large winding inductances, which affect the rise rate of stator current and may cause difficulties in motor control and limit the motor output torque. In this paper, the output capacity, such as the maximum steady-state speed that the motor can reach for a given load torque and inverter voltage, is investigated by the proposed phase variable model. The presented model can also be used to simulate the dynamic characteristics, such as the curves of speed, current and torque during the start-up or transients when the load or power supply changes.
Figure 4: Per turn no-load flux of a phase winding

Figure 5 illustrates the computed apparent (secant) and differential (incremental) inductances of a phase winding with zero stator current. The incremental ones are obtained from several magnetic field FEA solutions by using a modified incremental energy method [12-13]. To validate the computations, the inductance is measured by applying a small AC current (0.2A, 500Hz) to the phase winding. The measured values are also plotted in the figure, showing that the computed and measured inductances agree with each other. Due to the negligible magnetic coupling between stacks, the mutual inductances of phase windings can be considered as zero, greatly simplifying the simulation. From the no-load magnetic field distribution, the cogging torque can be obtained by using the virtual work method or the Maxwell stress tensor method. As illustrated in Figure 6, the cogging torque curve of three stacks is close to a sinusoid with a frequency of 6 times that of the airgap flux density.

Figure 7 illustrates the speed curve during the start-up with the full load of 2.65 Nm and the rated inverter voltage of 165 VDC. It can be seen that the motor speed can smoothly increase to the rated speed of 1800 rev/min. Figure 8 shows the steady-state electromagnetic torque, and Figure 9 plots the waveforms of voltage, back emf and current of one phase winding. Figure 10 shows the measured speed-torque curves of the PM claw pole SMC motor prototype. It can be seen that the motor can deliver a torque of 2.65 Nm at 1800 rev/min when the inverter DC link voltage is 165 V. This validates the simulation of Figure 7. Other measurements, such as the current and back emf waveforms observed by an oscilloscope, also agree well with the simulated results.

Figure 7: Speed curve during the start-up with a load of 2.65 Nm when the inverter voltage Vdc=165 V Figure 5: Computed and measured inductances

Figure 6: Calculated cogging torque of the 3-stack claw pole PM SMC motor

Figure 8: Steady-state electromagnetic torque when Vdc=165 V

Conf. of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, Busan, Korea, Nov. 2004, pp926-931. [4] S. K. Safi, P. P. Acarnley, and A. G. Jack, Analysis and Simulation of the High-Speed Torque Performance of Brushless DC Motor Drives, IEE Proc. Electr. Power Appl., vol.142, no.3, pp191-200, May 1995. S. L. Ho, W. N. Fu, H. L. Li, H. C. Wong, and H. Tan, Performance Analysis of Brushless DC Motors Including Features of the Control Loop in the Finite Element Modelling, IEEE Trans. Magn., vol.27, no.5, pp3370-3374, Sep. 2001. M. A. Jabbar, H. N. Phyu, Z. Liu, and C. Bi, Modelling and Numerical Simulation of a Brushless Permanent-Magnet DC Motor in Dynamic Conditions by Time-Stepping Technique, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol.40, no.3, pp763-770, May/Jun. 2004. Y. S. Jeon, H. S. Mok, G. H. Choe, D. K. Kim, and J. S. Ryu, A New Simulation Model of BLDC Motor with Real Back EMF Waveform, The 7th Workshop on Computers in Power Electronics, Blacksburg, VA, USA, July 2000, pp217-220. O. A. Mohammed, S. Liu, and Z. Liu, A Phase Variable Model of Brushless DC Motors Based on Finite Element Analysis and Its Coupling with External Circuits, IEEE Trans. Magn., vol.41, no.5, pp1576-1579, May 2005. Y. G. Guo, J. G. Zhu, P. A. Watterson, and W. Wu, Development of a Claw Pole Permanent Magnet Motor with Soft Magnetic Composite Stator, Australian J. of Electrical & Electronic Eng., Vol.2, No.1, pp21-30, 2005. The Latest Development in Soft Magnetic Composite Technology, SMC Update, Reports of Hgans AB, Sweden, 1997-2005, http://www.hoganas.com/, see News then SMC Update. A. G. Jack, Experience with the use of soft magnetic composites in electrical machines, Int. Conf. on Electrical Machines, Istanbul, Turkey, Sept. 1998, pp1441-1448. Y. G. Guo, J. G. Zhu, H. W. Lu, R. Chandru, S. H. Wang, and J. X. Jin, Determination of Winding Inductance in a Claw Pole Permanent Magnet Motor with Soft Magnetic Composite Core, Australasian Universities Power Eng. Conf., Hobart, Australia, 25-28 Sept. 2005, pp491-496. Y. G. Guo, J. G. Zhu, and H. Y. Lu, Accurate Determination of Parameters of a Claw Pole Motor with SMC Stator Core by Finite Element Magnetic Field Analysis, IEE Proceedings Electri. Power Appl., vol.153, no.4, pp568-574, July 2006.

[5]

.
Figure 9: Steady-state waveforms of voltage, back emf and current of a phase winding
2500 2000 1500

Speed (rev/min)
165V 150V 130V 110V 90V

[6]

1000 70V
50V

[7]

500

Torque (Nm)
0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

Figure 10: Measured steady-state mechanical characteristics

[8]

6.

CONCLUSIONS
[9]

This paper presents an improved phase variable model of BLDC motors. A mathematical method is introduced to obtain the potentials (voltages) of the input ports and the central point of the star-connected 3 phase windings such that the equation-based simulation model can be directly applied to analyse the BLDC motor. Key motor parameters are obtained by performing magnetic field FEAs, in which the rotor position dependence and saturation effect are considered. The data are stored in look-up tables and will be retrieved during the simulation. The presented model has the same accuracy of the full FEA model with much shorter CPU time. The proposed improved phase variable model has been applied to analyse the performance of a three-phase three-stack PM claw pole SMC motor under the BLDC control scheme. The calculations and simulations have been validated by the experimental results on the claw pole motor prototype.

[10]

[11]

[12]

REFERENCES
[1] [2] T. Kenjo, Permanent Magnet and Brushless DC Motors. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985. T. J. E. Miller, Brushless Permanent Magnet and Reluctance Motor Drive. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989. T. H. Kim, H. W. Lee, and M. Ehsan, Advanced Sensorless Drive Technique for Multiphase BLDC Motors, The 30th Annual [13]

[3]