3274 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 39, NO.
5, SEPTEMBER 2003
Finite-Element Analysis of Brushless DC Motor
Considering Freewheeling Diodes and DC Link
Voltage Ripple
Tae Heoung Kim, Jae-Hak Choi, Kwang Cheol Ko, and Ju Lee, Member, IEEE
Abstract—This paper deals with the characteristic analysis of
a brushless dc motor (BLDC) taking into consideration the free-
wheeling diodes and dc link voltage ripple using a time-stepped
voltage source finite-element method. By comparing the experi-
mental results, the authors show that the proposed computational
method is useful for the analysis and design of a BLDC motor.
They also examine the influence of freewheeling diodes and dc
link voltage ripples on the performance of a BLDC motor such as
torque ripples and radial force on the surface of the teeth.
Index Terms—BLDC, FEM, freewheeling diode, inverter, per-
manent magnet. Fig. 1. Configuration of exterior-rotor BLDC motor.
TABLE I
I. INTRODUCTION SPECIFICATIONS OF ANALYSIS MODEL
I N RECENT YEARS, brushless dc motor (BLDC) motors
have been adopted in home appliances for the purpose of
energy saving and low noise. In particular, application to a di-
rect-drive-type washing machines (without a gear) is increasing.
BLDC motors in washing machines need a high input voltage,
current, and phase inductance to get sufficient torque at low
speed and adopt a capacitor with a low capacitance in the recti-
fier of a drive circuit to decrease the cost and size of the system
[1]. As a result, the commutation period becomes long and large
dc link voltage ripples are generated, which have a negative ef-
fect on the performance of a motor such as torque ripples and a
radial force on the surface of the teeth.
In this paper, we present the computational method for ana-
lyzing a BLDC motor taking into consideration the freewheeling
diodes and dc link voltage ripples using a time-stepped finite- rotor position. Table I shows the specifications of the analyzed
element method. We show that the proposed analysis method model. The drive circuit diagram is illustrated in Fig. 2. It con-
is suitable for analyzing a BLDC motor by comparing the pre- sists of a rectifier, capacitor, inverter and a current limiter.
dicted and the measured phase currents and dc link voltage rip-
ples with experimental data. The performance of a motor when
III. FINITE-ELEMENT FORMULATIONS
freewheeling diodes and dc link voltage ripples are considered
or not are also compared. A. Discretization
The two-dimensional (2-D) governing equation for the per-
II. ANALYSIS MODEL AND DRIVE CIRCUIT manent magnet BLDC motor is expressed in magnetic vector
Fig. 1 shows the exterior-rotor-type BLDC motor that drives potential by the following:
a washing machine. The motor is driven by 120 square wave
voltage sources, and three hall sensors are used to detect the
Manuscript received January 6, 2003. This work was supported by MOCIE (1)
through the EIRC Program.
T. H. Kim, J.-H. Choi, and J. Lee are with the Department of Elec-
trical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, Korea (e-mail: where
julee@hanyang.ac.kr). component of magnetic vector potential;
K. C. Ko is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, Korea (e-mail: kwang@hanyang.ac.kr). current density;
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMAG.2003.816746 magnetization of the permanent magnet.
0018-9464/03$17.00 © 2003 IEEE
KIM et al.: FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF BRUSHLESS DC MOTOR 3275
Fig. 2. Diagram of drive circuit.
Applying the Galerkin method to (1), we can obtain the finite- Fig. 3. Current flow in drive circuit.
element equation in a first-order triangular element as follows:
(2)
where stands for shape function.
B. Circuit Equations
Fig. 4. DC link voltage ripples and phase current.
When the capacitor is charged or discharged and commuta-
tion takes place among the phases, the electrical circuit equa-
tions of the BLDC motor that is driven by 120 square wave Since the winding has a star connection, (4) and (7) should
voltage sources which can be categorized into the following four be also satisfied according to KCL.
cases [2]. 3) When Capacitor is Discharged and Current is Flowing in
1) When Capacitor is Charged and Current is Flowing in Two Phases: The voltage equation is identical to (3) as shown
Two Phases: The voltage of the capacitor is identical to the in Fig. 3(c). However, the following is needed additionally be-
input voltage because the capacitor is charged. Since the motor cause the capacitor voltage becomes an unknown variable when
is driven by two phases ( ) as shown in Fig. 3(a), the circuit the capacitor is discharged:
equation for the current mesh loop can be obtained as follows:
(8)
(3)
where is the capacitance of a capacitor.
(4) 4) When Capacitor is Discharged and Current is Flowing in
Three Phases: The voltage equation is identical to (5) and (6)
where
as shown in Fig. 3(d). Equation (8) must be used because the
resistance of phase winding;
capacitor voltage is an unknown variable like case (3).
leakage inductance of the stator coil ends;
flux linkage of phase winding; C. System Matrix
dc link voltage.
The backward difference method is adopted to treat the time
2) When Capacitor is Charged and Current is Flowing in derivative terms in the circuit equations. After all, the system
Three Phases: The voltage of the capacitor is identical to the stiffness matrix can be constructed by combining the circuit
input voltage like case (1). Because of commutation (from equations with the discretized governing equation.
phase to phase), the motor is driven by three phases and When the capacitor is discharged and two phases ( and )
two current mesh loops as shown in Fig. 3(b). The circuit equa- are energized as shown in Fig. 3(c), the system matrix can be
tion for each current mesh loop is given by expressed as
(5)
(6)
(7)
(9)
where is the voltage drop across the freewheeling diode.
3276 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 39, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER 2003
Fig. 6. Radial force density.
Fig. 5. Phase currents and torque ripples calculated at 120 r/min.
where is the matrix related to the stator winding, and is the
matrix related to back emf.
When capacitor is discharged and the current is switched from
phases to as shown in Fig. 3(d), the system matrix can
be expressed as follows:
Fig. 7. DC link voltage ripples.
torque ripples considering the dc link voltage ripples are higher
than the result without considering it. This is because the dc
link voltage ripples distort the phase current. Therefore, the
freewheeling diodes and dc link voltage ripples must be taken
into account in predicting the performance of a BLDC motor.
(10) Fig. 7 shows the dc link voltage ripples according to the
capacitance. From the analysis results, we know that the selection
of the proper capacitance is effective to decrease the dc link
voltage ripples.
where is the voltage drop across the diode and is the
capacitance.
To make the system matrix in the case that the capacitor is V. CONCLUSION
charged, the last row and column must be eliminated in (9) and In this paper, we analyzed the characteristics of a BLDC
(10) because the capacitor voltage is equal to the source motor taking into consideration a long commutation period
voltage . Following this, the source voltage is added and large dc link voltage ripples using a time-stepped voltage
as a forcing term in the second row of the system matrix. source finite-element method. We also examined the influence
of freewheeling diodes and dc link voltage ripples on the
IV. ANALYSIS RESULTS performance of a BLDC motor such as torque ripple and
Fig. 4(a) and (b) compares the calculated and the measured dc electromagnetic force.
link voltage ripples and phase current at 100 r/min, respectively. We confirm that our analysis method is useful for the design
We can see that the commutation period (freewheeling diode is of a BLDC motor with high input voltage, current, and phase
on) is quite long and a large dc link voltage ripple (90 V) is gen- inductance.
erated. The experimental results closely match those obtained
in the simulation of the proposed computational method. REFERENCES
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