IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 62, NO.

5, MAY 2015

3277

Design and Performance of a Cost-Effective

BLDC Drive for Water Pump Application
Mohamed Z. Youssef, Senior Member, IEEE

AbstractThis paper presents a promising solution

to the problem of the bad environmental impacts of
the induction-motor-based water pumps. Due to the low
wire-to-water efciency of the current residential water
heaters (around 30%), a high energy cost is paid by every
household in North America and even worldwide. The contribution of this paper comes in twofolds. The rst is the
development of a mapping algorithm that relates the pressure head H and the water ow rate Q to a corresponding
torque and speed under the chart of best efciency point,
which was programmed to the controller. The second is the
development of a cost-effective brushless direct-current
(BLDC) motor through an extensive numerical analysis
technique. The proposed motor solution designs the BLDC
with minimal pulsating torque by comparing two different
designs. The new controller is based on a modied eldoriented control. The controller printed circuit board is of
two layers to offer a cost-effective solution. The proposed
pump eliminates the need of a battery for the controller as
the control voltage is fed directly from the line together with
the motor. The motor simulation model and the controller
design procedure are presented with simulation results of
two possible prototypes. An experimental prototype for a
150-W residential pump was built, and preliminary results
are given to highlight the merits of the work.
Index TermsControl, efciency and water pumps,
permanent-magnet motors (PMs), single-phase electronics.

I. I NTRODUCTION

S many researchers are relentlessly trying to improve the

power generation schemes from the power grid, to meet
the constantly increasing electricity demand, it may be worth to
intelligently reduce the load demand. In addition, because of the
global and local pollution, depletion of fossil fuels, and higher
gas prices, ambitious plans for new residential appliances types
with less energy consumption have been motivated. As every
household has a residential pump, any incremental increase
in the working efficiency of these pumps will have a great
impact on the overall power consumption of the grid. An
important development that can improve fuel efficiency and
decrease emissions is the introduction of permanent-magnet
motor (PM)-based water heaters. PM used in robots or other
industrial applications is currently a niche technology in many
Manuscript received March 1, 2014; revised May 5, 2014 and June
27, 2014; accepted July 25, 2014. Date of publication August 21, 2014;
date of current version April 8, 2015.
The author is with the Department of Electrical, Computer and Software Engineering, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa,
ON L1H 7K4, Canada (e-mail: mohamed.youssef@uoit.ca).
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/TIE.2014.2350461

countries, but they are increasingly expected to form an important role in a low-carbon future. This is largely because a future
of more efficient pumps is one of the lowest carbon footprint
cutting options [1][12]. Three-phase brushless direct current
(BLDC) motors are good candidates for their high-efficiency
capability, compactness, and easy-to-drive features [13].
The operational disadvantage of this kind of motor is the fact
that commutation of motor phases relies on its rotor position.
Although the rotor position is usually sensed by sensors,
there are applications that require sensorless control. Benefits
of the sensorless solution are elimination of the position sensor
and its connections between the control unit and the motor. The
sensorless rotor position technique detects the zero crossing
points of back electromotive force (BEMF)-induced in the
motor windings. The phase BEMF zero crossing points are
sensed while one-phase winding is not powered. The obtained
information is processed to commutate energized phase pair
and control the phase voltage using pulsewidth modulation
(PWM) of the inverter switches [1][12].
In [13], a new controller based on zero current crossing
was introduced, but it was complicated compared with the
simple methodology of this paper that uses coupled resistors
(preconditioning circuit) with the controller to provide the same
function. In [14], a new power circuit was introduced, but it
is expensive and bulky. This paper explores the technological,
economic, and social and energy supply factors that determine
the benefits servo motors could deliver in the North American
and other EU countries. In [2][6], the controller is fed by a
battery, which adds cost and reduces the reliability of the pump.
In [7][12], the controller is complicated with large number of
components, which makes it expensive to be commercialized.
In [9], the controller is optimized only for the constant power
region but does not work in the constant torque region and not
packaged with the motor in the same housing.
The main showstopper in the industry against using a costeffective sensorless control with the best efficiency point (BEP)
is the noise on the feedback signal, coming to the controller
from the motor side, as it causes high-torque ripples and can
cause motor stoppage or cogging. Hence, the presented work
starts with optimizing the motor design to minimize the torque
ripple [17][19]. Then, a mapping of the inputoutput characteristics at BEP is developed. The mapping algorithm is used
to program the controller. Therefore, the solution has the full
package of low cost and high efficiency with minimal torque
ripple. Another problem with the torque ripple is the harmonic
content of the ac supply current. This needs the use of an RF filter and an LF filter at the input side to meet the electromagnetic
compatibility requirements of the IEC 555-1 requirements (as

