FIELD ORIENTED CONTROL OF A

BRUSHLESS DC MOTOR

A Project Report

submitted by

MARABATHINA HARSHAVARDHAN

in partial fulfilment of the requirements

for the award of the degree of

MASTER OF TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MADRAS.
MAY 2017
 THESIS CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the thesis titled FIELD ORIENTED CONTROL OF A BRUSH-
LESS DC MOTOR, submitted by Marabathina Harshavardhan, to the Indian Insti-
tute of Technology, Madras, for the award of the degree of Master of Technology, is
a bona fide record of the research work done by him under my supervision. The con-
tents of this thesis, in full or in parts, have not been submitted to any other Institute or
University for the award of any degree or diploma.

Dr. Srirama Srinivas

Project Guide
Associate Professor
Dept. of Electrical Engineering
IIT-Madras, 600036

Place: Chennai
Date: 12th May 2017
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This project would not have been possible without the guidance and the help of several
individuals who in one way or another contributed and extended their valuable assis-
tance in the preparation and completion of this work.

First and foremost, my gratitude to Dr. Srirama Srinivas, Project Guide and Associate
Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras, whose sincerity and encour-
agement I will never forget. Dr. Srinivas has been my inspiration as I hurdle all the
obstacles in the completion of this project. His guidance throughout the project was
very helpful as he provided me with valuable suggestions and ideas, which helped me
proceed towards my goal. Dr. Srinivas provided me an intellectual platform to enrich
my knowledge and implement my views.

I am grateful to Mr. Ravi Teja Vallabhaneni, Research Scholar, without whose as-
sistance this project would not have been successful. The discussions I had with him
helped me to think in optimistic way. I am also thankful to Mr. Mariappan of Lucas-
TVS for providing me with BLDC motor for my project.

Special thanks to Surya Prakash M, Siva Prasad K, Harikrishnan P and many others
for their knowledge sharing in the time of need. I am also thankful to my friends Benny
Sudhakar P, Subodhkanth K, Madhav Rao D, Chandra Kumar U, with whom I had most
memorable time during my stay in IIT Madras.

i
 ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS: Field Oiented Control; Sensored Control; SVPWM; BLDC

Brushless DC motors(BLDC) are widely used in present day applications due to their
advantages over brushed DC motors.Field Oriented Control(FOC) of BLDC motors
refers to a high performance control scheme which gives excellent dynamic torque and
speed response similar to that of a DC machine. The present thesis encompasses the
fundamentals of BLDC motor and the results and practical applications of FOC for
BLDC motors. The primary focus in the work reported in this thesis is on controlling
the motor in d-q axes using FOC technique along with the generation of space vector
modulated pulses for the inverter driving the BLDC motor. This vector control method
improves the system performance with low torque ripple and high efficiency.

ii
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

LIST OF TABLES v

LIST OF FIGURES vii

ABBREVIATIONS viii

NOTATION ix

1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Brushed DC Motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Brushless DC Motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.3 Construction of BLDC motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3.1 Stator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3.2 Rotor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3.3 Hall Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.4 Operating Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.5 Organization of the Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2 MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF BLDC MOTOR AND OPERA-

TION OF BLDC MOTOR USING HALL SENSORS 7
2.1 Model of BLDC motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Theory of Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3 Simulation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4 Experimental Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

3 FIELD ORIENTED CONTROL OF BLDC MOTOR 20

iii
 3.1 Theory of Field Oriented Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.2 SVPWM switching for inverter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3 Design of Current and Speed controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.3.1 Current controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.3.2 Speed controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.4 SIMULATION RESULTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.4.1 Disturbance in load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.4.2 Disturbance in speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.4.3 Speed Reversal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

4 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE SCOPE 34

 LIST OF TABLES

1.1 Hall sensor signals showing switching sequence . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2.1 BLDC motor parameters used for simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2.2 Motor parameters used for experimental procedure . . . . . . . . . 15
2.3 Commutation sequence derived from hall sensor outputs . . . . . . 16

3.1 Space vectors for different switching states . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

3.2 Ta , Tb , Tc values for different sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.3 BLDC motor drive parameters used for simulation in FOC . . . . . 27

v
 LIST OF FIGURES

1.1 Three Phase BLDC motor fed from a 3φ voltage source inverter . . 4
1.2 Ideal back EMF’s, phase currents and hall sensor signals . . . . . . 5

2.1 Model of BLDC motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.2 3φ voltage source inverter fed BLDC motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3 Induced EMF ea at starting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.4 Phase current ia at starting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.5 Induced EMF ea during staedy state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.6 Phase current ia during steady state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.7 Terminal voltage Vac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.8 Speed of the motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.9 Electro-magnetic Torque Te . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.10 Hardware Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.11 Levelshifter Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.12 Three Hall sensor signal Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.13 Pulses coming out from DSP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.14 Pulses given to Gate driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.15 Phase current waveform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.16 Line-Line terminal voltage waveform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

