DEVELOPMENT OF TWIN B

BRUSHLESS DC MOTORS
DRIVEN ELECTRIC VEHICLE
Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of degree in

MASTER OF TECHNOLOGY
In
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
(MACHINE DRIVES AND POWER ELECTRONICS)
By
T.MADHUSUDHAN RAO
07EE6111

Under the guidance of

D
Dr. CHANDAN CHAKRABORTY

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR
WEST BENGAL, INDIA

MAY-2009
 Department of Electrical Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

Kharagpur-721302

CERTIFICATE

Development of Twin
This is to certify that the thesis entitled Development
Brushless DC Motors driven Electric Vehicle
Vehicle submitted by
T.Madusudhan Rao (Roll no. 07EE6111),
07EE6111), in the partial fulfillment for the
requirement for the award of degree of Master of Technology in Electrical
Engineering with specialization in Machine Drives and Power
Electronics (EE-1) of Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur during the
academic session 2008-2009.
2009. This is a bonafide record of the project work carried out
by him under the supervision and guidance of us. The approval does not necessarily
endorse or accept every statement made, opinion expressed or conclusion drawn as
recorded
ed in the thesis. It only signifies the acceptance of the thesis for the purpose for
which it is submitted.

____________________
Dr. Chandan Chakraborty
Date: _____________ Associate Professor

Place: IIT Kharagpur Department of Electrical Engineering

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude towards my project

supervisor Dr.CHANDAN CHAKRABORTY Electrical Engineering Department,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur for his constant encouragement, inspiring
guidance, inestimable supervision and sustained encouragement throughout the study.
I also thank him for providing all facilities at his best from time to time and
contributing his valuable time to discuss all problems and development during the
project.

I would like to express my sincere regards and thanks to my Department head

Prof. A.K. Sinha and to all faculty members of the department.

I must acknowledge the co-operation and help of my friends and especially my

senior Mr.B.Ramanna, technical and non- technical staff of Electrical Engineering
Department, and also Mr. Willium Ambruse, for mechanical work of chassis.

I feel profound privilege in expressing heart full reverence to my parents

whose blessings have constantly inspired me.

May 2009 T.MADHUSUDHAN RAO

IIT Kharagpur (07EE6111)

 Abstract

Environmental pollution and increase in oil prices have recently rekindled the
commercial prospect of EVs. This thesis is the development of an Electric vehicle
with two Brushless DC motors (built in-wheel motors) which used for two rear wheels
of the vehicle. A complete development of the controller for the BLDC motor is
presented, this controller is designed based on the PWM technique by taking hall
sensors (which detect the rotor position of the motor) output from the motor as
feedback to generate appropriate pulses for the inverter. This inverter output is fed to
the motor for exact commutation sequence according to its hall sensor inputs to the
controller. The motor tested with designed controller on the laboratory prototype is
also reported.

This configuration with two motors in the vehicle may present some
advantages such as increasing the vehicle power with a better weight distribution,
stability control and no power loss in electronic differential system. A detail study has
been presented on the mechanical design of the Electric Vehicle and a prototype is
also developed. Many constraints have been considered, such as the weight, size of the
motor and battery, maximum driving current and maximum output power.
An electronic differential model is designed based on the dynamic model of
the vehicle and a control scheme is developed for it then simulated this Electronic
differential model with two motors using Matlab/simulink.
 CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 General 1

