Topology and Preliminary Design of Slotless Brushless DC Motor

Yongxiao Chen, Jianxin Shen, and Zemin Fang

Department of Electrical Engineering
Zhejiang University
Hangzhoq 310027, P.RChina

Abstract-A brushless dc motor with cup-shaped windings

frxed on the cylindrical iron core without using slots, so-called
slotless brushless dc (SLBLDC)motor, can reduce the cogging
torque to negligible value. This paper describes the
preliminary design of a sinusoidally fed SLBLDC motor,
including the geometry of winding and magnets, a novel
approach to calculating the major dimension, and the Airgap
Flux Density Based Method (AFDBM) for determining each
dimension of the motor structure and especially optimizing the
magnets.

As explained previously, the SLBLDC motor will find

more and more applications due to its virtues. This paper
will focus on its preliminary design. Section I1 tells the
principle how to match the geometry of winding and
magnets. Section I11 gives a novel formula to calculate the
major dimension. Section IV presents the Airgap Flux
Density Based Method (AFDBM) to determine all the
structure dimensions directly from the curves. The magnets
can be easily optimized by the AFDBM.
stator core

I. INTRODUCTION

surface

In recent years, brushless dc (BLDC) motor has been used

in variety of applications due to its high efficiency, excellent
controllability and other superior performances. However,
the cogging torque of a conventional BLDC motor can result
in vibration and acoustic noise. In thls connection, a slotless
brushless dc (SLBLDC) motor, which has a cupshaped
armature windmg fixed on the cylindrical stator iron core
without using slots, has been studied by the authors. Here the
windmg is also called surface winding, and its structure is
just like that of a moving-coil. Fig.1 is the dagram of an
inner-rotor SLBLDC motor. Due to the absence of slots and
teeth, a SLBLDC motor has the following merits [I]:
(1) The cogging torque is extremely small, so a smooth,
coggngless rotation can be provided.
(2) The windmg can be cooled effectively because it is
placed in the airgap, so the generated heat can be removed
not only through the iron but also by the moving air in the
gap.
(3) The inductance is small as compared with a slotted
motor. If the rotor position of a BLDC motor is obtained by a
terminal-voltage-detector instead of a position-sensor, the
smaller the inductance is, the more accurate the detected
position is [2]. So a slotless BLDC motor is more suitable for
sensorless drive than a conventional one.
Nevertheless, the airgap in a SLBLDC motor is large so
that the flux will likely decrease. Fortunately, high energy
permanent magnet (PM) materials such as SmCo and NdFeB
have been invented recently. Sufficient flux can be produced
by these magnets.
The SLBLDC motor is usually designed as a sinusoidal
motor, because its winding-end occupies the valid axial
length of the gap, consequently its surface winding has the
feature of skew slots. Therefore, the back EMF of the motor
can be likely designed as sinusoidal waveform if the winding
structure and magnet dimensions match well. It is also well
known that a sinusoidal motor can provide smooth torque if
the motor is controlled properly.

0-7803-3946-0/97/S10.,00 1997 IEEE.

Q

winding

rotor core

shaft
magnet

8 0 80cZ/3
(c>
Fig. 1. an inner-rotor SLBLDC motor. (a)cross-se&mal diagrm.
@)cup-shapedsurface Wntding.
(c)schematic diagram of one
phase winding under one pole-pair.

II. WINDING AND MAGNETS

In order to make the back EMF in the surface winding be

sinusoidal, the armature-Mnding factor of each order
harmonic ( kWv)should be optimized.

k,,

= k , . k,, . k,,

where k , is the dstribution factor, k,, is the pitch factor

WB2-7.1

whilst k!,, is the skew-slot factor. Because the surface seen from Fig.2 that the smaller k, is, the smaller the
winding IS always located evenly, kdv is constant. Thus only amplitude of back EMF is, and the less the back EMF looks
k,, and k,, can be rectified by the designers. Generally, a sinusoidal. So k,=l is proposed.
. Eq.(4) indicates that the larger kl is, the larger the
rhombic winding is mostly applied to the SLBLDC motor.
Fig.l(c) shows the schematic view of one phase of a 60- fundamental winding factor k,, is, and yet the sparser the
electrical-degree-span winding under one pole-pair. Here y is linear part of winding is. Therefore, it is recommended that
the winding pitch (in electrical-radian), I is the total axial k, should not be larger than 0.2.
length, while I, is the axial length of the linear part and I ,
e
is the axial length beneath the magnetic field. Define the
coefficients as k , = y / n , k, = 1,/1 and k, = lm/I. Factors
k, ,and k,, can be optimized by r e c m n g k, , k, and k, .
Assume that a certain phase winding is located from
0
position $, and the airgap flux density at position x is:
B,( 0) = B,( x + ot ) = -B,( x + ot + z) (1)
where is the electrical angular-velocity of the rotor. Then
the back EMF in that windmg can be described as:
Fig.2. the back EMF varies with k ,

1~

k , - k,

lek,

where a = --

- kz, p = ( l - k z ) n .

zis the

pole-pitch , and W is the total number of serial turns of one

phase winding.
is Fourier expanded, it can be obtained from
If B8(
Eq.(2) that

e)

On the other hand, surface magnets as shown in Fig. 1 are

usually applied to SLBLDC motor, and the airgap field is
always made rectangular. If the pitch of magnet pole shoe is
a,n, the flat top of the field wave-form can be considered as
apZ approximately. When kI=17.5 % and k,=k,=l, the
waveform of back EMF in a rhombic winding under the
rotating rectangular field with various a is shown in Fig.3.
It can be concluded that the back E d v a r i e s little when
a,>0.8, and contrarily, when a,<O.8, its amplitude
decreases sharply and its waveform deteriorates obviously as
a, lessens.