3.1 Block diagram of Field Oriented control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

3.2 2-level VSI topology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.3 Space vector locations for the 2-level VSI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.4 Synthesising a desired reference vector by SVPWM . . . . . . . . . 23
3.5 Switching pattern for 2 succesive sampling intervals . . . . . . . . . 24
3.6 Structure of the current control loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.7 Structure of the speed control loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.8 The three phase currents under no-load cndition . . . . . . . . . . . 28

vi
3.9 The back-emf of BLDC motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.10 Electromagnetic Torque under no-load condition . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.11 Reference Speed and Actual Speed under no-load condition . . . . . 29
3.12 The Phase currents during application of load . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.13 Electromagnetic Torque during disturbance in load . . . . . . . . . 30
3.14 Reference speed and Actual speed during disturbance in load . . . . 30
3.15 Phase currents during speed disturbance) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.16 Electromagnetic Torque (Te during speed disturbance) . . . . . . . 31
3.17 Reference speed and actual speed during disturbance . . . . . . . . 31
3.18 Torque (Te during speed reversal) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.19 The three phase currents during speed reversal . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.20 Speed reversal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

vii
 ABBREVIATIONS

IITM Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

BLDC Brushless DC Motor
DSP Digital Signal Processor
EMF Electro Motive Force
PI Proportional and Integral
DC Direct Current
VSI Voltage Source Inverter
FOC Field Oriented Control
SVPWM Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation
SPWM Sine Pulse Width Modulation

viii
 NOTATION

va , vb , vc Instantaneous voltages in abc frame, V

ea , eb , ec Instantaneous backEMFs in V
id , iq Instantaneous stator currents in dq frame, A
La , Lb , Lc Stator inductances of three phases, mH
Ra , Rb , Rc Stator resistances of three phases, Ω
M Mutual inductance between any two phases, mH
VDC Inverter DC bus voltage, V
ωm Rotor speed, rad/s
Kp Proportional gain of the PI controller
Ki Integral gain of the PI controller

ix
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Brushed DC Motor

Brushed DC Motors are used in various adjustable speed drives due to their easier con-
trol, due to the fact that its speed and torque can be independently controlled from the
field and current respectively. Stationary brushes are mounted to the stator frame which
rub against commutator segments on the rotor, which in turn are connected to rotat-
ing coil segments. As the rotor spins, different coils are connected and disconnected
in such a way that net magnetic field produced by rotor is stationary with respect to
that of stator and properly oriented with stator magnetic field to produce the electro-
magnetic torque. As the commutator segments rotate past the brushes, the electrical
contacts to those particular rotor coil segments will be broken. As the rotor coils are
inductive, they oppose change in current by producing high fly-back voltage thereby
causing sparks between brushes and disconnected commutator segments. These sparks
results in several ill effects like reduced efficiency and calls for frequent replacement
and for maintainance of the carbon brushes etc. The brushes must be spring loaded
against commutator segments in order to ensure good electrical contact. This further
reduces efficiency and periodic maintenance to replace the brushes.

1.2 Brushless DC Motor

In the past few years, the field of controlled electrical drives has undergone rapid ex-
pansion due to technological improvements in semiconductor devices. New electronic
microprocessors and DSPs which provide amazing computational speeds have enabled
the development of effective vector control AC drives with lower power dissipation and
more accurate control. BLDC motors are one of the motor types rapidly gaining popu-
larity. BLDC motors are used in industries such as appliances, automotive, aerospace,
consumer, medical, industrial automation equipment and instrumentation. As the name
implies, BLDC motors do not use brushes for commutation; instead, they are electron-
ically commutated. BLDC motors have many advantages over brushed DC motors and
induction motors.A few of these are:

1. Better speed versus torque characteristics

2. High dynamic response

3. Higher speed ranges

4. Long operating life

5. High efficiency

6. Less noise operation

In addition, there are no brushes and commutator in the motor and therefore all
disadvantages associated with sparking of brushed DC motors are eliminated.

1.3 Construction of BLDC motor

BLDC motor is a type of permanent magnet synchronous machine. The motor has
3-phase delta connected or star connected stator and the rotor has permanent magnets.

1.3.1 Stator

The stator of a BLDC motor consists of stacked steel laminations with windings placed
in the slots that are axially cut along the inner periphery. The stator resembles that of
an induction motor; however, the windings are distributed in a different manner. Most
BLDC motors have three stator windings connected in star or delta fashion. Each of
these windings are constructed with numerous coils interconnected to form a winding.
One or more coils are placed in the slots and they are interconnected to make a winding.

