1552 IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, VOL. 21, NO.
3, JUNE 2016
Development of BLDC Motor-Based Elevator
System Suitable for DC Microgrid
Dwijasish Das, N. Kumaresan, Member, IEEE, V. Nayanar, K. Navin Sam, and N. Ammasai Gounden
Abstract—In recent days, utilization of the renewable
energy sources has been emphasized in high-rise build-
ings, where dc microgrid is established. It is known that
the brushless direct current (BLDC) motors have smooth
speed control, high-power density, and less complexities
in power converter and controller when operated with dc
supply as compared to other electrical motors. Hence,
this paper enunciates the scope of using BLDC motors for
elevator systems suitable for operating with a dc microgrid.
For analyzing the proposed BLDC motor-based elevator
system, a MATLAB mechatronic simulation model has been
developed by inserting various electrical and mechanical
components. Four quadrant operation of the proposed
elevator system has also been indicated with the simulation
results. To demonstrate the successful working of the
proposal, a prototype elevator system has been designed
and developed in the laboratory. The overall closed-loop
controller has been implemented using a Xilinx Spartan-3E
field programmable gate array (FPGA). Experiments have
been conducted for the upward and downward movement
of the elevator cabin with and without load and the findings
are given in this paper. Regenerative braking is also
possible for the proposed system by employing a suitable
gear mechanism in place of worm gear.
Index Terms—Brushless direct current (BLDC) motor, dc
microgrid, elevator, field programmable gate array (FPGA),
Verilog hardware description language (HDL).
NOMENCLATURE
F Combined viscous friction of rotor and load, N·m·s.
J Combined inertia of rotor and load, kg·m2 .
p Number of pole pairs.
Te Electromagnetic torque, N·m.
TG Gear torque, N·m.
Tloss Torque loss due to meshing friction, N·m.
Tm Shaft mechanical torque, N·m.
Tw Torque on the worm, N·m.
vab , vb c ab and bc phase to phase voltages, V.
θ Rotor angular position, rad.
λ Amplitude of the flux induced by the permanent
magnets of the rotor in the stator phases, Wb.
ωG Gear angular velocity, rad/s.
φa ,φb ,φc a, b, and c phase electromotive forces, Wb.
Manuscript received June 29, 2015; revised September 22, 2015; ac-
cepted November 29, 2015. Date of publication December 17, 2015; date
of current version April 28, 2016. Recommended by Technical Editor S.
K. Dwivedi.
The authors are with the Power Converters Research Labora-
tory, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, National
Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu 620015, India
(e-mail: dwijasish@gmail.com; nkumar@nitt.edu; vnayanar27@gmail.
com; navin_sam@rediffmail.com; ammas@nitt.edu).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMECH.2015.2506818
1083-4435 © 2015 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
I. INTRODUCTION
N elevator is a vertical transportation vehicle used mainly
A for the transit of people and goods in high-rise buildings.
Easy and efficient transportation within a building is of utmost
importance, since the present day cities are considered to grow
vertically. Generally an elevator uses a three-phase induction
motor (IM) to carry out the hoisting operation. However, consid-
erable research has been carried out to replace the conventional
motor to attain improved efficiency, reliability, and speed [1]–
[3]. Jung et al. have developed a nine-phase permanent magnet
motor drive system for an ultrahigh-speed elevator system and
the feasibility of the drive system was tested in the world’s tallest
elevator test tower [1]. Such a design is very useful to meet the
need for high-speed elevator operation, which cannot be suit-
ably satisfied by conventional three-phase electric drive systems.
Other drives like linear switched reluctance motors have also
been studied for the purpose of implementation in the elevator
systems [2], [3]. A linear motor design capable of generating a
magnetic field decoupled from the thrust generating magnetic
field of the linear motor is presented where the decoupled field
can be used to actuate a brake mechanism, forming the basis of
an elevator safety system. Mutoh et al. have presented a con-
troller suitable for elevators which increases the efficiency and
performance of an elevator system [4]. Osama and Abdul-Azim
have implemented and analyzed the performance of an eleva-
tor with three-phase IM drive and made a comparison with the
traditional dual stator winding line-supplied elevator motors [5].