Thus the v th order windmg factor k, ,can be derived as:

Fig.3 the back EMF varies with cl,

V1Z

(4)
/

In the right side of Eq.(4), the second part is kdv, and the
first part stands for the product ofk,, and k,, . kpwand k,,
can not be separated from each other easily.
. Generally, the winding is totally beneath the airgap
field, thus k, = 1.
* The waveform of back EMF varies with k,. If the air~
and
gap field is rectangular with a flat top of 0 . 8 width,
k, =15 % , the back EMF can be numerically calculated from
Eq.(2) concerning various k,, as shown in Fig.2. It can be

According to the previous analyses, geometry of both

winding and magnets can influence the waveform of back
EMF. In order to make the back EMF be mostly sinusoidal,
it is necessary to match the winding and magnets well, and
the principle is: re-ng
k,, k, and k, so as to make the
winding factors of some main low order harmonics be as
small as possible, and optimizing a, so as to reduce the
field elements of other main low order harmonics as much as
possible.
111. MAJOR DIMENSION

The major dimension should be predetermined when

d e s i p n g a BLDC motor. Conventional method to calculate
the major dimension needs both the airgap field waveform

WB2-7.2

coefficient and the calculating pole-arc coefficient 131,

which can not be readily applied to the design process of
SLBLDC motor. Though a SLBLDC motor has a rectangular
airgap field, only the fundamental element of it can
contribute to valid torque while the motor is sinusoidally
dnven. The fundamental element can be expressed by ap
and the amplitude Bo of the flux density, both of which can
be determined preliminarily. Then the major hmension can
be derived as:

and residual flux density of the magnets, respectively.

Curves as shown in Fig.4 can be obtained from these
expressions. Accor&ng to the curves, the best value of Bo
will be selected without any difficulty, and the other
dimensions will also be determined on the base of Bo. The
method is so-called AFDBM.
Fig.4 shows the data of AFDBM for a prototypal SLBLDC
motor with the rated values of low, 24V and 1250rpm. Here
B0=0.62Tis selected.
1, *In
25 -

where P' is the calculating power (W), A, is the line-load

(A/m), nN is the rated velocity (rpm),Oil is the inner
hameter of the stator core (m), and I is the valid length of
armature (m).

20 -

IV. AIRGAF' FLUX DENSITY BASED METHOD

5-

In the process of designing a PM motor, the key and most

difficult step is to determine the magnetic circuit [4]. In a
SLBLDC motor, (1) there are no slots and teeth, the
magnetic circuit is simple. (2) The airgap is large, thus the
magnetic force (MF) in cores is much smaller than that in

airgap, and the permeance curve is approximately a line.

The MF in cores can be converted into that in airgap, in
other words, the actual airgap S should be replaced by an
equivalent airgap t, = k, .8, where k, can be valued at 1.01
through 1.03. (3) If NdFeB magnets are used, the field is
considered rectangular, and the demagnetization curve is a
line. On the base of these characters, the authors present an
Airgap Flux Density Based Method (AFDBM) to calculate
all the structure dimensions of a SLBLDC motor. As parameters of k, , kl, k,, ap, the major hmension and the outer
diameter of stator core Del (or the motor frame) can be
predetermined, and 6 is estimated, all the other structure
dimensions such as DIl, I , the outer &ameter De20f rotor
core and height hj2 of rotor yoke, and the outer diameter D,,
thickness t , and volume Vm of the magnets can be
expressed by the airgap flux density amplitude B,, as:

Di1 7 V m

15 10 -

0.2

0.4

0.6
B 0 (TI

0.8

Fig.4. curves of AFDBM

The previous three sections described the preliminary

design of a SLBLDC motor. It is much different from that of
a slotted BLDG motor, because in a SLBLDC motor, the
winding occupies the airgap and makes it extremely large.
V. CONCLUSION

Because a SLBLDC motor has a cup-shaped winding

fixed on the surface of stator core without slots, it can
provide coggingless rotation and grves off little acoustic
electromagnetic noise. Its winding can be cooled effectively.
Furthermore, a SLBLDC motor is more suitable for
sensorless drive than a slotted BLDC motor.
The SLBLDC motor is usually designed as a sinusoidal
motor. T h ~ spaper presented its preliminary design process,
including the geometry and matching principle of both
winding and magnets, a new approach to calculating the
major dimension, and the AFDBM for determining each
structure dimension of the motor and especially optimizing
the magnets.
REFERENCES

I Dez = Dm-2t,
hj2 =

k,

a p

rrB0 Di1

4 p k ~ 3j~
e

where p is the number of pole-pair, kFe is the stacking

coefficient, k , is the coefficient of leakage field, Bjl and
BJ2 are the flux densities in stator yoke and rotor yoke,
respectively, whilst pr and Brare the relative permeability

[l] T. Kenjo and S. Nagamori, Pement-magnet andBrushless DC

Motors, Clarendon Press, Oxford, New York 1985.
[2] J.X.Shen, Position-Sensorless Brushless DC Motor and its Micro
-compuler Control System, M.S. thesis, Xi'an Jiaotong University,
Xi'an, 1994.
[3] S.K.Chen, Electrical Machine Design, Mechanical Industry Press,
Beijing, 1982.
[4] S.A. Nasar, I. Boldea and L. E. Unnewehr, Pertnunent Magnet,
Reluctance, and Self-Synchronous Motors, CRC Press, London,
1993.

WB2-7.3