PEDS2009

Development of Brushless DC Motor with low cogging torque for Ceiling Fan Chuan-Sheng Liu
Member, IEEE National Formosa University Dept. of Aeronautical Engineering 632 Yunlin, Taiwan csliu@nfu.edu.tw
Abstract -- The improvements of the new structure of a brushless DC (BLDC) motor with the low cogging torque for the ceiling fan is presented. The new type ceiling fan is designed by using BLDC motor theory and the six-step wave form for the purpose of the manufacture cost reduction. The energy also can be saved at least 50% when the new type motor is compared to the conventional fan based on the induction motor. The cogging torque also can be improvement by using the sin back EMF voltage with the sine wave form currents. The new BLDC motor is required to meet both of the basic ceiling fan control and the cost reduction. Index Terms-- ceiling fan, brushless DC (BLDC) motor, speed controller, hall sensor, cogging torque.

Jonq-Chin Hwang
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology Dept. of electrical engineering jchwang@mouse.ee.ntust.edu.tw

II.

THE MOTOR DESIGN AND DRIVERS SYSTEM

A. the motor design The basic requirement of the BLDC motor of the ceiling fan is limited under the commercialization. The operating condition of the BLDC motor is listed as follow input power : AC source 110V or 220V speed range : 90 rpm to 200 rpm speed change: at least 3 step( 100rpm for low speed. 160rmp for mid speed, and 200 rpm for hi speed)

I.

INTRODUCTION

The conventional ceiling fan based on the induction motor is popular. Those split-phase induction motor are external rotor machines with large diameter and large size. They are usually low-cost machines and operated at high slip, therefore, the ceiling fan have poor performance. The performance of the external-rotor split-phase induction motor has been improved by using the 2-D finite element analysis [1]. However, the pulsating torque and efficient of the fan is still a problem. For the energy conservation reason, the development and commercialization of high efficiency electric motor is required for the ceiling fan. The high efficiency electric motor drivers system can replace the ceiling fan which is base on the induction motor. In order to reduce the consumption of the electric energy, the brushless dc (BLDC) motor with high efficiency can be a good motor for the ceiling fan [2]. The BLDC motor also has many advantages like high efficiency, compact volume and less noise. In this paper, the new type ceiling fan is first designed by using the BLDC motor theory [3-6] and the six-step wave form for the purpose of the manufacture cost reduction. The energy will be saved when the new type motor is compared to the conventional induction motor fan. However, the rotation noise of the BLDC motor is limited when the ceiling fan is operating in the house. The new BLDC motor with the low cogging torque is also required to meet both of the basic ceiling fan control and the cost reduction.

The new BLDC motor and the flux analysis is designed as an external-rotor motor with 8 poles and 12 slots shown as in fig. 1. There are 12 single layer coils on the 12 slots for the reduction of the assembly line. The inverter will provide the 3 phase current on those coils, then the fan motor has the rotating torque.

Fig.1. motor cross section (8 poles, 12slots), the stator is internal to rotor and each slot will contain single layer winding. The rotor contains the number of 8 poles. B. the drivers systems The new structure of the drivers systems for the speed controller of the ceiling fan is shown in fig.2. According to the rotor position detected by hall sensors, the controller center, Digital Signal Processor (DSP), will give the speed command to the DC-AC inverter, then three phase voltage supplied by the inverter will applied to three phase coils and be obtained the three currents.

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Fig.2. the drivers system of ceiling fan The DC electric power, 24 DC voltages, is obtained through the AC-DC converter from the 110V or the 220V input AC power. The fly-back converter with the advantages such as cost effective, isolation, and small size is selected. The speed control loop of the closed loop is shown in fig.3.