2
Each of these windings are distributed over stator periphery to form an even number
of poles. There are two types of stator winding variants: trapezoidal and sinusoidal
motors. This differentiation is based on the basis of interconnection of coils in the
stator windings to give different types of back emf. The trapezoidal motor gives a back
emf in trapezoidal fashion and sinusoidal motors back emf is sinusoidal.

1.3.2 Rotor

The rotor is made up of permanent magnets. Permanent magnet synchronous machines

can be broadly classified on the basis of the direction of field flux.

1. Radial field: The flux direction is along the radius of the machine.

2. Axial field: The flux direction is parallel to the rotor shaft.

The magnets can be placed in many ways on the rotor. The high power density
synchronous machines have surface mounted permanent magnets with radial orientation
intended generally for low speed applications whereas in interior magnet version, the
permanent magnets are inset and are used for high speed applications. The airgap flux
is ideally decided by the magnets and little affected by armature current.

1.3.3 Hall Sensors

The commutation of a BLDC motor is controlled electronically. In BLDC motor, the

stator windings should be energized in a particular sequence to rotate in a particular di-
rection. It is important to know the rotor position in order to understand which winding
must be energized, following the energizing sequence. Rotor position is sensed using
Hall sensors embedded in stator. Most BLDC motors have three Hall sensors embedded
into stator on non-driving end of motor. Whenever the rotor magnetic poles pass near
Hall sensors, they give a high or low signal, indicating the N or S pole is passing near
the sensors. Based on the combination of these Hall sensor signals, the exact sequence
of commutation can be determined.

3
1.4 Operating Principle

Trapezoidal BLDC motor is a type of permanent magnet synchronous motor that has
a trapezoidal shaped back-emf. DC power supply switched to stator phase windings
of motor using power devices is given, where the switching sequence is determined
from the rotor position. The phase current, typically rectangular in shape, is synchro-
nized with the back-emf to produce a constant torque at constant speed. BLDC motors
are commutated using a three phase inverter which requires rotor position information.
The position of rotor can be sensed by using hall sensors, resolvers or obsolute position
sensors. BLDC motors come in single phase, two phase and three phase configura-
tions. Corresponding to its type, the stator has same number of windings. Out of these,
three phase motors are most popular and widely used. A typical three phase inverter
connected to a three phase BLDC motor equivalent circuit is shown in Figure. 1.1.

Figure 1.1: Three Phase BLDC motor fed from a 3φ voltage source inverter

Typically, a BLDC motor is driven by a three phase inverter with six step commutation.
The conducting interval for each phase is 1200 electrical angle and each conducting
state is called a step. Each commutation sequence has one of the windings energized
to the positive DC supply of the inverter(current flows into the winding) and the second
winding to the negative DC supply of the inverter(current flows out of winding) and

4
the third winding is in non-energized condition. The interaction of magnetic fields
produced by stator coils and permanent magnets produces a constant torque. In order to
produce maximum torque, the inverter should be commutated every 600 so that current
is in phase with back-emf. The ideal back-emf waveforms of the three phases along
with phase currents is shown in Figure. 1.2. Table 1.1 shows the switching sequence
that should be followed with respect to Hall sensors.

Figure 1.2: Ideal back EMF’s, phase currents and hall sensor signals

5
 Rotor Position Ha Hb Hc S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 Phases which are ON
00 -600 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 CB
600 -1200 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 AB
0 0
120 -180 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 AC
0 0
180 -240 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 BC
2400 -3000 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 BA
0 0
300 -360 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 CA
Table 1.1: Hall sensor signals showing switching sequence

1.5 Organization of the Report

• Chapter 2 deals with mathematical modelling of Brushless Dc motor and gives details
about the operation of BLDC motor using hall sensors in MATLAB-Simulink and in
Hardware.
• Chapter 3 explains the theory of Field Oriented Control, SVPWM, Design of con-
trollers and displayed various simulation results.
• Chapter 4 gives the conclusions and the future scope of the project.

6
 CHAPTER 2

MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF BLDC MOTOR

AND OPERATION OF BLDC MOTOR USING HALL
SENSORS

2.1 Model of BLDC motor

The BLDC motor is represented by a three-phase equivalent circuit, where each phase
consists of stator resistance, self inductance, and a trapezoidal backemf in series.

