EE197 E-H

3 March 2011

Circuit Simulation of a BLDC Motor

Ranbill O. Cadayona, Jan Darell L. Hernandez, Jesse Paulo V. Macabasco
Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute, University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
ranbillcadayona@yahoo.com

jdhernandez_03@yahoo.com
jpmacabasco@gmail.com
Abstract The Brushless DC motor is a motor type gaining
popularity because of its advantages over brushed ones. This
document presents a circuit model and simulation of a Brushless
DC Motor. Equations involving voltage, torque and angular
speed are utilized to model the motor.

I. INTRODUCTION
rushless Direct Current (BLDC) motors are one of the
motor types rapidly gaining popularity. 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 electronically commutated.
BLDC motors have many advantages over brushed DC motors
and induction motors. A few of these are:

Better speed versus torque characteristics

High dynamic response
High efficiency
Long operating life
Noiseless operation
Higher speed ranges

Force or back EMF, which opposes the main voltage supplied

to the windings according to Lenzs Law. The polarity of this
back EMF is in opposite direction of the energized voltage.
Back EMF depends mainly on three factors:
Angular velocity of the rotor
Magnetic field generated by rotor magnets
The number of turns in the stator windings
III. MODELING THE BLDC MOTOR
The model of the BLDC motor relies on the mathematical
equations governing its operation and control. Most of these
equations look like those of a brushed DC motor.
The motor to be modeled is a 3-phase trapezoidal BLDC
motor.
A. Voltage Equations

In addition, the ratio of torque delivered to the size of the

motor is higher, making it useful in applications where space
and weight are critical factors.
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
BLDC motors are a type of synchronous motor. This
means the magnetic field generated by the stator and the
magnetic field generated by the rotor rotate at the same
frequency. BLDC motors do not experience the slip that is
normally seen in induction motors.
BLDC motors come in single-phase, 2-phase and 3-phase
configurations. Corresponding to its type, the stator has the
same number of windings. Out of these, 3-phase motors are
the most popular and widely used.
There are two types of stator windings variants:
trapezoidal and sinusoidal motors. This differentiation is made
on the basis of the interconnection of coils in the stator
windings to give the different types of back Electromotive
Force (EMF).
As their names indicate, the trapezoidal motor gives a
back EMF in trapezoidal fashion and the sinusoidal motors
back EMF is sinusoidal. When a BLDC motor rotates, each
winding generates a voltage known as back Electromotive

Where
Va, Vb, Vc
Ra, Rb, Rc
ia, ib, ic
La, Lb, Lc
Mab, Mac, Mba,
Mbc, Mca, Mcb
ea, eb, ec

voltage sources
armature resistances
winding currents
armature inductances
mutual inductances

back EMFs

There are three voltage equations since the motor is in a 3phase configuration. These voltage equations are the same
compared to brushed DC motors; they are derived from each
energized loop (one-phase).
An assumption is made in modeling this equation:
that the winding currents are fixed and correct, i.e.at each
commutation sequence, one of the windings is energized to
positive power (current enters into the winding), the second
winding is negative (current exits the winding) and the third is
in a non-energized condition (no current).

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the motor. This constant would be the carrier of the shape of
the back EMF waveform; in simpler terms, ke is assumed as
the shaping function.

Fig. 1 Winding currents

Fig. 3 Block diagram of the back EMF

These currents are fed into the loops (there are three loops,
one for each phase) by current sources; making sure the model
follows the correct commutation sequence.
For the voltages caused by mutual inductances: currents in
the other loops are sensed and fed into inductors, then each for
their voltages are sensed and used as drops in the main loop.
The back EMF drop is sensed from another circuit model.

Since the motor is configured as 3-phase, three shaping

functions exist and are separated by 120 from each other.
In the model, ke would be a shaping circuit producing a
trapezoidal waveform. The shaping circuit takes in a
triangular waveform as input and produces the trapezoidal
shape. Theoretically, the shaping circuit should be dependent
on the angular position which turns from 0 to 360 and so
on, with a certain angular speed . In this case, a sawtooth
waveform may represent
(with its frequency as ), and
transformed into a triangular one to feed into the shaping
circuit. However, this is not provided for in this model (only
the triangular input).

Fig. 2 Circuit model for voltage equation (1-phase)

B. Back EMF Equations

Fig. 4 Shaping circuit for

and

An important note to take is that the back EMF constant ke

and the torque constant kt are equivalent, the same way they
are equal in the DC motor. However, these are not just
numerical constants but equivalent functions of the angular
position in the BLDC motor:

Where
ea, eb, ec
ke

back EMFs
back EMF constant
angular position
angular speed
time

There are three back EMF equations; the same reason with
the voltage equations. These equations are results of
electromechanical conversion; transforming mechanical
energy to electrical energy. This is the magnetic part, existing
between electrical and mechanical portions of the motor.
The back EMF constant ke in a BLDC motor is not really a
constant since it is now a function of the angular position of

So in the model, the same waveform (function) will be

used for the torque generation of the motor.
For the angular speed ; it will be sensed from the
mechanical part (a different circuit model) and multiplied with
ke to produce the trapezoidal back EMF.