Brushless direct current (BLDC) motors have secured a very
significant space in the modern drives industry primarily due to
the added benefits of a dc input system along with a brushless
drive. Various advantages such as high-torque/current ratio, high
power density, and higher efficiency make these motors very
suitable for replacing conventional motors in many systems [6],
[7]. Jeon et al. cite such advantages of a BLDC motor and also
present a new simulation model that can be used for the analysis
and design of BLDC motors [6]. Many studies have also been
carried out to obtain higher efficiency and better control for
BLDC motors [8]–[12]. Further, owing to the ease of control
and scope for regenerative braking, a considerable amount of
research has been carried out to incorporate the BLDC motors in
electric vehicles (EVs) [13]–[16]. Hence, to have such improved
performance, the application of BLDC motors has been studied
in this paper for elevator systems in vertical transportation.
In the last decade, considerable developments have taken
place in the design and operation of dc microgrids for ef-
fective utilization of the renewable energy sources [17]–[23].
Less power conversion stages, simple control, absence of reac-
tive power, no harmonics, and easy to connect energy storage
DAS et al.: DEVELOPMENT OF BLDC MOTOR-BASED ELEVATOR SYSTEM SUITABLE FOR DC MICROGRID
Fig. 1. Overall setup of the proposed prototype elevator system.
devices, namely, battery, plug-in EVs, and super capacitors are
the main reasons for preferring dc microgrids with the renewable
energy sources. In fact, Strunz et al. have proposed a dc micro-
grid system for harnessing wind and solar energy that occur at
the top of high-rise buildings. Anand and Fernandes address
this very issue and suggest a dc system with different optimum
levels for high efficiency and reliability with low system cost
[24]. In a similar study, Li et al. suggest that a dc voltage of 60 V
can be selected as a standard for dc home microgrids consider-
ing various factors of efficiency, risk, and equipment suitability
[25]. Commercial elevator systems employing three-phase IM
drive are operated from 400-V ac supply with v/f control. This
requires a dc source of more than 500 V for operating the IM-
based elevator system. Hence, if such IM-based system is to be
adopted with a dc microgrid, then an additional power converter
needs to be employed as compared to the BLDC machine sys-
tem. This is an added attractive feature of BLDC drive with dc
microgrid application besides the advantages mentioned above.
So, an attempt is made in this paper to study the operation of the
BLDC motor-based elevator system operated from the dc grid.
An elevator system deals with numerous signals and some of
those are floor position signal, load sensor signal, door open sig-
nal, alarm, floor commands, etc. Thus, the controller designed
for the elevator system needs to efficiently organize these signals
for operating the system as per the user command. Ekanayake
et al. have emphasized this aspect and suggested how a field
programmable gate array (FPGA) controller can be beneficial
for operating elevator systems [26]. Yuhang and Muyan have
implemented a six layer automatic elevator controller using an
FPGA, highlighting the need and advantages [27]. Joost and
Salomon have shown the advantages of an FPGA-based multi-
processor system in the industrial applications [28]. Wu et al.
have developed a direct—drive servo valve using an FPGA in the
current controller and mentions why an FPGA is superior over
other controllers [29]. Thus, owing to flexibility, durability, and
at-site reconfigurability, the FPGA controllers are gaining in-
1553
creased importance for many industrial applications. So, in this
paper, an FPGA controller has been designed and developed for
the proposed elevator control.
For demonstrating the successful working of the proposed
system, first, the entire system has been modeled using a Mecha-
tronic MATLAB/Simulink toolbox and observed the function-
ality of the system for various operating conditions through
simulation. Then, the entire elevator system, namely, elevator
cabin (EC), counterweight (CW), a BLDC motor coupled with
pulley, magnetic position sensors, power, and FPGA-based con-
trol circuits have been designed and fabricated in the laboratory.
Starting from the description of the system, simulation, and ex-
perimental investigations of a prototype elevator system with
a BLDC motor and an FPGA controller are presented in the
succeeding sections.
II. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ELEVATOR SYSTEM
Fig. 1 shows the block diagram of the proposed system. The
inverter which sources the BLDC motor is supplied from a dc
microgrid. Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels are integrated to the
dc grid through a power converter. The BLDC motor is coupled
to the elevator system through a worm gear and is responsible
for the motion of the EC. The EC and CWs are connected via
suspension cables. To have the proper movement of the eleva-
tor system, suspension cables are guided through a mechanical
pulley. This pulley is coupled with a BLDC motor-worm gear
system. Hall sensors have been used for identifying the rotor
position of the BLDC motor. Similarly, magnetic position sen-
sors have been employed for sensing the elevator position, i.e.,
floor level.
A. BLDC Motor Control
BLDC motor rotation is initiated by sequentially energizing
the three-phase winding of the stator with the appropriate polar-
ity. This is achieved by controlling the sequence of conduction
1554 IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, VOL. 21, NO. 3, JUNE 2016

TABLE I
HALL SENSOR OUTPUT AND CORRESPONDING SWITCHES TO BE SWITCHED
ON FOR FORWARD AND REVERSE ROTATION OF THE BLDC MOTOR

Hall Sensor Signals Switches in conduction

Phase A Phase B Phase C Forward Rotation Reverse Rotation

0 0 1 S 2 ,S 3 S 6 ,S 5
0 1 0 S 4 ,S 5 S 2 ,S 1
0 1 1 S 4 ,S 3 S 6 ,S 1
1 0 0 S 6 ,S 1 S 4 ,S 3
1 0 1 S 2 ,S 1 S 4 ,S 5
1 1 0 S 6 ,S 5 S 2 ,S 3

Fig. 3. Four quadrant operation of an elevator system.

EC corresponds to the forward rotation of the BLDC machine

Fig. 2. Switching pulses for IGBTs for the BLDC motor rotation in
forward direction.
of the IGBTs in the inverter, based on the instantaneous position
of the rotor. Table I shows the conduction of the IGBTs in the
inverter for operating the BLDC motor in forward and reverse
directions. It can be noticed from this table that two switches
conduct at any instant with one on the top leg and the other
from the bottom leg.
Further, the speed of the BLDC motor can be controlled by
feeding a variable voltage to the stator. Fig. 2 shows the switch
pulses for the IGBTs in the inverter for rotating the BLDC motor
in the forward direction. The magnitude of the voltage can be
varied by using pulse width modulation (PWM). A 5-kHz carrier
signal has been used for generating the PWM signals. To have
the minimum switching loss, a constant pulse of 120◦ has been
maintained for the switches in top leg and multiple pulses are
given to the switches in the bottom leg in each cycle. The pulses
given to the inverter have been controlled using an FPGA by
taking appropriate feedback signals, namely, rotor position of
a BLDC motor, elevator position (i.e., floor position), and user
commands. The entire control algorithm has been developed
using Verilog HDL and embedded into Spartan-3E FPGA kit.
B. Four Quadrant Operation of an Elevator
The elevator system proposed in this paper operates in four
quadrants depending upon the 1) relative weight of the EC and
CW and 2) direction of movement of the EC. The four quadrant
operation of the elevator system is shown in Fig. 3. It is to be
noticed that in quadrants I and IV, the EC is with passenger
while in quadrants II and III it is empty. Upward motion of the
and reverse rotation is for downward motion of an EC. In the
first quadrant, the net EC weight is assumed to be more as
compared to the CW and EC needs to move upward. Hence, the
BLDC machine operates as a motor (forward motoring) with
torque and rotational speed in the same direction as indicated in
Fig. 3. Similarly, the BLDC machine operates as a motor (reverse
motoring) in the third quadrant as the net EC weight is less as
compared to the CW, and EC moves downward. In the second
quadrant, the net EC weight is assumed to be lighter than the
CW, and EC needs to move upward. So, the BLDC machine acts
as a brake (forward braking) with torque and rotational speed in
the opposite direction along with the worm gear. The primary
objective of a worm gear in elevator system is to work as a natural
brake such that the EC does not move due to the difference in net
EC weight and CW with gravity. Thus, the presence of a worm
gear forbids any reverse mechanical power flow. If suitable gear
arrangement is employed in place of worm gear then the BLDC
machine can act as a generator (i.e., regenerative braking) in II
quadrant. Similarly, the BLDC machine acts as a generator or
brake (reverse braking) in the IV quadrant.
III. DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROTOTYPE ELEVATOR SYSTEM
To demonstrate the working and usefulness of the proposed
system shown in Fig. 1, a prototype elevator system with a
BLDC motor has been constructed in the laboratory. A three-
phase inverter using IGBTs along with the gate drivers has been
employed for feeding control voltage to the BLDC motor. Fig. 4
shows the photograph of the BLDC motor-based elevator sys-
tem, which has been designed and fabricated in the laboratory.
The specifications of the structure of this prototype elevator
system are listed in Table II.
DAS et al.: DEVELOPMENT OF BLDC MOTOR-BASED ELEVATOR SYSTEM SUITABLE FOR DC MICROGRID 1555

A worm gear setup has been chosen for safety purpose. The
gear ratio for the worm gear has been calculated by considering
1) the maximum speed of the BLDC motor, Nm = 2700 r/min,
2) diameter of the pulley D = 0.3 m, and 3) operational speed
of elevator Se = 0.3 m/s. Then, the speed of the gear box (i.e.,
speed of the pulley), Ng in r/min with the gear ratio RWG : 1 is
obtained as 19.09 r/min using
Se ≈ (2 × π × D/2 × Ng )/60. (1)
So, Ng is taken as 20 r/min. Thus, the gear ratio for the worm
is RWG = 135 ( = Nm /Ng ). Hence, the worm gear has been
fabricated with the gear ratio 135:1 for the prototype elevator
system shown in Fig. 4. As the hardware setup proposed here is
not readily available off-shelf, it enforced few major technical
challenges while fabricating the scaled down system. Identi-
fying the appropriate vendors for supplying these components
and assembling together has been a difficult task. Further, re-
placing the worm gear with other appropriate gear mechanism
to achieve regenerative braking is a complex process and will
be considered as future scope for this paper.
Three magnetic position sensors have been placed, one at the
top, one in the middle, and one at the bottom of the elevator
structure for detecting the position of the EC. The three signals
from the Hall sensors and three signals from the cabin posi-
tion sensors are fed to the FPGA board after appropriate signal
conditioning. Three floor buttons provide the commands to the
controller for the EC to move to any floor as per the user re-
quirement. LED driver circuit has been used to glow the LEDs
for indicating the floor to which the EC is moving.

IV. ANALYSIS OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM

The BLDC machine dynamic model assumes that the winding
distribution and flux established by the permanent magnets pro-
duce three trapezoidal back-EMF waveforms. Dynamic model-
ing of a BLDC machine is implemented with the following set
of equations [30]:
Fig. 4. Photograph of the BLDC motor based elevator system
dia 1
= [2vab + vb c − 3Rs ia +λpωr (−2φa + φb + φc )]
dt 3Ls
TABLE II
SPECIFICATIONS OF THE MECHANICAL STRUCTURE OF THE PROTOTYPE (2)
ELEVATOR SYSTEM
dib 1
= [−vab + vb c − 3Rs ib + λpωr (φa − 2φb + φc )]
S. No. Component Specification
dt 3Ls
(3)
1 Dimensions of structure 3m×1m×1m  
2 Length of rails (for both car 3m dic dia dib
and counter) = − + (4)