Figure 2.1: Model of BLDC motor

The voltage equations of the three phases can be written as

d
va = Ra ia + (La ia + Lba ib + Lca ic ) + ea (2.1)
dt

d
vb = Rb ib + (Lab ia + Lb ib + Lcb ic ) + eb (2.2)
dt

d
vc = Rc ic + (Lac ia + Lbc ib + Lc ic ) + ec (2.3)
dt
We have

Ra = Rb = Rc = R

La = Lb = Lc = Ls

Lba = Lab = Lca = Lac = Lbc = Lcb = M

Substituting above values, (2.1) - (2.3) can be written in the matrix form as ;

dia


     dt   
 
va R 0 0   ea 
 
     dib   
 vb  =  0 R 0  + L 
 dt  +  (2.4)
     eb 
       
vc 0 0 R  
  ec
 di 
c
dt
where,
Ls − M = L
R is stator resistance per phase
Ls is stator inductance per phase
M is mutual inductance between the phases
ia , ib , ic are the stator currents per phase

The amplitude of back-emf depends on speed and its waveform depends on the
rotor position. Also, the back-emf waveforms have 1200 phase difference between each
phase. Therefore, back-emf can be mathematically written as ;

ea = kb (θe )ωr (2.5)

2π
eb = kb (θe − )ωr (2.6)
3

8
 2π
ec = kb (θe + )ωr (2.7)
3
where,
ωr is rotor mechanical speed in rad/s
θe is rotor electrical position in rad
kb is back EMF constant which is dependent on rotor position and expressed in V/rad/s

The electro-magnetic torque developed in the machine can be written as

ea ia + eb ib + ec ic
Te = (2.8)
ωr
The equation of motion is

dωr
Te − Tl = J + Bωr (2.9)
dt
Where,
J is Moment of inertia[kgm2 ]
B is Coefficient of friction[Nms/rad]
Tl is Load torque[Nm]

2.2 Theory of Operation

Unlike Brushed DC motor, commutation of BLDC motor is controlled electronically.

To rotate BLDC motor, the stator windings should be energized in a sequence. It is
important to know the rotor position in order to understand which winding to be ener-
gized following the energizing sequence. The rotor position is sensed using hall sensors
embedded into the stator. Most BLDC motors have three hall sensors embedded into
stator at their non-driving end of the rotor. Whenever the rotor magnetic poles pass near
hall sensors, they give a high or low signal, indicating the N or S pole is passing near
the hall sensor. Based on the combination of the three hall sensor signals, the exact
sequence of commutation is determined.
Every 600 electrical rotation of rotor, one of the hall sensors changes its state. Given
this, it takes six steps to complete one electrical cycle. In synchronous with every 600

9
electrical, phase current switching should be updated. However, one electrical cycle
may not correspond to one mechanical revolution of the rotor. The number of cycles to
be repeated to complete a mechanical rotation is determined by number of rotor pole
pairs. For each rotor pole pair, one electrical cycle is completed. So, the number of
electrical cycles per revolution is equal to rotor pole pairs.

2.3 Simulation Results

Using (2.1) to (2.9), the BLDC motor is modelled in MATLAB-simulink. The supply
to the motor is taken from a three phase inverter as shown in Figure. 2.2. Three stator
windings are modelled using resistance, inductance and a voltage controlled source
which is driven by ideal back-emf waveforms derived from the speed of motor and
rotor angle. Currents in each phase are used to calculate the total electro-magnetic
torque from which speed is calculated. Three hall sensor signals are also derived from
the rotor position.
The parameters of the motor used for simulation are shown in Table 2.1.

Figure 2.2: 3φ voltage source inverter fed BLDC motor

The induced back-emf and phase current of A-phase at the time of starting are shown in
Figure. 2.3 and 2.4 respectively. From Figure. 2.4 it can be seen that the motor draws

10
 Table 2.1: BLDC motor parameters used for simulation
Parameter Value Units
Resistance 3.5 ohms
Inductance 19 mH
DC Voltage 48 Volts
Voltage constant 98.03 Vpeak L-L / krpm
No.of poles 16

a high starting current since there is no induced back-emf. As the motor rotates and
speed picks up, the back-emf increases and hence current drawn by the motor decreases
which can be seen from Figure. 2.5 and Figure. 2.6 respectively.

Figure 2.3: Induced EMF ea at starting

11
 Figure 2.4: Phase current ia at starting

Figure 2.5: Induced EMF ea during staedy state

12
 Figure 2.6: Phase current ia during steady state

Figure 2.7: Terminal voltage Vac

The terminal line-line voltage Vac is shown in Figure. 2.7 and the BLDC motor
speed and torque waveforms are shown in Figure. 2.8 and Figure. 2.9 respectively.
From Figure. 2.9 it can be seen that starting torque will be high due to high current
drawn by the BLDC motor and the BLDC motor speed settles down at steady state at
which the electromagnetic torque developed by the motor equals the load torque.

13
 Figure 2.8: Speed of the motor

Figure 2.9: Electro-magnetic Torque Te

2.4 Experimental Results

The specifications of the BLDC motor used for the experiment are shown in Table 2.2.
The hardware setup of the experiment is shown in Figure. 2.10. The level shifter board

14
and DSP is shown in Figure. 2.11. Hall sensors require 0-5V supply for its operation.