Fig. 5 Circuit model for back EMF equation (1-phase)

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C. Torque Equations

Fig. 6 Block diagram of the torque

Where
Tem
kt
ia, ib, ic
t
TL
B
J

electromagnetic torque
torque constant
angular position
winding currents
time
load torque
friction
inertia
angular speed

Unlike the voltage and back EMF equations, there is only

one equation for the overall torque generated by the motor. It
is the sum of the individual torques produced by each
winding. The torque constant kt is equivalent to the back EMF
constant ke, as stated previously.
This is the mechanical part of the motor. There is a need to
represent mechanical concepts with an equivalent electrical
circuit. The electromagnetic torque Tem is represented by
voltage (summed up through currents), the load torque TL by a
voltage drop, friction B by resistance, inertia J by inductance,
and the produced angular speed by current (eventually
transformed to voltage).

Analysing the commutation sequence; each individual

winding current in-phase with its torque constant function: the
electromagnetic torque which is the sum of its products would
become a constant.
The constant electromagnetic torque produced should affect
the angular speed , taking in the effects of friction, inertia,
and the load torque.

Fig. 7 Circuit model for torque equations

The back EMF is produced by sensing this angular speed

and multiplying it with ke as stated before.

IV. SIMULATION RESULTS

Integrating the models of the mathematical equations into one, and simulating it using a circuit simulator (for this paper,
SIMetrix/SIMPLIS Intro Release 5.60d is used) would show the waveforms of important currents and voltages.

Fig. 8 Back EMFs (per phase)

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Fig. 9 Angular speed and Electromagnetic Torque Tem (TL = 200)

Firstly, the general shapes of the simulated waveforms

match with the desired and actual waveforms of the BLDC
motor. The circuit is tested initially with 200 as load torque.
The back EMFs simulated are trapezoidal in shape, are
separated by 120 from each other, and close to realistic
values (~ -230 V to 230V). The angular speed produced is
constant at a magnitude of 2000, and the electromagnetic
torque Tem constant at approximately 7000 (the kV unit should
be ignored since this is only the representation of the
mechanical parameters).
Spikes riding in the waveforms are apparent in the
simulation; these spikes correspond to the times the currents
in the windings are switching logically. There is no gap time
between switching; and at these times, the magnitudes are not
really zero, causing the products (and the sum) to spike up.
Secondly, the circuit model is also tested for increased load
torque TL (from the previous 200 to 2000): the back EMFs
decreased (~ -170V to 170V), angular speed decreased
(from 2000 to 1500), and electromagnetic torque Tem
remained constant. The results are acceptable since a larger
load torque means slower angular speed and eventually
lowering the back EMF produced by the motor.

V. CONCLUSION
The BLDC motor, like other machines, is governed by
mathematical equations of electrical, mechanical and
magnetic nature. These equations can be somewhat modeled
using electrical components that can be simulated using
software. However, it is really challenging to completely
model the BLDC motor; circuit simulators cannot really
match its real behavior, especially with regard to its
mechanical and magnetic parts.
VI. RECOMMENDATION
The circuit simulation presented can be considered a rough
model of the actual BLDC motor. Many assumptions are
made like fixing the winding currents instead of actually
producing them, and assuming the shaping functions ke and kt.
Improvements on the model can be made: a) fixing the
shaping circuit for ke and kt to be dependent on the angular
position, b) replacing the current sources (for current windings)
with voltage sources and still simulate the actual commutation
sequence (float problem), c) handle the spikes in the output
waveforms by introducing time gaps in the switching.
Also, the values of components of the circuit model made
are not based on an actual BLDC motor, and are rough
approximations. Matching these component values with real
specifications would test the models integrity, allowing
improvements if proved otherwise.
REFERENCES
[1]

[2]

[3]
[4]
Fig. 10 Angular speed , Electromagnetic Torque Tem, and back EMF
(TL = 2000)

[5]

(2010) DC Motor Model on eCircuit Center. [Online]. Available:

http://www.ecircuitcenter.com/Circuits/dc_motor_model/DCmotor_mo
del.htm
(2010) Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine on MathWorks
[Online].
Available:
http://www.mathworks.com/help/toolbox/
physmod/powersys/ref/permanentmagnetsynchronousmachine.html
R. Condit, Sensorless BLDC Control With Back-EMF Filtering,
Microchip Technology Inc., c2007.
P. Yedamale, Brushless DC (BLDC) Motor Fundamentals, Microchip
Technology Inc., c2003.
J.R. Mevey, Sensorless Field Oriented Control of Brushless Permanent
Magnet Synchronous Motors, Dept. of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, College of Engineering, Kansas State University,
Manhattan, Kansas, USA, c2009.

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