C.SENTHIL KUMAR1, N.SENTHIL KUMAR2, P.

RADHIKA3
Assistant Professor,P.S.R.Engineering College(1),Professor,Mepco Schlenk Engineering College(2),PG student,Mepco Schlenk
Engineering College(3)

Torque ripple minimization in bldc motor using dc-dc sepic

converter
Abstract. Torque ripple in Brushless dc motors is generally undesirable. Torque ripple causes increased acoustic noise and undesirable speed
ripple preventing BLDC motor from achieving high performance. This article presents the method of reducing torque ripple in BLDC motor. This
study presents an approach to reduce torque ripples by controlling the voltage while maintaining speed. To get the desired dc link voltage, a single-
ended primary inductor converter (SEPIC) circuit is used to control the input of the commutation circuit.

Streszczenie. W artykule analizuje si moliwoci minimalizacji zafalowa momentu napdowego w silniku bezszczotkowym. Zmniejszenie ttnie
uzyskuje si przez sterowanie napicia utrzymujcego prdko. W celu utrzymania podanego napicia dc wykorzystano niesymetryczny
przeksztatnik typu DSEPIC. Minimalizacja ttnie momentu w silniku bezszczotkowym przy wykorzystaniu przeksztatnika dc typu SEPIC

Keywords: Brushless dc motor, commutation, single-ended primary inductor converter, torque ripples.
Sowa kluczowe: silnik bezszczotkowy, zafalowania momentu napdowego

doi:10.12915/pe.2014.09.38

Introduction motors is found in literature [8]. This leads to a significant

Brushless dc motor offer many attractive features like reduction in the component count of the sensing circuit and
low maintenance, fast response, high efficiency, high power also torque ripple is minimized. An analytical study [9], [10]
density, good reliability and compact construction. As a is developed concerning the torque ripple due to phase co-
result, the brushless dc motor is increasingly being used in mmutation on brushless dc motors. All the above methods
military, industrial and commercial applications. Its market is experience from slow voltage adjustment and therefore they
rapidly expanding. But these motors still suffer from can only achieve satisfactory torque ripple suppression.
commutation torque ripple. The primary disadvantage of In this study, the main desire is to reduce the torque
brushless dc motor is higher torque ripples compared with ripples present in brushless dc motor. In this topology, a dc
conventional machines. So far, many research studies have voltage control strategy is carried out by using a dc to dc
been performed to reduce commutation torque ripple [1-10]. SEPIC converter. The desired dc voltage is accomplished
An active topology to reduce the torque ripples in BLDC by using this converter which is used to control the input of
motor was investigated in [1]. This paper [1] discusses a the inverter. MATLAB/Simulink is used to perform
novel circuit topology and a dc link voltage control strategy simulation. Simulation results show that the proposed
to keep incoming and outgoing phase currents changing at topology can significantly reduce torque ripples both at high
the same rate during commutation. A dc-dc single-ended and low speeds with different load conditions. This work is
primary inductor converter (SEPIC) and a switch selection organized as follows. In section 2, conventional BLDC
circuit are employed in front of the commutation circuit. The motor drive system is given. In Section 3, sepic converter
implementation of higher degree polynomial acceleration for BLDC motor is discussed. In section 4, simulation
profile for torque ripple reduction is presented in [2]. In this results are provided to confirm the validity of the method.
work [2], a novel digital PWM controller is proposed for the Finally, in section 5, conclusions are given.
BLDC motor. This controller treats the BLDC motor as a
digital system. The method to simply vary the input voltage Conventional BLDC motor drive system
to reduce commutation torque ripple is proposed in [3] for BLDC motor is an electronically commutated motor.
reducing current ripple after circuit analysis using the Since the stator of BLDC motor is fed from a dc supply, a
Laplace transformation. The circuit analysis involves commutation circuit along with PWM controller is
acquiring the period of freewheeling region and the voltage mandatory. It requires a six switch commutation circuit as
value to be varied. A new torque control method for shown in Fig.1. The electronic commutator receives the
reducing the torque ripple of the BLDC motor with un-ideal switching logical pulse from the hall sensors. These motors
back EMF waveforms is reported in [4].In [4] the duty cycle are conventionally excited with bipolar currents.
of the corresponding switches is pre-calculated in the
torque controller about the actual back EMF waveforms in
both normal conduction period and commutation period.
It is proposed in [5] that a single dc current sensor and a
current deadbeat control scheme should be used to keep
incoming and outgoing phase currents changing at the
same rate during commutation. The study [5] presents a
comprehensive analysis of the commutation torque ripple
suppression method in brushless dc motor drives with only
a single current sensor. Coupled inductor SEPIC converter
can be used for reducing the ripple and helps to improve
converter efficiency has been discussed in [6].The literature
[7] describes an improved implementation of direct torque
control (DTC) to the brushless DC drive. It adaptively
adjusts the phase current waveform to maintain constant
electromagnetic torque, so that commutation torque ripple is Fig.1. Basic configuration of conventional six switch fed BLDC
eliminated. A low-cost sensorless control scheme for BLDC motor drive