Table 2.2: Motor parameters used for experimental procedure

Parameter Value Units
Resistance 3.5 ohms
Inductance 19 mH
DC Rated Voltage 48 Volts
No.of poles 16

Figure 2.10: Hardware Setup

The hall sensor outputs are given to the TMS320F28377S digital control platform.
The coding of DSP is done by using embedded MATLAB coder. DSP board requires
a 3.3V supply and ground connection for its operation. The code is developed to give
six outputs that depend on the combination of three hall sensor outputs which decide
the control signals for switching the semiconductor switches of the three-phase inverter
drive. The gate driver requires 15V supply for its operation. Therefore, gate pulses
coming out from DSP control platform are needed to be level shifted from 3.3V to
15V. CD4504B Hex Voltage-Level shifter is used for this operation. The commutation
sequence of switches and phases in conduction according to hall sensor outputs are
given in Table 2.3. In Table 2.3, a ’1’ indicates ON state of switch and a ’0’ indicates
OFF state. Also a ’A+’ refers to top switch of phase A and a ’A-’ its bottom switch.

15
 Figure 2.11: Levelshifter Circuit

Table 2.3: Commutation sequence derived from hall sensor outputs

Ha Hb Hc S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 Phases in conduction
0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 C+,B-
1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 A+,B-
1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 A+,C-
1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 B+,C-
0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 B+,A-
0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 C+,A-

Similarly for B and C phases also.

The stator of the BLDC motor is connected in star. The three hall sensor outputs are
obtained and they are shown in Figure. 2.12.

16
 Figure 2.12: Three Hall sensor signal Waveforms

The waveforms of pulses coming from DSP have 3.3V and are level-shifted. The
level-shifted pulses given to gate driver i.e at 15V are shown in Figure. 2.13 and Figure.
2.14 respectively.

Figure 2.13: Pulses coming out from DSP

17
 Figure 2.14: Pulses given to Gate driver

The phase current waveform of A phase is shown in Figure. 2.15. The terminal
line-line voltage is measured by using 100:1 high voltage probe and the waveform is
shown in Figure. 2.16.

Figure 2.15: Phase current waveform

The rated speed of BLDC motor calculated from Figure. 2.8 is 487rpm and the rated
speed of BLDC motor calculated from the experiment is 500rpm. The peak value of

18
 Figure 2.16: Line-Line terminal voltage waveform

the phase current calculated from the Figure. 2.15 is 12mA and the maximum value of
current calculated from the Figure. 2.6 is 10mA. The peak value of terminal line-line
voltage calculated from the Figure. 2.16 is 50V and the maximum value of terminal
line-line voltage calculated from the Figure. 2.7 is 48V.

19
 CHAPTER 3

FIELD ORIENTED CONTROL OF BLDC MOTOR

3.1 Theory of Field Oriented Control

In trapezoidal current control, the BLDC motor operates in two phase conduction mode.
In SVPWM based field oriented control, the BLDC motor operates in three phase con-
duction mode and this results in sinusoidal currents. The BLDC motor is modelled
in three phase stator reference frame and the transformations from three phase stator
reference frame to d-q rotating reference frame are done by using clarke and park trans-
formations. In FOC, motor currents and voltages are manipulated in the d-q reference
frame of the rotor. This means that measured motor currents must be mathematically
transformed from the three-phase static reference frame of the stator windings to the two
axis rotating d-q reference frame, prior to processing by the PI controllers. Similarly,
the voltages to be applied to the motor are transformed from the dq frame of the rotor
to the three phase reference frame of the stator before they can be used for SVPWM
output as shown in Figure. 3.1. These transformations generally require the fast math
capability of a DSP or high performance digital signal processing power that becomes
the heart of FOC. Although the reference frame transformations can be performed in a
single step, they are best described as a two step process. The motor currents are first
translated from the 120 degree physical frame of the motor stator windings to a fixed
orthogonal reference frame. They are then translated from the stator fixed frame to
the rotating frame of the rotor. Two P-I controllers are used; one for the direct current
component, and the other for the quadrature current. The input to the controller for
the direct current has zero input. This drives the direct current component to zero and
therefore forces the current space vector to be exclusively in the quadrature direction.
Since only the quadrature current produces useful torque, this maximizes the torque
efficiency of the system. The second P-I controller operates on quadrature current and
takes the requested torque as input. This causes the quadrature current to track the re-
quested torque, as desired. The outputs from the two P-I controllers represent a voltage
space vector with respect to the rotor. Mirroring the transformation performed on motor
currents, these static signals are processed by a series of reference frame transforma-
tions to produce voltage control signals for the output bridge. They are first translated
from the rotating d-q frame of the rotor to the fixed x-y frame of the stator. The voltage
signals are then converted from an orthogonal frame to the 120 degree physical frame
of the A, B and C motor windings. This results in three voltage signals appropriate for
control of the SVPWM output modulator.