1.2 Electric Vehicles Vs ICE driven Vehicles 2

1.3 Motivation of thesis 4

CHAPTER 2 DRIVES FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE 5

2.1 Introduction 5

2.2 Propulsion Motors Used for Electric Vehicles 5

2.2.1 DC motors 5

2.2.2 Induction motors 6

2.2.3 Brushless DC motors 6

2.3 Selection of Motor for EV 9

2.4 Conclusions 18

CHAPTER 3 BATTERIES 19

3.1 Introduction 19

3.2 Lead acid batteries 19

3.3 Charging Methods for Batteries 20

3.4 Conclusions 24

CHAPTER 4 DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRIC VEHICLE 25

4.1 Introduction 25

4.2 Calculation of Motor rating 25

4.3 Calculation of Battery rating 27

4.4 Development of Prototype 28

 4.5 Design of Electronic Differential 29

4.5.1 Proposed model 29

4.5.2 Electronic differential Algorithm 30

4.6 Simulation results 36

4.7 Hardware Implementation of Controller for BLDC motor 39

4.7.1 Proposed BLDC controller 39

4.7.2 Current sensing circuit 45

4.8 Experimental results of controller 49

4.9 Conclusions 53

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS & FUTURE SCOPE 54

5.1 General conclusion 54

5.2 Scope of future work 55

REFERENCES 56
 LIST OF FIGURES

Page no
Fig 1.1 Losses in IC engine driven vehicle 3
Fig 2.1 3-phase Brushless DC motor with supply fed from inverter 8
Fig 2.2 Shows the forces acting on a vehicle moving along a slope 10
Fig 2.3 Power requirement to overcome aerodynamic drag Vs speed 11
Fig 2.4 Effect of drag coefficient and speed on battery mass 12
Fig 2.5 Power requirement to overcome rolling resistance 13
Fig 2.6 Power requirement to overcome aerodynamic drag at 14
Fig 2.7 Motive power Vs Slope angle 16
Fig 3.1 Charging cycle of the constant voltage charging method 21
Fig 3.2 Charging cycle of the constant current charging 22
Fig 3.3 Charging cycle of the two step charging (controlled V-I) 23
Fig 3.4 Current Pulses during pulse charging method 24
Fig 4.1 Design of prototype of EV chasses 28
Fig 4.2 Proposed control system for two motors 29
Fig 4.3 Vehicle dynamics model 30
Fig 4.4 Electronic differential control technique 31
Fig 4.5 Proposed Electronic differential controller Block diagram 32
Fig 4.6 Electronic differential circuit 34
Fig 4.7 Electronic differential model in MATLAB/simulink 35
Fig 4.8 to Fig 4.11 Simulation results of electronic differential 36
Fig 4.12 Block diagram of single BLDC motor controller 40
Fig 4.13 Inverter bridge for BLDC motor 40
Fig 4.14 Complete schematic of BLDC controller 41
Fig 4.15 North Pole detect hall sensor signal 42
Fig 4.16 Hall sensor output signals in 60 degrees operation 43
Fig 4.17 Hall sensor output signals in 120 degrees operation 43
Fig 4.18 Current sensing circuit 45
Fig 4.19 BLDC Controller Hardware Circuit Board 46
Fig 4.20 Experimental setup for testing of controller with BLDC motor 47
Fig 4.21 In-wheel Brushless DC motor 47
Fig 4.22 Foot Pedal, 3 Wire 5K potentiometer 47
Fig 4.23 Prototype chasses of 3-wheeler 48
Fig 4.24 Hall Sensor Inputs to the Controller from Motor 49
Fig 4.25 Gate pulses for Top switches of 3 phase Inverter legs 49
Fig 4.26 Gate pulses for Bottom switches of 3 phase Inverter legs 50
Fig 4.27 Gate pulse for bottom switch with different duty ratio 51
Fig 4.28 Current waveform in phase A 51
Fig 4.29 3-phase line-line voltages of the inverter 52
Fig 4.30 3-phase voltages of inverter with hall sensor input of phase 52
Fig 4.31 Oscillator output and reference voltage 53
Chapter 1

Introduction
1.1 General

The first demonstration of Electric vehicles was made in 1830s and

commercial electric vehicles were available by the end of the 19th century. However,
the major limitation of Electric vehicle is the range. Another drawback is non
availability of technically superior energy sources those can drive the vehicles. This
obviously, led to the development and wide usage of ICE vehicles and by the year of
1930s EVs almost taken over by ICE vehicles. Interestingly, the EVs never run
out of contention, this is because of advantage of Electric Motor that drives the
Electric vehicle. The response of the motor is far superior to that of an IC engine.
Moreover, a motor can be precisely controlled by modern techniques. With the advent
of power electronic devices and high performance electronic controllers, the overall
control of EV can be made very safe and reliable.

The consciousness to keep environment free of pollution is also on the rise.

Concerns over urban air quality along with the recent strict-legislation on
environmental pollution have therefore generated an interest in the development of
electric vehicles (EVs) for urban transportation. This is further boosted up with the
increasing cost of gasoline. Almost all automobile giants have started a unit to
investigate electric and hybrid vehicles. Therefore, it has also been felt that a parallel
push towards developing automotive electronics essential. Automotive electronics
covers many aspects including Batteries, Fuel Cells, DC/DC Converters, Inverters,
and Motor-Control etc.