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 62, NO. 5, MAY 2015

TABLE I
P OSITION V ERSUS R ESISTANCE

TABLE II
R EGION OF O PERATION V ERSUS U PDATE T IME

given in Fig. 13). The problems with these filters are the cost
and the voltage drop of the rectified voltage. Any drop of the
rectified voltage will cause a reduction of the speed range of the
motor. Hence, the minimization of the harmonics will allow the
use of small filters, which will save cost and allow a wider speed
range for the motor by these controllers. The motor, controller,
and housing will be integrated according to the IP42 standard
required by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association
(NEMA) directives in North America. Design procedure, simulation, and experimental results are presented in the paper to
highlight the technical and economical merits of the proposed
water pump.
Fig. 1.

II. C ONTROLLER C ONCEPTUAL D ESIGN AND M ODEL

This paper describes the design of a sensorless controller
for a three-phase BLDC motor drive with integrated BEMF
zero crossing, with minimal cost and best operating efficiency.
Today, more and more variable speed drives are designed into
pump products to increase product performance and system
efficiency. The low dynamic drive, whereby the load or speed is
changed quite slowly in comparison with the system mechanical time constant, is a solution for many common pump applications because simple algorithms can perform the control tasks.
This paper provides a fundamental mathematical method
for modeling, torque calculation, and control concept of the
presented drive. The design procedure starts with the mapping
of the load requirements of the pump, which means tabulating
the pressure head and the flow rate against the speed and the
torque of the motor. The tabulation uses a BEP technique as
follows: The intention is to keep the valves as open as possible
in order to minimize the kinetic (pump) energy dissipated by
them. This has to be done carefully to prevent the system from
not being able to provide enough flow when the valves are full
open. The proposed algorithm slowly adjusts the control curve;
hence, the valves will operate most of the time between 60%
and 90% open and half of the time on each side of 75% open.
The average valve opening is detected by calculating the system
resistance K = H/Q2 , where H is the water head, and Q is the
water flow rate. The following relationship was established by
analyzing different valve brand curves (see Table I). (KFO is
the resistance when the valve is full open.)
The value of K is monitored, and the following four
situations cause the control curve parameters (A and B) to be
adjusted.
Valves are too open (K < 2 KFO ) Right side of the curve is
raised.
Valves are too closed (K > 15 KFO ) Left side of the curve
is lowered.
Valves are most of the time open less than 75% Curve is
lowered.

Pressure head H versus flow rate Q.