Figure 3.1: Block diagram of Field Oriented control

3.2 SVPWM switching for inverter

The power circuit topology for a 2-level VSI using IGBT switches is shown in Figure.
3.2.For this inverter, there are 8 possible combinations of switching. Each of the switch-
ing combination results in a space vector wose location can be obtained. Of these, two
are zero vectors that corresponding to all top switches or all bottom switches ON. The
other six vectors are directed along the vertices of a regular hexagon giving six sectors
S1 - S6 as shown in Figure. 3.3.

21
 0
1 0
1
0
1 0
1 1
00
11
0 0
1
0
1 1
00
11
0 0
1
01
1 0 00
11
0
1
0000
11
0
1 00
11
0
1 0
1
0
1
0
100
11
11
00
11
00 1
0 0
1 11
11
00
0
1
1
0 0000
11
0
1 11
11
00
1
0
0
1
0
1
0
100
11 00
11
0
1 0
1 0
1
00
11 0
1
0
1 001
11 0 0
1
001
11 0
Motor
S1 1
0 S3 0
1 S5 0
1
A ia
Vd +
− B ib
N
C ic
1
0 0
1 0
1
0
1 1
0 0
1 1
0 0
1
0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1
0
100
11
00
11
11
00
1
0 0
111
000
1
10
01 0
111
000
1
10
01
0
1 0
1 0
1
0
1
0
100
11
01
1 0 0 1
0
1
1
0
1
0 0 1
1
0
1
0
1
0
S4 1
0 S61
0 S21
0

Figure 3.2: 2-level VSI topology

V3 V2

S2

S3 S1
V0
V4 V1

S4 V7 S6

S5

V5 V6

Figure 3.3: Space vector locations for the 2-level VSI

The various possible switching combinations, along with their corresponding space
vector locations and the components of these vectors along the α and β axes are listed in
Table. 3.1. In Table 3.1 a ’0’ corresponds to the switch being OFF and a ’1’ corresponds
to the switch being ON.

22
 Table 3.1: Space vectors for different switching states
S1 S3 S5 VAN VBN VCN
Vector Vα Vβ
→
−
0 0 0 0 0 0 V0 0 0
→
−
1 0 0 2Vd /3 -Vd /3 -Vd /3 V1 2Vd /3 0
→
− √
0 1 0 -Vd /3 2Vd /3 -Vd /3 V3 -Vd /3 Vd / 3
→
− √
1 1 0 Vd /3 Vd /3 -2Vd /3 V2 Vd /3 Vd / 3
→
− √
0 0 1 -Vd /3 -Vd /3 2Vd /3 V5 -Vd /3 -Vd / 3
→
− √
1 0 1 Vd /3 -2Vd /3 Vd /3 V6 Vd /3 -Vd / 3
→
−
0 1 1 -2Vd /3 Vd /3 Vd /3 V4 -2Vd /3 0
→
−
1 1 1 0 0 0 V7 0 0

The fundamental idea of SVPWM is that a given reference vector can be realised in
the average sense using the combination of the eight space vectors of the 2-level VSI.
The reference voltage vector is obtained by mapping the desired 3-φ output voltages
to the αβ frame. It is then realised by using the vectors that form the boundary of the
sector in which the tip of the reference vector lies. Figure. 3.4 illustrates this technique
for a vector that lies in sector 1.

V2

V*s

60
α
V7, V0 α− axis
V1

Figure 3.4: Synthesising a desired reference vector by SVPWM

For any sampling interval Ts , during which the desired vector lies in sector-1 as
shown in Figure. 3.4, the sampling interval is divided into 3 sub intervals i.e T1 , T2 and
T0 . The switching is done to obtain the vector V~1 for T1 seconds, V~2 for T2 seconds and
any of the zero vectors for T0 seconds. The intervals T0 , T1 and T2 are chosen such that
volt seconds produced by the active vectors and the zero vector along the α and β axis,

23
are the same as that produced by vs∗ in the total sampling time interval Ts . Therefore,

|Vs∗ |Ts cos α = T1 |V~1 | + T2 |V~2 | cos 60◦ (3.1)

|Vs∗ |Ts sin α = T2 |V~2 | sin 60◦ (3.2)

|V~s∗ |
Solving for T1 and T2 and defining the modulation index as m = |V~1 |
gives

sin(60◦ − α)
T1 = mTs (3.3)
sin 60◦

sin α
T2 = mTs (3.4)
sin 60◦

T0 = Ts − T1 − T2 (3.5)

In (3.3) and (3.4) the angle α is the angle subtended by the reference space vector with
respect to α-axis in Figure. 3.4 and this is easily obtained from the components along
the α and β axis. Since the same equations apply to any sector, only a 60◦ sine lookup
table is required. The switching pattern used in this project using vectors in sector S1 is
as shown in Figure. 3.5.

