2
Introduction
The economic constraints and new standards legislated by governments place increasingly stringent
requirements on electrical systems. New generations of equipment must have higher performance
parameters such as better efficiency and reduced electromagnetic interference. System flexibility must be
high to facilitate market modifications and to reduce development time. All these improvements must be
achieved while, at the same time, decreasing system cost.
Brushless motor technology makes it possible to achieve these specifications. Such motors combine high
reliability with high efficiency, and for a lower cost in comparison with brush motors. This paper describes
the use of a Brushless DC Motor (BLDC). Although the brushless characteristic can be apply to several
kinds of motors – AC synchronous motors, stepper motors, switched reluctance motors, AC induction
motors - the BLDC motor is conventionally defined as a permanent magnet synchronous motor with a
trapezoidal Back EMF waveform shape. Permanent magnet synchronous machines with trapezoidal
Back-EMF and (120 electrical degrees wide) rectangular stator currents are widely used as they offer the
following advantages first, assuming the motor has pure trapezoidal Back EMF and that the stator phases
commutation process is accurate, the mechanical torque developed by the motor is constant; secondly,
the Brushless DC drives show a very high mechanical power density. This application report covers the
280x controllers and some system considerations to get out high performances from a BLDC motor drive.
BLDC Motors
The BLDC motor is an AC synchronous motor with permanent magnets on the rotor (moving part) and
windings on the stator (fixed part). Permanent magnets create the rotor flux and the energized stator
windings create electromagnet poles. The rotor (equivalent to a bar magnet) is attracted by the energized
stator phase. By using the appropriate sequence to supply the stator phases, a rotating field on the stator
is created and maintained. This action of the rotor - chasing after the electromagnet poles on the stator -
is the fundamental action used in synchronous permanent magnet motors. The lead between the rotor
and the rotating field must be controlled to produce torque and this synchronization implies knowledge of
the rotor position.
On the stator side, three phase motors are the most common. These offer a good compromise between
precise control and the number of power electronic devices required to control the stator currents. For the
rotor, a greater number of poles usually create a greater torque for the same level of current. On the other
hand, by adding more magnets, a point is reached where, because of the space needed between
magnets, the torque no longer increases. The manufacturing cost also increases with the number of
poles. As a consequence, the number of poles is a compromise between cost, torque and volume.
Fig.1 A three-phase synchronous motor with a one permanent magnet pair pole rotor