3 Dimensions of cabin 720 mm × 720 mm × dt dt dt
900 mm
4 Dimensions of car frame 1200 mm × 800 mm Te = pλ (φa ia + 2φb ib + φc ic ) . (5)
5 Dimensions of counter frame 1200 mm × 700 mm
6 Material used for structure 75 mm × 40 mm The dynamic equations given in (2)–(4) are expressed in abc
“C”—Channel made of mild
steel
reference frame. Further, the stator resistance Rs and inductance
7 Diameter and material used 300 mm made of cast iron Ls of the stator winding of a BLDC are assumed to be constant.
for pulley The mechanical model of a BLDC machine for motoring oper-
8 Diameter of the elevator 8 mm
cables ation is given by
9 EC weight 80 kg
10 CW 105 kg dωr /dt = (1/J) (Te − F ωr − Tm ) (6)
dθ/dt = ωr . (7)
1556
Fig. 5. Steady-state waveforms of the proposed elevator system. EC weight: 80 kg, CW: 105 kg and V d c = 60 V. (a) Downward motion with empty
cabin. (b) Downward motion with 35 kg load in EC.
The output of the BLDC motor is used to drive a worm
gear via a flexible mechanical shaft. A worm gear imposes one
kinematic constraint on the two connected axes with
ωW = RWG ωG . (8)
The worm angular velocity ωW is the same as the angular
velocity of the machine ωr . Then, the torque transfer equation
of worm gear system is
RWG TW − TG − Tloss = 0. (9)
For an ideal case, Tloss = 0. In a nonideal worm-gear pair, the
transferred torque and power are reduced due to 1) the coulomb
friction between thread surfaces on worm and the gear and 2)
viscous coupling of driveshafts with bearings. Thus, the Tloss is
given by
Tloss = Tfr tanh (4ωG /ωth ) + μG ωG + μW ωW (10)
where μG is the viscous friction coefficient for gear and μW
is the viscous friction coefficient for worm, Tfr is the friction
torque, and ωth is the threshold value of absolute angular ve-
locity. The angular velocity and geometric constraints are un-
changed for worm and gear.
To illustrate the working of the proposed elevator system, a
48-V 1-kW 2700 r/min 2-pole BLDC motor has been consid-
ered. The measured per phase resistance and inductance param-
eters of the BLDC motor are 0.2 Ω and 2 mH, respectively.
The back EMF waveform is assumed to be of trapezoidal with
flat area of 120° (electrical). Further, rotor inertia and friction
IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, VOL. 21, NO. 3, JUNE 2016
constants are fine-tuned to match the simulation and experimen-
tal results and these values are 0.089 kg·m2 and 0.005 N·m·s,
respectively.
For analyzing the proposed system, the PMBLDC drive
model available in the Simulink library has been used by suitably
inserting the parameters of a 48-V 1-kW BLDC motor consid-
ered in this paper. A mechatronic simulation model has been de-
veloped by including the various mechanical components such
as worm gear and pulley. The output of the BLDC motor was
used to drive a worm gear via a flexible mechanical shaft. A
worm gear and flexible mechanical shaft were taken from the
“SimDriveline” library of Simulink. A gear ratio of 135:1 has
been set for the worm gear and a right handed worm thread
has been selected. The rotational output from the worm gear is
fed into a belt pulley model. Subsystems have been modeled to
represent the EC and CW of an elevator system. This elevator
subsystem consists of a mechanical mass block obtained from
the mechanical section of the “Simscape” along with a physical
signal block representing the gravitational force. The EC was
assigned with a weight of 80 kg and the CW of 105 kg.
Simulation has been carried out using the model developed
in this paper with no external load on the EC, while it is moving
in the upward and downward directions. The BLDC motor has
been operated for a speed of 1200 r/min and this speed can be
set externally. A 60-V dc microgrid source has been connected
at the inverter input terminals. The inverter has been switched
as per the logic explained in Section II-A for rotating the BLDC
motor in forward direction for upward movement and reverse
direction for downward movement of the EC. Simulations have
DAS et al.: DEVELOPMENT OF BLDC MOTOR-BASED ELEVATOR SYSTEM SUITABLE FOR DC MICROGRID 1557

Fig. 6. Performances of the BLDC machine based proposed elevator

system.