Environmental pollution and increase in oil prices have recently rekindled the
commercial prospect of EVs. Almost all major industries (e.g. GM, Toyota, Honda,
BMW, Ford, Nissan, TATA Motors, and Maruti etc.) have developed different

1
 models. Most of the motors are used together with several state-of-the-art power
converters. However, there is no standardization attempted. This is because of the
available depth and width of technology in power electronics is huge and optimization
of the same for EV applications is not easy. Moreover, developments of Energy
Storage Systems have direct impact on the development on EVs. Once low cost and
high performance Fuel cells and Super Capacitors are available, the history of
automotive industries may repeat itself, EVs regaining its lost glory.

There are a lot of technical problems for EV batteries at present. These are (i)
life cycle of battery, (ii) Enhancement of energy density and performance, (iii)
convenience of charging, need to be greatly improved. Battery life is one of major
factors that is presently limiting the realization of economically viable EV. Several
circuits those are currently being used for charging the batteries end up reducing
battery life. Many of these charging circuits are suitable for only particular voltage and
ampere-hour rating. They do not consider the critical issues like use of different
charging profile based on state of charge of battery.

1.2 Electric Vehicles vs. IC Engine driven Vehicles

IC engines lose 42% of their energy to exhaust and 28% of their energy to the
cooling system. Therefore the true explanation for the poor performance of the engine
would seem to lie in inefficient use of energy and loss of energy through heat transfer.
The loss incurred through inefficient use of energy is easily understood, compressed
fuel and air is ignited and is then used to propel the piston down the cylinder with
explosive force for a distance of just a few inches after which all further energy
developed by the fuel is lost and in fact becomes a liability since the piston has to
reverse direction, a process which is inhibited by the pressure of trapped gases on the
piston head. The reason that energy loss to heat transfer has been tolerated. Not only
the above mentioned losses, there are power transmission losses which are around
10%. This loss mainly takes place in the differential and to provide cooling to the
differential it will always be immersed in the oil sump (centre of rear wheels). The
efficiency of IC engine is very low compared to the electric motor drives the

2
efficiency will not be less than 70 percent for electric motor based vehicle. All these
lead to new development of Electric Vehicles.

The losses of converting source fuels into electrical energy (conversion losses) and
delivering the energy to a local electrical outlet are far greater than the losses of
extracting, refining, and delivering petroleum motor fuel. However, petroleum fuel
chain efficiency does not include conversion losses, as does the electrical energy
chain. Conversion of liquid motor fuel into useable power takes place in the vehicle
and is therefore considered a component of conventional vehicle energy efficiency.
Specifically, about 83% of the energy contained in the

Fig 1.1 Losses in IC engine driven vehicle

crude oil arrives at the service station as gasoline, where as only 20% to 27% of the
primary energy used to generate electricity (depending on the source fuel conversion
efficiency) arrives at the electrical outlet ready to charge EV batteries. When the entire
energy chain is considered, studies generally conclude that battery-electric cars are
roughly 10-30% more energy efficient than conventional gasoline cars, depending on
the particular assumptions of vehicle energy use and energy chain efficiency.

3
1.3 Motivation of the thesis:

The motivation of the thesis is to investigate on the development of an electric 3-

wheeler. A detail study has been presented on the mechanical design of the Electric
Vehicle. A prototype is also developed. The Electric Vehicle is to be driven by 2
Brushless DC motors at the rear wheels. A complete development of the controller for
the BLDC motor is presented. MATLAB/Simulink based simulation is discussed. The
motor control with designed controller on the laboratory prototype is also reported.

4
Chapter 2
Drives for Electric Ve
Vehicles
2.1 Introduction
Owing to environmental problems, increase in oil prices and the research and
developments in drives and power electronics technology have improved the
commercial prospects for the development of electric vehicles. Almost all the leading
automobile manufacturers developed their own model for EVs. This chapter broadly
describes the motors suitable for EV application and the factors effecting those
influence the selection of motor rating.

2.2 Propulsion Motor Types

In order to select the most appropriate type of motor for electric vehicle, all available
motor types were researched. The three most common motor choices for electric
vehicles are series wound type DC motor due to their high stall torque and simplicity,
squirrel cage type AC motors for durability and Brushless DC motor which is one of
the most efficient motor types in the required power range partly due to the reduced
friction from sensor induced commutation and which has excellent torque speed
characteristics for electric vehicle application.