Valves are most of the time open more than 75% Curve is
raised.
Sequence of Operations in the algorithm
1) Initially
A = 0.4 BEP_Head;
B = (BEP_Head A)/BEP_Flow2;
C = BEP_Head/BEP_Flow2 (all valves full open).
2) Calculate K = H/Q2 and count the time its greater than
6.5 (Count_1) and the time it is less than 6.5 (Count_2).
3) If Count_1 + Count_2 > 24 h (the pump has been running more than 24 h since the last check), then;
if Count_1 > Count_2 + 4 h, then decrease A by 1%;
if Count_1 + 4 h < Count_2, then increase A by 1%;
reset Count_1 and Count_2 to 0.
4) When K stays above 15 C, every 30 min
decrease A by 5%;
increase B by 5%.
5) When K stays below 2 C, every 30 min
increase A by 5%;
decrease B by 5%.
6) The minimum value of K averaged over 1 min achieved
D is stored.
7) If D < C, replace C with D.
8) After the first two days of operation
C is replaced with D;
D is reset to zero.
9) After every review interval is completed (see the
next step),
a. if K 3 C;
b. reduce speed to MinPumpSpeed (default 30%) for
15 min;
c. then reset D to zero and start a new review interval.
10) Review intervals are given in Table II as follows.
Fig. 1 shows the different combinations of the pressure
head and flow rate and how every combination requires a
certain speed of the motor. This speed is accompanied by a

YOUSSEF: DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE OF A COST-EFFECTIVE BLDC DRIVE FOR WATER PUMP APPLICATION

Fig. 2.

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Schematics of the power circuit and control circuit. (a) Schematics of motor drives. (b) Voltage sense logic. (c) Controller schematics.

certain torque value in order to run the motor under maximum

efficiency (BEP). The mapping algorithm was programmed
in C++ and downloaded on the AN2030 integrated circuit
(IC) from STMicroelectronics. The following schematics show

the power circuit board components; AN2030 [13] with its

peripherals and the controller voltage feed in and the complete
design is given in Fig. 2. This integrated circuit (AN2030
or AN1627) uses sinusoidal commutation as the trapezoidal

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Fig. 3.

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 62, NO. 5, MAY 2015

Simplified block diagram of the FOC drive scheme [15].

commutation is simple but allows a harmonic content to the

voltage drive of the motor, which affects the motor noise and
temperature rise. In this paper, the BEMF of each phase is
connected to a resistor sensor in Fig. 2, which triggers the
circuit to send the PWM signal upon the corresponding zero
crossing of each phase. This was a simple but effective idea
to bring the trapezoidal commutation to a closer step from
the sinusoidal commutation. The complete set of schematics is
given in detail in the Appendix section. It is worth to mention
that the NEMA standards do not need a power factor correction
for any pump of 150 W or less.
The sinusoidal commutation requires high-resolution position feedback devices such as optical encoder or resolver. This
makes the sinusoidal commutation more expensive than the sixstep commutation. However, it provides reduced torque ripple
and allows precise control. The cost of the integrated cost has
dramatically come down to allow the use of the sinusoidal
commutation.

Fig. 4.

Geometry of BLDC motor with surface magnets on the rotor.

TABLE III
M AIN S PECIFICATIONS OF THE WATER P UMP S YSTEM

III. FOC FOR BLDC M OTOR

Field-oriented control (FOC) is suitable for the high-end
application due to its complex design and higher processing
requirements. It commutates the motor by calculating voltage
and current vectors based on motor current feedback. It maintains high efficiency over a wide operating range and allows for
precise dynamic control of speed and torque. The FOC controls
the stator currents represented by a space vector. It transforms
three-phase stator currents into a flux-generating part and a
torque-generating part and controls both quantities separately.
The arrangement of the FOC controller resembles a separately
excited dc motor. The simplified conceptual block diagram of a
FOC is shown in Fig. 3.
The various reference frame transformations in FOC are
shown in Fig. 4. The Clarke transformation converts the threephase sinusoidal system (A, B, and C) into a two-phase timevariant system (, ). A two-coordinate time-invariant system
(d, q) is obtained by the Park transformation. In this system,
the motor-flux-generating part is d (direct) and the torquegenerating part is q (quadrature). The space-vector modulation
(SVM) provides more efficient use of the bus voltage than
the conventional sinusoidal PWM (SPWM) technique. The