also been carried out by adding load in the EC both for upward
and downward motions. Simulated results of inverter output
voltage, input and output currents have been observed for these
operating conditions. Phase shift has been noticed with upward
and downward motions of EC for the inverter output current
(i.e., input current to the BLDC motor), as the firing sequence
of the devices is different for the forward and reverse direction
of rotation of the BLDC motor.
For the sake of brevity, only the simulated results with down- Fig. 7. Photograph of the inverter and FPGA based control circuit.
ward motion for empty EC and 35 kg of load are shown in
Fig. 5. Fig. 6 shows the variation of dc input current to the
2700 r/min BLDC motor considered in the previous section.
inverter against total load of EC (weight of EC plus external
Gating pulses to the IGBTs in the inverter have been generated
load) both for upward and downward motions. From this fig-
as per the logic described in Section II. Inverter has been fed
ure, it can be observed that the BLDC motor takes a bit more
from a 60-V dc source for experimentation. An FPGA contains
input dc current for downward motion as compared to upward
numerous configurable logic blocks surrounded by intercon-
motion when the EC is empty. This is due to the fact that the
nects. Each configurable logic block contains elements like flip-
CW (105 kg) is heavier than the self-weight of EC (80 kg). As
flops, look up tables, etc. Functions can be performed in these
the net EC weight increases, the dc input current to the inverter
logic blocks connected to each other by configuring the “inter-
decreases for downward direction, while it increases for upward
connects” and the results can be transferred to the input/output
direction. It can also be noted from this figure that the BLDC
blocks. Such a layout makes an FPGA comparatively inexpen-
machine takes the same input current when the net weight of
sive for the easy realization of logic networks in hardware with
EC is equal to CW. It is equivalent to operating the BLDC mo-
the help of appropriate tools. A Xilinx Spartan-3E FPGA starter
tor at no-load condition. Further, the elevator system operates
kit has been used for developing the closed-loop controller. This
in I quadrant for the upward motion. At certain value of net
FPGA starter kit operates with 3.3 V and, hence, all the signals
EC weight, the dc input current to the BLDC machine becomes
fed to the controller have been scaled down by using appro-
zero. Till current becomes zero for this doward motion, the ele-
priate signal conditioning circuits. Further, a Verilog hardware
vator operates in III quadrant. Any subsequent addition of load
description language (HDL) has been used for programming the
in the EC, the elevator system will operate in the IV quadrant as
FPGA. Fig. 7 shows the photograph of the inverter and FPGA-
described in Fig. 3. When worm gear is employed, the system
based control circuit developed in the laboratory.
will operate as a natural brake in any one direction. If worm
First, experiments have been conducted with empty EC.
gear is replaced with other suitable gear mechanism, the BLDC
Then, experiments were carried out by adding additional
machine will operate as a regenerative brake. To show this oper-
weights in the EC both for upward and downward movements.
ation, simulation has been carried out by inserting simple gear
The waveforms of the inverter output voltage and input and
in Simscape/SimDriveline tool. These simulated results are also
output currents were observed using digital storage oscilloscope
included in Fig. 6.
for different operating conditions. For the sake of brevity, the
experimental results with downward motion for an empty EC
V. EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS and 35-kg load in the EC only are shown in Fig. 5 along with
To evaluate the successful working of the proposed sys- the simulated waveforms. Further, the experimentally obtained
tem developed using a BLDC motor with an FPGA controller, dc input current to the inverter against total load of EC both for
experiments have been conducted on the same 48-V 1-kW upward and downward motions is also shown in Fig. 6 along
1558
Fig. 8. Flowchart for the elevator operation. Note: CPS: cabin position
sensor, EC: elevator cabin, DW: downward and UW: upward motion.
with the predetermined values. A close agreement between the
experimental and simulated results confirms the proper working
of proposed elevator system for various operating conditions.
Further, it can be observed from Fig. 6 that as the load on the EC
increases, the dc current taken by the BLDC machine decreases
for downward motion. After certain value of the total EC weight,
the polarity of the dc current becomes zero. If the weight
increases further, this current is expected to be negative and the
BLDC machine will operate as a generator by feeding power to
the dc microgrid. This aspect has not been demonstrated exper-
imentally, since a worm gear is used in the prototype laboratory
model which forbids any reverse mechanical power flow.