V0 V1 V2 V7 V7 V2 V1 V0

2 Ta

2 Tb

2Tc

T 0/2 T1 T2 T 0/2 T 0/2 T2 T1 T 0/2

2T s

Figure 3.5: Switching pattern for 2 succesive sampling intervals

24
 For this pattern it can be seen that,

Tc = T0 /2

Tb = T2 + T0 /2

Ta = Ts − T0 /2

Similarly for other sectors, Ta , Tb , Tc values can be calculated and is shown in Table.
3.2

Table 3.2: Ta , Tb , Tc values for different sectors

Sector S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
Ta Ts -T0 /2 T1 + T0 /2 T0 /2 T0 /2 T2 +T0 /2 T2 +T0 /2
Tb T2 + T0 /2 Ts - T0 /2 Ts - T0 /2 T1 +T0 /2 T0 /2 T0 /2
Tc T0 /2 T0 /2 T2 + T0 /2 Ts -T0 /2 Ts -T0 /2 T1 +T0 /2

3.3 Design of Current and Speed controllers

3.3.1 Current controller

Current controllers primarily deal with the dynamics of the power supply and armature.
These should have a response slower than the inverter, but faster than the speed con-
troller. The block diagram of the current controller loop is as shown in Figure. 3.6. The
structure of q-axis current controller is also same. If the bandwidth of current controller
is chosen as fn Hz, then
1
tb = (3.6)
2πfn

1
The bandwidth of current controller loop = fn = 10
×Bandwidth of inverter
The condition for the loop to have a first order response is
L
tcc = (3.7)
R
Therefore, the open loop gain is
kpc 1
= (3.8)
R.tcc .s s.tb

25
 Figure 3.6: Structure of the current control loop

From (3.8), the value of proportional gain kpc (Kp ) can be calculated. The value of
kpc
integral gain (Ki ) is calculated from tcc
.

3.3.2 Speed controller

The block diagram of the speed controller loop is as shown in Figure. 3.7 The output
of the speed PI controller is the reference value of the q-axis current. The current
control loop is replaced by its equivalent first order transfer function of bandwidth as
designed above. The inverter and speed sensor are treated as constant gain blocks and
their dynamics are neglected. The sensor gain is taken as unity.
If the bandwidth of speed controller is chosen as fns Hz,then

Figure 3.7: Structure of the speed control loop

26
 1
tbs = (3.9)
2πfns
1
The bandwidth of speed controller loop =fns = 10
×Bandwidth of current controller
The condition for the loop to have first order response is

J
ts = (3.10)
B

Therefore, the open loop gain is

J
kpw = (3.11)
tbs .kt

where kt is the torque constant.

From the above equation, we can find kpw and the value of integral gain (Ki ) is equal to
kpw
ts

3.4 SIMULATION RESULTS

The parameters of the BLDC motor used for simulation are shown in Table 3.3. The

Table 3.3: BLDC motor drive parameters used for simulation in FOC
Parameter Value Units
Resistance 1.5 ohms
Inductance 4.2 mH
DC Voltage 36 Volts
Moment of Inertia 75 gmcm2
Coefficient of friction 9e-5 N.m.s
No.of poles 4

BLDC motor is started at no-load condition. The speed reference is set to 4000rpm.
The three phase currents of the BLDC motor are shown in Figure. 3.8 and the back-
emf of the BLDC motor is shown in Figure. 3.9 and the electromagnetic torque of the
BLDC motor is shown in Figure. 3.10 and the reference speed and the actual speed of
the BLDC motor are shown in Figure. 3.11.

27
 Figure 3.8: The three phase currents under no-load cndition

Figure 3.9: The back-emf of BLDC motor

The back-emf generated is 13.15 Volts for the given speed and is trapezoidal in
shape. The three phase currents are sinusoidal in shape and have a steady state peak
current of 0.7A. From Figure. 3.8 it can be seen that the motor draws a high starting
current since there is no induced back-emf.

Figure 3.10: Electromagnetic Torque under no-load condition

28
 Figure 3.11: Reference Speed and Actual Speed under no-load condition

From Figure. 3.11, it can be seen that the actual speed reached the reference speed
at 0.4sec and the speed is constant for entire range. From Figure. 3.10, it is clear that
electromagnetic torque equals the load torque within 0.013sec.