maximum output voltage based on the SVM is 1.15 times

bigger than the conventional SPWM. The SVM considers the
power circuit as one device that affects all six power switching
devices because it controls the voltage vector.
IV. S IMULATION M ODEL AND E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS
Preliminary magnetic calculations with finite-element
method (FEM)-based Maxwells software were done with
one stator and two rotor versions with surface permanent
magnets for the motor specifications of 150 W and 0.4 N m at
3600 r/min (see Table III).
Simulation Model Provides the Following Machine
Data: Material Type: NdFeB; Grade: 35 UH, 38 UH; Flux
density, B = I 1.1 T; relative permeability r = 1.055.
Maximum temperature of Magnets is 90 C; Magnetization
type: Radial.
Winding Data: Constant current density is 7.02 A/m2 in
both cases with magnetic structures with different residual flux
densities and the same cost. Number of turns: 260; Phase resistance (calculated): R = 16.50 ; Copper weight (calculated):

YOUSSEF: DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE OF A COST-EFFECTIVE BLDC DRIVE FOR WATER PUMP APPLICATION

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TABLE IV
E VALUATED M OTOR PARAMETERS AT T WO D IFFERENT F LUX D ENSITIES

Fig. 5. Cogging torque variation in space for two different remnant flux
densities: minimal values that reflect minimal harmonics.

Fig. 7. Input ac voltage and current at (a) no-load and (b) full-load
conditions. AC voltage is in cyan, 40 V/div.; current is in blue, 0.4 A/100
mV; and dc rectified bus voltage is in red, 75 V/div.

Fig. 6. Magnetic flux distribution within the proposed magnetic structure: hot magnetic spot.

0.1295 kg; Lamination: M450-50A; Clamp: 3 mm 0.8 mm.

The winding temperature of 100 C and the rotor temperature
of 110 C are considered in the simulation. The assumption of
FEM is to use copper winding for the simulation.
Active Material Stator/Rotor: Stack length: 40 mm; OD
stator: 70 mm; and one side air gap: 2.3 mm. FEM analysis is
done with 0.4964-Arm forced sinusoidal current in phase with
BEMF at 3600 r/min.
The results are shown in Table IV. The recorded average
efficiency was in the range of 97.5% for the motor in both
designs. It is a compromised design decision for as the higher
the efficiency, the worse the residual magnetic flux it gets,
resulting in more harmonics during operation.
The only drawback was to the higher residual flux, which results in higher cogging torque. Fig. 5 shows the cogging torque
results for both rotor versions. It is clear that cogging torque is
only 2% of the nominal torque of the motor in the worst case
scenario, which reflects minimal generated harmonics.

Fig. 8.

Controller and power circuit prototypes for a 150-W motor.

Fig. 9.

Test setup for the power and controller prototype board.

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Fig. 10.

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 62, NO. 5, MAY 2015

Three-phase currents of the motor under steady-state and transient conditions: balanced sinusoidal currents.

Fig. 6 is an extract from the ANSOFT finite-element analysis

simulation. The color coding explains the maximum magnetic
field densities for the different hot magnetic spots in the magnetic circuit. This shows that maximum values of the magnetic
field densities in the PM neodymium (NdFe) bar and in the
regular laminations section are 1.63 and 1.46 T. This is still
an acceptable figure from the point of view of the magnetic
design. The magnetic circuit laminations are designed from a
ferrite iron M36, whereas the permanent-magnet bar is made
of NdFe. This is acceptable per the characteristics of both
materials. The magnetic hot spots are shown with a yellowish
color designation. The thermal analysis of this hot spot reveals
that the overall magnetic temperature of the motor will not
exceed 90 C after reaching steady-state thermal operation in
a continuous 24-h operation. This is very good as the standard
has a maximum of 110 C
Fig. 7 shows the experimental measurements of the input
voltage and current on the ac supply side of 115 Vac without
power factor correction. Full-load current shows similar pattern
as no load except at higher value. Power factor angle will vary
as the load increases. As per the NEMA 48 standard in North
America, there is no need for a power factor correction for a
power level below or equal to 150 W. For higher power pumps
such as 250 and 750 W for large residential loads and small
office loads, power factor correction stage shall be taken into
consideration. Future publications in this area will deal with
this subject matter. The goal will be to be compliant with the
NEMA 48 standards with minimal cost for the design of these
higher power pumps.
Fig. 8 shows the final version of the electronics part. A
sinusoidal IC controller with FOC capabilities is chosen from
STMicroelectronics (AN2030 or AN1627 from Freescale for
example) for this application with an integrated power module