Having observed the successful working of the proposed sys-
tem, it is of interest to show the procedure for obtaining the
appropriate sizing of the various components. It is known that
the maximum power rating of the BLDC machine used in this
paper is 1 kW and, hence, the inverter VA rating could be taken
as 1.5 kVA for the safe and reliable operation of the proposed
system. For calculating the power rating of solar PV panels and
dc–dc converter, the following assumptions are made: 1) aver-
age power of 600 W is used for operating the BLDC machine
and 2) elevator operates for 6 h per day. Then, the total energy
needed for this operation is 3600 Wh/day. To meet this demand,
the energy needed from the solar PV panels may be 4500 Wh by
considering the efficiency of various components such as dc–dc
converters and battery. The total watt-peak (Wp) of the solar
PV panels needed is 900 Wp, assuming the average solar irra-
diance/insolation of the sun is 5 h per day. Then, about 12 solar
PV panels with 80 Wp are needed for supplying the proposed
1-kW elevator system.
To check the complete function of the elevator system in a
closed loop, the FPGA has been programmed as per the logic
given in the flowchart of Fig. 8. Several experiments have been
conducted for moving the EC from one floor to other with the
user command as well as various weights in the EC. Successful
IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, VOL. 21, NO. 3, JUNE 2016
Fig. 9. Waveforms showing an elevator operation. EC weight: 80 kg,
CW: 105 kg and V d c = 60 V. Time axis—2 s/div. A: EC is in the first floor;
B: EC is moving from first to third floor; C: EC is in the third floor and D:
EC is moving from third to first floor tA : Third floor command is given;
tB : EC reaches third floor. tC : First floor command is given and tD : EC
reaches first floor.
working of the system has been noted for these different op-
erating conditions. For the sake of brevity, Fig. 9 shows the
experimental result for the movement of the EC from the first
floor to third floor and back with user commands. The output
of the magnetic sensors are at high level (5 V) when the EC
reaches the particular floor, and low level (0 V) when EC moves
away from the floor. At tA , the user command is given for mov-
ing the EC from first floor to third floor. Immediately, the EC
moves and, hence, the output of the position sensor at first floor
becomes low level. At tB , the EC reaches third floor and, hence,
the output of position sensor placed at this floor becomes high
level. Then, by sensing the signal the EC stops as per the user
command. Similarly, EC moves from third floor to first floor as
mentioned in the interval D of Fig. 9. Further, it can be noticed
from this figure that the dc input current is 2.4 A for the interval
B and 3.4 A for interval D. These points are also marked in Fig. 6
as empty EC, both for the experimental and simulated values.
VI. CONCLUSION
This paper has proposed an elevator system employing a
BLDC motor with an FPGA controller. A MATLAB mecha-
tronic simulation model has been developed utilizing the various
electrical and mechanical components available in Simulink li-
brary for the proposed elevator system. The performance of
the system has been analyzed with the help of this model and
results are furnished. The efficacy and successful working of
the proposed system has been demonstrated with the help of a
three floor prototype laboratory model developed for this pur-
pose. This prototype model consists of 1) mechanical compo-
nents, such as worm gear, pulley, and EC, etc., 2) set of sensors
for detecting floor position and rotor position of the motor, 3)
user command buttons, 4) LED indicators, and 5) BLDC motor
along with power and FPGA-based control circuits. The entire
closed-loop control has been implemented with a Xilinx
Spartan-3E FPGA starter kit board and programmed with the
Verilog HDL.