2.2.1 DC Motors:
Direct current (DC) motors run on the constant voltage supplied by a battery pack,
thus avoiding the inefficiencies of inverting power required for AC motors. They are
very easy to control as the commutation is mechanically induced through carbon
brushes contacting the rotor. However, the friction of the brushes dragging against the
commutator limits their potential efficiency. The carbon brushes wear down over time
and if the motor is not ventilated properly, the dust can accumulate and create arc
paths. When a series wound DC motor is run in no load conditions it can accelerate to
dangerously high speeds and self-destruct. On the plus side, series wound DC motors

5
have very good torque and acceleration properties, making them a popular choice for
electric drag racing. For this particular vehicle, however, the low efficiency and safety
concerns make this motor type unacceptable.

2.2.2 Induction motors:

Induction motors are widely accepted commutator less type for EV propulsion
because of their low cost, high reliability and free from maintenance. These are work
horses in most industries. Induction motors may be two or four pole to keep iron
losses down with high-speed operation up to 12000 rpm. The inverter chopping rate
also limits maximum frequency. A two-pole motor requires a high length/diameter
ratio and is generally used with single motor drives. Four-pole machines are used
when two back-to-back motors drive separate wheels to eliminate the need for
differential Squirrel cage AC motors are very durable, and if properly controlled, can
be more efficient than DC motors despite inverter losses. Variable speed control
involves real time motion control to vary the phase angle of the voltage in the stator.
Regenerative braking is possible with AC motors, depending on the motor controller.
It is accomplished by maintaining a lower voltage in the armature than in the field,
thus effectively turning the motor into a generator but for these the preference is less
as compared to DC motors for EV because of the less starting torque in Squirrel cage
induction motors.

However conventional control of induction motors such as variable voltage variable

frequency (VVVF) cannot provide desired performance. One major reason is due to
the non linearity of their dynamic model. With the advent of micro computer era, the
principle of field oriented control (FOC) of induction motors has been accepted to
overcome their control complexity due to non linearity. Notice that FOC is also known
as vector control or decoupling control

2.2.3 Brushless DC (BLDC) Motors:

Brushless dc motor is one kind of permanent magnet synchronous motor,
having permanent magnets on the rotor and trapezoidal shape back EMF. The BLDC

6
motor employs a dc power supply switched to the stator phase windings of the motor
by power devices, the switching sequence being determined from the rotor position.
The phase current of BLDC motor, in typically rectangular shape, is synchronized
with the back EMF to produce constant torque at a constant speed. The mechanical
commutator of the brush dc motor is replaced by electronic switches, which supply
current to the motor windings as a function of the rotor position. This kind of ac motor
is called brushless dc motor, since its performance is similar to the traditional dc motor
with commutators.

This motor is one of the most efficient motor types in the required power range
partly due to the reduced friction from sensor induced commutation. The recent
improvement in magnetic materials with higher energy density (e.g. 35Jcm-3) and
coercitivity have become available (e.g. neodymium-iron-boron magnets) with
reasonable cost. This has opened up new possibilities for a large scale application of
permanent magnet synchronous machines with high torque density low loss/torque,
high power factor, fast torque and speed response.

However the high price, operating temperature limitations and danger of

demagnetization of these permanent magnets can be restrictive for many applications.
It would appear that the limitations imposed by the high cost might be overcome in the
near future. Since there are some countries where there is a large reservoir of these
magnets and their cost may be reduced.

In wheel BLDC motor is also a motor that will be directly placed in the wheels
of EV. Good research work is being done over these motors by Toyota, GM etc for the
EV applications. This is a direct wheel drive, which eliminates gears and differential
and improves the efficiency which is the most needed feature for efficient battery
management.

A typical BLDC motor control system with position sensors is shown in

Fig.2.1. Typically, a Brushless dc motor is driven by a three-phase inverter with, what
is called, six-step commutation. The conducting interval for each phase is 120 by
electrical angle. The commutation phase sequence is like AB'-AC'-BC'-BA'-CA'-CB'.

7
Each conducting stage is called one step. Therefore, only two phases conduct current
at any time, leaving the third phase floating. It requires rotor position sensors for
starting and for providing the proper commutation sequence to control the inverter.
These position sensors can be Hall sensors, or absolute position sensors

The BLDC motor is driven by rectangular voltage strokes coupled with the
given rotor position. The generated stator flux interacts with the rotor flux, which is
generated by a rotor magnet, defines the torque and thus speeds of the motor. The
voltage strokes must be properly applied to the two phases of the three-phase winding
system so that the angle between the stator flux and the rotor flux is kept close to 90
to get the maximum generated torque. In order to produce maximum torque, the
inverter should be commutated every 60 so that current is in phase with the back EMF.
The commutation timing is determined by the rotor position, which can be detected by
Hall sensors or estimated from motor parameters, i.e., the back EMF on the floating
coil of the motor if it is sensor less system. In brushless dc motor, only two out of
three phases are excited at one time, leaving the third winding floating. The back EMF
voltage in the floating winding can be measured to establish a switching sequence for
commutation of power devices in the three-phase inverter.