Fig. 11. Test rig of the developed pump with the measurement setup
of the flow versus the head of water circulation.

from International Rectifier. It is worth to mention that the

measured wire-to-water efficiency of the pump was about
47%, which is 10% higher than the corresponding commercial
induction-motor-based pump. Fig. 9 shows the pictorial view of
the first prototype for the 150-W pump. The Appendix shows
the peak values of the magnetic field density in every spot.
The hot magnetic field spots show the probability of having
saturation in any part of the magnetic circuit, which is not
recommended. The peak value is around 1.63 T. This value
is still acceptable for this design. This is illustrated through
Fig. 12 in the Appendix.
PSIM schematics and results show good near-sinusoidal
motor currents at steady state Fig. 10.
The overall pump design was tested, after incorporating it
with the same standard housing, on a complete test rig that emulates the pump and its piping system as used in any household.

YOUSSEF: DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE OF A COST-EFFECTIVE BLDC DRIVE FOR WATER PUMP APPLICATION

Fig. 12.

Overall schematic of the power circuit.

Fig. 13.

Closed-loop implementation schematic of the controller.

This configuration is given in Fig. 11. The recorded overall

(wire-to-water) efficiency for this system was around 47%.
This is a big improvement compared with the available market
values of 37% for the induction-motor-based water pumps or
heaters. The most important feature is that this design will be
able to compete in the market due to the lowered cost from
U.S. $110 to around U.S. $68 only.

V. C ONCLUSION
A more efficient and cost-effective water circulator has been
developed; the field-oriented controller has been implemented
on a cost-effective two-layer printed circuit board. The design
does not need a battery for powering the controller, which
reduces the cost. The zero crossing of the BEMF is precisely
detected through a simple resistor preconditioning circuit connected to the AN2030 or AN1627 trigger pin. The algorithm for

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mapping the output characteristics (head and flow) to the input

characteristics (speed and torque) was developed under the BEP
control technique for the motor.
The overall cost of the developed water circulator was around
U.S. $68. This is U.S. $34 cheaper than the available commercial pump in the market. Due to the innovative use of traditional
non-rare-earth lamination stack with rare-earth magnetic potions only. The rugged production of the laminations from nonrare-earth magnetics could allow the use of the same material
of the induction motor stator. This is the main reason behind the
cost effectiveness of the proposed work on the motor part. The
developed pump is a good candidate for the automotive pump
applications as well.

A PPENDIX
See Figs. 12 and 13.

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 62, NO. 5, MAY 2015

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Mohamed Z. Youssef (S03M05SM08) received the Ph.D. degree from Queens University, Kingston, ON, Canada, in 2005.
He was an Adjunct Assistant Professor with
Queens University, where he was involved in
teaching and research. In 2007, he was with
Bombardier Transportation as a Senior Research and Development Engineer. In 2012,
he was with Alstom Transport as a Research
and Development Engineering Manager. He is
currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical, Computer and Software Engineering, University
of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, ON, Canada, where he
is also the Director of the Power Electronics and Drives Laboratory.
He has more than 60 papers published in top-tier IEEE journals and
conference proceedings with five U.S./Canadian patents. His research
interests include electromechanical systems for the transportation industry, electromagnetic compatibility for railways, and power electronics
applications for information technology.
Dr. Youssef is a Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario,
Canada.