Brushless D.C.

Motor
The brushless d.c. motor differ from normal d.c. motor in that it employs electrical
commutation of the armature current rather than the mechanical commutation. The
construction of brushless d.c. motor is similar to a permanent magnet synchronous motor.
The polyphase winding is placed on the stator (armature) while rotor consists of
permanent magnets. The Fig. 1 shows the cross-sectoinal view of a permanent magnet
brushless d.c. motor.

Fig. 1 Cross section of brushless d.c. motor

The word brushless d.c. motor is used to define the combination of motor, its electronic
drive circuit and rotor position sensor. The electronic drive is an inverter which consists of
transistors, which feeds stator windings. The transistors are controlled by the pulses
generated by rotor position sensors. This ensures that rotor revolves at angular speed
which is equal to the average speed of the field produced by the stator.
Like a d.c. motor, the drive circuit is fed from a d.c. supply. The stator and rotor fields
remain stationary with respect to each other at all the speeds. The torque-speed
characteristics are similar to a d.c. motor. The speed can be controlled by controlling the
input d.c. voltage. Because of these similarities and as it does not have brushes, it is known
as brushless d.c. motor.
There are two types of brushless d.c. motor drives available in practice, which are,
1. Unipolar or half wave brushless d.c. motor
2. Bipolar or full wave brushless d.c. motor.
1.1 Unipolar Brushless D.C. Motor
In this type, rotor consists of optical sensors. The optical sensor has a light source,
three photontransistors P1, P2 and P3 mounted on the end plate of the motor, separated by
120o from each other and a revolving shutter coupled to the shaft of of the motor. The
optical sensor is shown in the Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 Arrangement of an optical sensor

The stator consists of a three phase stator winding and a two pole rotor consisting of
permanent magnet. The driving circuit consists of three transistors Q 1, Q2 and Q3 used to
excite the stator windings.
The arrangement is shown in the Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 Schematic arrangement of unipolar brushless d.c. motor

 When the shutter revolves, the phototransistors get exposed to the light in the sequence
of their numbers. In each revolution, the phototransistors generate the pulses PI 1, PI1 and
PI1which have duration and phase displacement of 120o. This is shown in the Fig. 4.

Fig. 4 Pulses generated by transistors

When light falls on the phototransistors P1, it generates a pulse and transistor Q1 gets
turned on. Hence current starts flowing through stator winding Ph1. This produces north pole
at pole face of Ph1. Due to this, south pole gets attracted towards it and reaches the axis of
pole face of Ph1. Hence rotor revolves in anticlockwise direction. During the mean time, the
light stops falling on P1 and starts falling on P2. Hence pulse PI1 is generated which turns on
the transistors Q2. So current now starts flowing through the winding Ph2, producing a north
pole. Hence rotor further rotates in anticlockwise direction. So that rotor reaches the axis of
the pole face of . In the meantime, light stops falling on and starts falling on P3. This causes
transistors Q3 to turn on which produces north pole at the pole face of Ph3This rotates the
rotor further in anticlokwise direction. Switching sequence repeats and continuous rotation
of the rotor is obtained.
The torque reversal can not be obtained just by reversing the d.c. supply as in case of
conventional d.c. motor. It can be achieved by operating the timing and base drive circuit in
such away that the transistors Q1, Q2 and Q3 conduct for the duration of pulses PI2, PI3 and
PI1 respectively. The torque reversal can be achieved also by shifting the base drive signals
of the transistors by 180 degrees.
 The circuit does not use any feed back or or free wheeling diodes. This is satisfactory
for small motors. In small rated motors, the inductive energy in the phase winding is very
small, to cause any destruction to the transistors. The cost of this motor is low and drive
circuit is simple. The main limitation of this motor is that it can not be used for power levels
above 100 watts. In large power levels, the stored energy in the phase winding inductance
is large and hence feedback diodes are necessary. In such cases bipolar brushless d.c.
motor is used.
1.2 Bipolar Brushless D.C. Motor
The bipolar brushless d.c. motor uses three phase inverter feedback diodes are used to
return the inductive energy to the supply. The rotor uses Hall effect sensors to sense the
position. Infact three Hall effect senors and a magnet ring from a rotor position sensor. The
Hall sensors are 120 electrical apart from each other. Magnet ring is mounted on the rotor
shaft and revolves with the rotor. The bipolar brushless d.c. motor circuit is shown in the
Fig. 5.
The switching of each transistor occurs in response to the rotor position sensor. The
transistors are triggered in the sequence Q1,Q2 ,Q3 ,Q4 , Q5 and Q6. Each transistors
conductors for 120o and at any time two transistors conduct and each pair conducts for 60 o.
The torque reversal is achieved by phase shifting the transistor base drive signals by 180
degrees.
As each phase conducts twice in a cycle, better utilisation of stator windings take place,
compared to unipolar drive. The bipolar type is suitable for high performance servodrives
and also for the ratings higher than 100 watts.
 Fig. 5 Bipolar brushless d.c. motor

1.3 Features of Brushless D.C. Motor

1. Due to absence of brushes and commutator, they require practically no maintenance.
2. They have long life.
3. The operation is high reliable.
4. They have low inertia and friction.
5. They have low radio frequency interference and noise hence the operation is noisless.
6. Due to low inertia and friction, they have a faster acceleration and can be run at much
higher speeds upto 30000 r.p.m. and more.
7. Because armature windings are on stator, the cooling is much better.
8. Due to feedback diodes, the efficiency is as 75 to 80%.

1.4 Applications of Brushless D.C. Motor

The unipolar brushless d.c. motors are used for the applications of power levels upto
100 W like turn drives in record players, spindle drives in hard disk drives in computers and
various low cost instruments and computer peripheral equipments.
The motors are also used for tape drive for video recorders, instruments and control
systems.
They also have applications in the field of aerospace, gyroscope motors and biomedical
instruments like artificial heart pumps.