Fig 2.1 3-phase Brushless DC motor with supply fed from inverter

8
 Advantages of PM Motors:

1. Since the magnetic field is excited by high-energy PMs, the

overall weight and volume can be significantly reduced for a
given output power, leading to higher power density.
2. Because of the absence of rotor copper losses, their
efficiency is inherently higher than that of induction motors.
3. Since the heat mainly arises in the stator, it can be more
efficiently dissipated to surroundings.
4. Since PM excitation suffers from no risk of manufacturing
defects overheating or mechanical damage, their reliability is
inherently higher.
5. Because of lower electromechanical time constant of the
rotor, the rotor acceleration at a given input power can be
increased.

2.3 Factors influencing the selection of motor

Selection of motor is very important in designing of Electric vehicle, which
decides the ratings of the motor (Power, starting Torque, Current ratings). The power
required to drive the wheels dictates the type of motor, and the machine size. It not
only gives motor selection parameters, which also gives the information about the type
of batteries with their specifications and type of motor controller used for speed
controlling of the machine. The force propelling the vehicle (forward or reverse),i.e
the tractive effort has to accomplish the following:

1. Overcome the aerodynamic drag

2. Overcome the rolling resistance
3. Accelerate the vehicle, if the velocity is not constant
4. Hill climbing force, to provide the force needed to overcome the component of
the vehicles acting down the slope.
Now, the force or power where the vehicle requires overcoming the above forces shall
be the continuous power rating of the electrical motor used in Electric Vehicle.

9
 Fig 2.2: Forces acting on a vehicle moving along a slope

Aerodynamic drag: This part of the force is due to the friction of the vehicle body
moving through the air. It is a function of the frontal area, shape, protrusions such as
side mirrors, ducts and air passages, spoilers, and many other factors. The formula for
this component is:

Fad = ACdV2

It is well known that the more aerodynamic is a vehicle; the lower is its energy
consumption.

Bearing in mind the high cost of onboard electric energy, the aerodynamics of electric
vehicles is particularly important, especially at high speeds.

The power Padw (Watts) at the vehicle wheels required to overcome this air resistance
is:

Padw = Fadw V = ACdV3

10
Where is density of air (kg.m3), A is the frontal area (m2), v is the velocity (m.s1)
and Cd is the drag coefficient, which is dimensionless.

The drag coefficient Cd can be reduced by good vehicle design. A typical value
for a

saloon car is 0.3, but some electric vehicle designs have achieved values as low as
0.19. There is greater opportunity for reducing Cd in electric vehicle design because
there is more flexibility in the location of the major components, and there is less need
for cooling air ducting and under-vehicle pipe work. However, some vehicles, such as
motorcycles and buses will inevitably have much larger values, and Cd figures of
around 0.7 are more typical in such cases.

The density of air does of course vary with temperature, altitude and humidity.
However a value of 1.25 kg.m3 is a reasonable value to use in most cases. Provided
that SI units are used (m2 for A, m.s1 for V) then the value of Fad will be given in
Newtons.

Fig 2.3: Power requirement to overcome aerodynamic drag for vehicle of different
frontal areas and drag coefficients for a range of speeds up to 160 kph

11
Fig 2.4: shows the effect of drag coefficient and speed on battery mass. The vehicles
all have a frontal area of 1.5m2, and the range is 100 km. The mass is only for the
energy required to store the energy to overcome aerodynamic drag; the actual battery
mass would need to be higher.

Rolling resistance force: The rolling resistance is primarily due to the friction of the
vehicle tyre on the road. Friction in bearings and the gearing system also play their
part. The rolling resistance is approximately constant, and hardly depends on vehicle
speed. It is proportional to vehicle weight. The equation is:

Frr = rrmg

Where, rr is the coefficient of rolling resistance.

The main factors controlling rr are the type of tyre and the tyre pressure. Any cyclist
will know this very well; the free-wheeling performance of a bicycle becomes much
better if the tyres are pumped up to a high pressure, though the ride may be less
comfortable.