DAS et al.: DEVELOPMENT OF BLDC MOTOR-BASED ELEVATOR SYSTEM SUITABLE FOR DC MICROGRID
Experiments have been conducted for various operating con-
ditions on the prototype model in the laboratory with 60-V dc
source. It has been observed that the dc input current to the
inverter supplying the BLDC motor decreases as the load on
the cabin weight increases for downward motion and vice-versa
for upward motion. Further, the experimental results obtained
on the prototype system agree closely with the values obtained
using MATLAB model of the proposed system. This validates
the analysis of the system through MATLAB simulation and its
successful working. The logic for operating the elevator sys-
tem as per the user commands in a closed-loop has also been
developed and tested for its successful working with the proto-
type model. As the operation of the BLDC motor system has
been shown with 60-V dc supply, the proposed elevator system
can be easily implemented with the dc microgrid. This aspect
will further give better scope for utilizing the renewable energy
sources available in the high-rise buildings.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Sreevatsav RSSD, M. Tech.
(Power Electronics), EEE, National Institute of Technology,
Tiruchirappalli, India, for building a structure for the proposed
elevator system. He is currently working as a Software Designer
in Alstom, Bangalore, India. The authors also like to thank the
authorities of the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirap-
palli, India, for all the facilities provided for carrying out the ex-
perimental and simulation work for the preparation of this paper.
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Dwijasish Das was born in Guwahati, Assam,
India, on July 23, 1989. He received the B.E. de-
gree in electrical engineering from Assam En-
gineering College, Guwahati, Assam, India, in
2011, and the M.Tech. degree in power elec-
tronics from the National Institute of Technology,
Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India, in 2015.
He is currently working as a Member of fac-
ulty at the Electrical Engineering Department,
Assam Engineering College, Guwahati.
1560
N. Kumaresan (M’13) was born in Tamil Nadu,
India, on May 3, 1971. He received the B.E.
degree from Bangalore University, Bangalore,
India, in 1992, and the M.E. degree in power sys-
tems from the National Institute of Technology
(then Regional Engineering College), Tiruchi-
rappalli, India, in 1994, and the Ph.D. degree
from Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, in
2005.
Since 1999, he has been with the Depart-
ment of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, where he is currently
an Associate Professor. His research interests include design and de-
velopment of electrical machines and power electronic controllers for
renewable energy electric conversion systems.
Dr. Kumaresan received the Career Award for Young Teachers in De-
cember 2006, instituted by the All India Council for Technical Education,
Government of India. He is a Life Member of the Indian Society for Tech-
nical Education and the Institution of Engineers, India, and a Member of
the Institution of Engineering and Technology, U.K.
V. Nayanar was born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, In-
dia, on April 21, 1984. He received the B.E. de-
gree from the Thiagarajar College of Engineer-
ing (Anna University), Madurai, India, in 2005,
and the M.E. degree in power electronics and
drives from the Alagappa Chettiar College of
Engineering and Technology (Anna University),
Karaikudi, India, in 2011. He is currently work-
ing toward the Ph.D. degree in renewable en-
ergy systems at the Department of Electrical
and Electronics Engineering, National Institute
of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India.
IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, VOL. 21, NO. 3, JUNE 2016
K. Navin Sam was born in Tutucorin, Tamil
Nadu, India, on May 22, 1988. He received the
B.E. degree from the Dr. Sivanthi Aditanar Col-
lege of Engineering (Anna University), Tiruchen-
dur, Tamil Nadu, in 2009, and the M.E. degree in
power electronics and drives from the Alagappa
Chettiar College of Engineering and Technology
(Anna University), Karaikudi, India, in 2011. He
is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in
renewable energy systems at the Department of
Electrical and Electronics Engineering, National
Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India.
N. Ammasai Gounden was born in Coimbat-
ore, Tamil Nadu, India, on October 5, 1955.
He received the B.E. degree from the College
of Engineering (Madras University), Guindy, In-
dia, in 1978, the M.E. degree in control systems
from the P.S.G. College of Technology (Madras
University), Coimbatore, India, in 1980, and the
Ph.D. degree from the Bharathidasan University,
Tiruchirappalli, India, in 1990.
He is currently a Professor at the Department
of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Na-
tional Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, where he has been since
1982. His research interests include power-electronic applications in
renewable-energy systems, hybrid renewable systems, and isolated wind
electric generators.
Dr. Ammasai Gounden is a Life Member of Indian Society for
Technical Education and Fellow of Institution of Engineers, India.