146 PRZEGLD ELEKTROTECHNICZNY, ISSN 0033-2097, R. 90 NR 9/2014

SEPIC Converter the BLDC motor. In this topology, SEPIC converter employs
A SEPIC is a type of non-isolated dc-dc converter that one switch which performs dc to dc conversion. The switch
can convert a dc voltage to another equal, lower or higher S is a power MOSFET. By operating switch S
stable dc voltage level at its output. Single-ended means appropriately, the energy storage in components i.e., L1, L2,
that only one switch in the converter controls energy C1, C2 of a SEPIC converter can be adjusted to get the
exchange between its components. Overall, a SEPIC desired output. The rotor position sensor mounted on the
function is general to a buck-boost converter, but has the motor shaft provides a position feedback. It monitors the
additional advantages of having its output voltage polarity shaft position and sends signals to drive the commutation
non-inverted with respect to its input voltage, having a true circuit. In response of these signals, the commutation circuit
shutdown mode i.e. when switch S turns off, the allows the flow of current to stator phase windings in a
converters output voltage reduces to 0V, and having controlled sequence so that motor produces desired torque
isolation between the input and output. and speed. The effectiveness of the topology for torque
ripple minimization is analyzed through simulations.

Simulation and validation

In order to validate the performance of the brushless dc
motor with proposed dc to dc SEPIC converter, a simulation
model is developed. The simulation is performed with
MATLAB simulink. The parameters of the BLDC motor used
for simulation are listed in Table 1.

Table 1. Motor parameters

Motor characteristics Values(units)
Fig.2. Proposed dc to dc SEPIC converter coupled with BLDC Terminal resistance 0.323
motor drive Terminal inductance 0.389 mH

The capacitive isolation prevents unwanted current Voltage constant 6.99 V/ k rpm
flowing from the input to output. The output voltage of the Electrical time constant 1.205 m-secs
sepic converter is controlled by varying duty cycle of the Mechanical time constant 10.293 m-secs
switch. Typically S is an electrically controlled switch, such -3 2
Rotor Inertia Jm 0.142e Kg.m
as a power metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor
(MOSFET), power bipolar junction transistor (BJT) or No load speed 3434 rpm
insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT).Its switching actions No load current 1.24 A
are controlled by a pulse-width modulation.
Rated Power 123 W
SEPIC converter fed BLDC motor Number of poles 8
A new topology of brushless dc motor control using a Number of phases 3
dc-dc SEPIC converter is proposed resulting in the great
reduction of torque ripples. The dc voltage control strategy
is carried out by using the SEPIC converter. An appropriate
dc voltage is used to control the current which results in a
great reduction of torque ripples. Fig.3 shows the block
diagram of the proposed system. The block diagram of the
proposed system mainly consists of dc voltage source,
SEPIC converter and the brushless dc motor. The dc input
voltage is given to the SEPIC converter. The SEPIC
converter is used to control the input of the inverter module
i.e., commutation circuit.