Fig.4. the 3 phase power circuits of the motor and drivers system The 3 phase voltages are:

v abc = Rs iabc + Ls
(1) Where

d iabc + eabc dt

vabc = [va
iabc = [ia ib

vb

Fig.3. Speed control loops of the closed loop The new BLDC motor is required to meet both of the basic ceiling fan control and the cost reduction. The torque of the fan motor is constant as the fan is running in fixed speed. The BLDC motor can be allowed to operate in the open-loop control for saving the cost of the current sensor. The accuracy of the fan speed is not asked to be accurate, then the BLDC motor can be used the six-step square wave controller or the sensor-less commutation methods [3-5]. The property of the new BLDC fan motor and the drivers system fits the commercialization, the cost effect, the consumption of the electric energy, the small size, the less noise, and easy the assembly line. III. THE BLDC SERVO MOTOR THEORY AND THE CONTROLLER The new BLDC fan motor is design an external rotor motor with 8 poles and 12 slots. The 3 phase currents in the 12 coils, assumed to be balance, provide the torque of the fan motor. Assuming that the damping winding effect and the saturation is neglected, the 3 phase power circuits of the motor and drivers system is shown in fig.4.

ic ] t

vc ] t

eabc = [ea

Rs = diag[ Rs Rs Rs ] Ls = diag [ Ls Ls Ls ]

eb

ec ] t

The rotor position detected by 3 hall sensors is divided into the six steps in each cycle of the line voltages. Fig.5. shows that the relationship between the hall sensor and the line voltages.
eab
' 3r m

ebc

eca

(a)
' 3r m

t
( r' )

Ha
(b)
1 1 1
0 0 0

Hb
(c)
0 0

t
( r' )

Hc
(d)
1
F1
0 0 0

t
( r' )

1
F5

1
F6

F2

F3

F4

t
( r' )

Fig.5. the hall sensor position and the line voltages According to each step, 60 electrical degree, the DSP controller will give the commutation command to the switch such as Ta+, Tb+, Tc+, Ta-, Tb-,and Tc-. The ideal phase

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currents in the 3 phase coils are shown in fig.6 and provide the torque.
eab
' 3r m

ebc

eca

(a)

0
' m

t
( r' )

3r

ia
(b)
0

t
( r' )

ib
(c)
0

Fig.7. the input voltage (golden line:100V/div) and input current (Blue line: 0.2A/div) operating in hi-speed control B. The new BLDC fan motor The new BLDC fan motor is design an external rotor motor. The picture of the motor with the driver circuit is shown in fig.8.

t
( r' )

ic
(d)
0

t
( r' )
F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6

Fig.6. The ideal phase currents and the line voltages Assuming that the inductance in the coils is constant, the average torque is listed as

N ~ Te 2 p 'm I pm 2
(2) Where m' is the flux linkage. Np is the number of poles. Ipm is the phase current. IV. TEST RESULTS A. The conventional ceiling fan The conventional ceiling fan based on split-phase induction motor is listed under the single phase power supply 110V or 220V. The consumption of the electric power corresponding to 3 steps speed control is listed in the table 1. Table 1The test result of the conventional ceiling fan Volt Current speed Speed Power PF (A) (rpm) (W) ( cos ) (V) Low 100 19 0.52 220 0.16 Mid. Hi. 160 200 42 65 0.78 0.996 220 220 0.24 0.29 Fig.8. The picture of the motor with the driver circuit The consumption of the electric power is concerned. The rotation speed of the BLDC motor is adjusted to be those of the conventional ceiling fan. The table 2 shows the input power corresponding to the 3 fixed rotation speeds. The table 3 and the fig.9. shows the compare of the input power between two motors. During any of the operation speed, the energy saving of the new BLDC motor is about 50%. However, the power factor correction is also required to improve the power factor. Table 2 The test results of the BLDC motor speed Speed Power PF Volt (rpm) (W) (cos) (V) Low 100 9 0.383 110 mid hi 160 170 20 22 0.425 0.429 110 110 Current (A) 0.14 0.35 0.38

During the hi-speed operation, the consumption power with the unit power factor (PF) is about 65W show as in fig.7. When the fan operates in mid-speed, the current is leading the input voltage 30 degree. This shows that the good product of the convention ceiling fan has a good power factor.

Fig.9. the energy saving of the new BLDC motor is about 50%.

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The torque of the ceiling fan is almost constant, when the fan is operating in fixed speed. Operating in the hi-speed, the currents, shown in fig.10., are similar to those ideal currents.