3.4.1 Disturbance in load

The BLDC motor is started at no-load condition and rated load torque of 0.11Nm is
applied at 2.5sec. The speed is set to 4000rpm.
The phase currents after applying rated load is as shown in Figure. 3.12.

Figure 3.12: The Phase currents during application of load

It can be seen that the steady state load current is sinusoidal in shape with a peak
current of 2.7A. The torque and speed waveforms are as shown in Figure. 3.13 and
Figure. 3.14 respectively.

29
 Figure 3.13: Electromagnetic Torque during disturbance in load

Figure 3.14: Reference speed and Actual speed during disturbance in load

As the load is applied at 2.5sec, from Figure. 3.13, the electromagnetic torque re-
sponse to the step load torque is instantaneous. From Figure. 3.14, it can be seen that
there is a dip in actual speed waveform at the time of disturbance but reached the refer-
ence speed at 2.8sec and remained constant in entire range.

3.4.2 Disturbance in speed

The BLDC motor is runned at no-load condition. Initially, the motor is rotated at
4000rpm and at 2.5sec, the reference speed is changed from 4000rpm to 2000rpm. The
phase currents at the time of disturbance is shown in Figure. 3.15. The electromagnetic
torque during disturbance in speed is as shown in Figure. 3.16. The reference speed
and the actual speed at disturbance is as shown in Figure. 3.17.

30
 Figure 3.15: Phase currents during speed disturbance)

Figure 3.16: Electromagnetic Torque (Te during speed disturbance)

Figure 3.17: Reference speed and actual speed during disturbance

From Figure. 3.17, it can be seen that the actual speed is changing from 4000rpm to
2000rpm and reached steady state at 2.9sec. The motor takes non-zero time to respond
for speed change due to momemt of inertia. The electromagnetic torque responds at the
time of disturbance and regain its position within 0.008sec.

31
3.4.3 Speed Reversal

The speed is set to reverse from 4000rpm to -4000rpm at 2.5sec at no-load condition.
The torque waveform at the moment of speed reversal is as shown in Figure. 3.18. The

Figure 3.18: Torque (Te during speed reversal)

phase currents at the time of speed reversal is shown in Figure. 3.19. The waveform of

Figure 3.19: The three phase currents during speed reversal

reference speed and actual speed changing from 4000rpm to -4000rpm is as shown in
Figure. 3.20.

Figure 3.20: Speed reversal

32
 It can be seen that the actual speed is changing from 4000rpm to -4000rpm and
reached steady state at 3sec. The motor takes non-zero time for speed change unlike
reference speed due to moment of inertia of the motor. The electromagnetic torque re-
sponds at the time of disturbance and regain its position within a short time i.e 0.025sec.

33
 CHAPTER 4

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE SCOPE

In trapezoidal control, the BLDC motor operates in two phase conduction mode
and the currents are quasi-square wave in shape. Due to deviation from ideal conditions
related to either the design of motor or the power supplied by the inverter, torque ripples
are produced. Because of that, non-ideal current waveforms are injected. In FOC, the
electromagnetic torque is controlled independently. Thus, superior control is observed.
Starting of motor is very fast and it is able to reach rated speed within short time. The
response of the motor to step load torque is instantaneous and the dip in speed during
that period is very low. Throughout the operation the speed is almost constant at desired
value. The speed reversal is quick and smooth. By using SVPWM, the DC voltage of
the inverter is used efficiently. The maximum output voltage based on the SVPWM is
1.15 times bigger than the conventional SPWM.
This simulation work can be further implemented in hardware. The FOC scheme can
be implemented without hall sensor information i.e Sensorless FOC as the hall sensors
need special mechanical arrangement and are temperature sensitive.
 REFERENCES

[1] Fitzgerald, A.E. and Kingsley, C. and Umans, S.D., “Electric Machinery,”Tata
McGraw-Hill Education, 2002.

[2] Yedale Padmaraja, “Brushless DC Motor Fundamentals,”AN885, Microchip Tech-

nology Inc, 2003.

[3] D.C. Hanselman, “Brushless permanent-magnet motor design,”McGraw-Hill New

York, 1994.

[4] P. Pillay and R. Krishnan, "Modelling, simulation, and analysis of permanent-

magnet motor drives. II. The brushless DC motor drive," in IEEE Transactions on
Industry Applications, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 274-279, Mar/Apr 1989.

[5] Texas Instruments Europe.Field Orientated Control of 3-Phase AC-Motors, Texas

Instruments Application Note, Literature Number: BPRA073, February, 1998.

[6] P. S. Chaudhari, S. L. Patil and S. K. Pandey, "Application of SVM technique for

BLDC motor drive," 2016 IEEE 1st International Conference on Power Electron-
ics, Intelligent Control and Energy Systems (ICPEICES), Delhi, 2016, pp. 1-6.

35