Fig.4. MATLAB simulation of conventional six switch fed BLDC

motor drive

Fig.3. Block diagram of SEPIC converter fed BLDC motor drive MATLAB simulation of conventional six switch fed
BLDC motor drive
The desired commutation voltage is accomplished with The simulation was performed with conventional six
the help of the SEPIC converter. This helps to control the switch fed BLDC motor. In order to get 120 square wave
current and proportionately the torque ripple is minimized in phase currents, two switches are turned on at a time. The

PRZEGLD ELEKTROTECHNICZNY, ISSN 0033-2097, R. 90 NR 9/2014 147

hall sensors mounted on the motor shaft gives the to provide the firing signals on each of the three phases.
information about the position of the rotor. The parameters The commutation logic unit gets the information about the
stator back emf, stator current, speed and torque position of rotor and decides which switching devices are to
waveforms were observed. be turned on and off. The error speed is amplified by using
a PI controller. The Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
technique is applied to the switch in SEPIC converter. In
this work, the PI controller is designed to correct errors
between measured speed values and desired speed in the
system. A two-stage controller consists of an inner loop and
an outer loop designed for the closed loop drive system.
Outer loop is PI speed controller and inner loop is PI
voltage controller. The simulation is performed for different
speed and load conditions.

Fig.5. Stator back emf

Fig.6. Stator current

Fig.9.MATLAB simulation of SEPIC converter fed closed loop

model of BLDC motor drive

Table 2 shows the specifications of the sepic converter

designed for BLDC motor.
Fig.7. Speed
Table 2. Sepic converter specifications
Parameters Values
Input Voltage 12 volts
Output voltage 24 volts
voltage
Inductor L1.L2 10 H
Capacitor C1, C2 10 F

Fig.8. Torque

MATLAB simulation of sepic converter fed BLDC motor

drive
Fig.9 shows the simulation model of the BLDC motor drive
with dc to dc SEPIC converter in closed loop. In BLDC
motor, the position of the rotor is sensed by using hall
sensors. These signals are decoded by commutation logic Fig.10. Stator back emf

148 PRZEGLD ELEKTROTECHNICZNY, ISSN 0033-2097, R. 90 NR 9/2014

 (b) with dc to dc SEPIC converter
Fig.11. Stator current
Fig.13. Speed and torque waveforms for reference speed of
2000rpm with 50% load

From Fig.13 it is obvious that for reference speed of

2000rpm with 50% load the speed response is appreciable.
The torque ripples are well reduced.

(a) without dc to dc SEPIC converter

(a) without dc to dc SEPIC converter

(b) with dc to dc SEPIC converter

Fig.12. Speed and torque waveforms for rated speed of 3434rpm

with 100% load
(b) with dc to dc SEPIC converter
Fig.12 shows the simulation results obtained for rated
speed with full load conditions. From Fig.12, it can be seen Fig.14. Speed and torque waveforms for different reference
that the closed loop system brings the speed to the normal speed with 100% load
value and is maintained constant with significant reduction
Fig.14 shows the performance comparison for different
in torque ripple.
values of reference speed with full condition. The results
obtained are found to be satisfactory.
Table 3. Summary of results
Load Torque ripple in %
speed in
torque without SEPIC with SEPIC
rpm
in % converter converter
100 3434 24.65 12.5
50 2000 22.5 9.21
75 1000 21.45 8.61

Table 3 summarizes the simulation results, specifying

the torque ripple associated with each commanded speed.
These results indicate that the proposed technique is very
(a) without dc to dc SEPIC converter
effective at the commutation torque ripple suppression over
the entire motor speed range. The results reveal that SEPIC

PRZEGLD ELEKTROTECHNICZNY, ISSN 0033-2097, R. 90 NR 9/2014 149

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