Fig.12. Three Phase Voltages for the BLDC motor

Fig.10. currents wave form (ia, ib, ic (1A/div)) and line voltage Vab (40V/div) of the motor, operating in the hi-speed.

Fig.13. Three Phase Voltages for the new BLDC motor

Fig.11. the phase current ia(Blue:2A/div) and those control signals such as Ha (green:5V/div)Vgs (pink: 20V/div) Vds (golden: 20V/div). Fig.11 shows that the relation ship between the control signals such as the hall sensor (Ha), Vgs of the MOSFET, Vds of the MOSFET, and phase currents ( ia ). The above wave form of currents fits to those in the theory. The cogging torque also can be improvement by using the sin back EMF voltage with the sine wave form currents [6-9]. Fig. 12 and Fig.13 show the three Phase Voltages for the two types of BLDC motors. The former shows the phase voltage with 3rd harmonics which will lead to the noise of the rotation, and the latter shows the improvement model with the sin wave phase voltage and the noise reduction by working with the sin wave current. Fig.14 shows that the motors cogging torque then can be improvement and the noise also be reduced. The motor have another benefit with the lower harmonics of the input current.

Fig.14. the cogging torque of BLDC ceiling fan (a) and the new BLDC (b) is improvement V.
CONCLUSIONS

For the energy conservation, the new BLDC motor is designed as an external-rotor motor with 8 poles and 12 slots for the ceiling fan. The energy can be saved at least 50%, when the new type motor is compared to the conventional fan based on the induction motor. The cogging torque also can be improvement by using the sin back EMF voltage with the sine wave form currents. The new BLDC motor meets both of the basic requirement of the fan speed control and the cost reduction. The price of the new fan, about 50 us dollars, is cost effective.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT This work was sponsored by the National Science Council, Taiwan, R. O. C., Project number 95-2622-E-150-049-CC3. REFERENCES
[1] Holik, P. J. Dorrel, and D. G. Popescu, M., Performance Improvement of an External-Rotor Split-Phase Indction Motor for Low-Cost Drive Applications Using External Rotor Can, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 43, pp. 25492551, june 2007. Rajagopal, K.R.; Sathaiah, C.; Computer Aided Design and FE Analysis of a PM BLDG Hub Motor, Power Electroncis, Drives and Energ System, 2006 PEDES International Conference,12-15 Dec. 2006, pp1-6. Cheng-Hu Chen, Ming-Yang cheng, A New Cost Effective Sensorless Commutation Method for Brushless DC Motors Without Phase Shift Circuit and Neutral Voltage, IEEE Tran. On P.E., Vol. 22, No2, Mar.2007. Q. Jiang, C. Bi and R. Huang, A new phase-delay method to detect back EMF zero-crossing points for sensorless control of spindle motor, IEEE Tran. on Magnetic, Vol.41, No.7, pp228, july. 2005. Tae-Hyung Kim, Ehsani, M, An error analysis of the sensorless position estimation for BLDC motors, R. Nicole, Industry Applications Conference, 2003, 38th, IAS Annual Meeting, Vol, 1, pp611-617, 12-16 Oct. 2003. C. C. Hwang and Y. H. Cho, Effects of leakage flux on magnetic fields of interior permanent magnet synchronous motors, IEEE Tran. on Magnetics, vol. 37, pp. 3021 -3024, 2001. T. F. Chan and Lie-Tong Yan, Analysis and performance of a surfacemounted NdFeB permanent-magnet a.c. generator. International Conference, Advances in Power System Control, Operation and Management, vol. 2, pp.11-14,1997 T. F. Chan and Lie-Tong Yan, Analysis and performance of a threephase a.c. generator with inset permanent-magnet rotor. International Conference, Advances in Power System Control, Operation and Management, vol. 2, pp.436-440,2000. Y. Honda, T. Nakamura, T. Higaki and Y. Takeda, Motor design considerations and test results of an interior permanent magnet synchronous motor for electric vehicles, Thirty-Second IAS Annual Meeting Conference, vol. 1, pp.75-82, 1997

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