12
The rolling drag is independent of speed. Power needed to overcome rolling is given
by:

Prr = Frr V = rrmgV

The value of rr varies from 0.015 for a radial ply tyre down to 0.005 for tyres
specially developed for electric vehicles. A reduction of rolling resistance to one-third
is a substantial benefit, particularly for low speed vehicles such as buggies for the
disabled. For low speed vehicles of this type the air resistance is negligible and a
reduction of drag to one-third will either triple the vehicle range or cut the battery
mass and cost by one-third, a substantial saving both in terms of cost and weight.

The value of rr can reasonably readily be found by pulling a vehicle at a

steady very low speed, and measuring the force required. Typical values of rr are
0.015 for a radial ply tyre, down to about 0.005 for tyres developed especially for
electric vehicles.

Fig 2.5: Power requirement to overcome rolling resistance and aerodynamic drag at
different speeds. This is for a fairly ordinary small car, with Cd = 0.3, frontal area
1.5m2, mass = 1000 kg, and rr = 0.015

13
 Power requirements/speed for an electric vehicle traveling on the flat, with
typical drag (Cd = 0.3) and fairly standard tyres ( rr = 0.015), with a mass of 1000 kg
and a frontal area of 1.5m2 is shown in Figure 2.2. The graph, derived from the above
equations, shows how much power is required to overcome rolling resistance and
aerodynamic drag.

It can be seen clearly in Figure 3.4 that at low speeds, e.g. under 50 kph,
aerodynamics have very little influence, whereas at high speeds they are the major
influence on power requirements.

It may be concluded that streamlining is not very important at relatively low speeds,
more important at medium speeds and very important at high speeds. So, for example,
on a golf cart the aerodynamics are unimportant, whereas for a saloon car intended for
motorway driving the aerodynamics are extremely important. (The rolling resistance
of a golf buggy wheel on turf will of course be considerably higher than can be
expected on hard road surfaces.)

A graph of the total power requirement for two vans is shown in Figure 2.6,
where a power/velocity curve for each vehicle is plotted. Both vans have a mass of
1000 kg, frontal area of 2m2 and a Cd of 0.5. However one has ordinary tyres with a
rr of 0.015, whereas the other has low rolling resistance tyres for which rr of 0.005.

It can be concluded that for all electric vehicles a low rolling resistance is
desirable and that the choice of tyres is therefore extremely important. A low
coefficient of aerodynamic drag is very important for high speed vehicles, but is less
important for town/city delivery vehicles and commuter vehicles. On very low speed
vehicles such as electric bicycles, golf buggies and buggies for the disabled,
aerodynamic drag has very little influence, whereas rolling resistance certainly does.

14
Fig 2.6 Power requirements for aerodynamic drag and rolling resistance at a range of
speeds. This is for two vans, both of mass 1000 kg, frontal area 2m2, and Cd = 0.5.
However, one has low resistance tyres with rr = 0.005, whereas the other has
ordinary tyres for which rr = 0.015

Hill climbing force: The force needed to drive the vehicle up a slope is the straightest
forward to find. It is simply the component of the vehicle weight that acts along the
slope. By simple resolution of forces we see that:

Fhc = mg sin ()

The power Phc in Watts for a vehicle climbing a slope at a velocity V ms1 is given by:

Phc = Fhc V = mgV sin

15
Fig 2.7: Total power requirements for two different vehicles moving at 80 kph up a
hill of slope angle zero to 10. In both cases the vehicle has good tyres with rr =
0.005, low drag as Cd = 0.19, and a frontal area of 1.8m2. One car weighs 800 kg, the
other 1500 kg

From the above Figure 2.7 the total power needed to travel at a constant 80 kph
up slopes of varying angles up to 10o for vehicles of two different weights, but
otherwise similar. They both have a drag coefficient of 0.19, and tyres with coefficient
of rolling resistance of 0.005, and the frontal area is 1.8m2. We can see that the 1500
kg car, which is approximately the weight of the real EV1 (GM), has to provide
approximately 12 times as much power at 10 than is needed on the flat. With the 800
kg vehicle the power needed increases greatly, but only by about 8 times.

Acceleration force: If the velocity of the vehicle is changing, then clearly a force will
need to be applied in addition to the forces shown in Figure 2.2. This force will
provide the linear acceleration of the vehicle, and is given by the well-known
equation derived from Newtons second law,

Fa = ma

16
However, for a more accurate picture of the force needed to accelerate the vehicle we
should also consider the force needed to make the rotating parts turn faster. In other
words, we need to consider rotational acceleration as well as linear acceleration. The
main issue here is the electric motor, not necessarily because of its particularly high
moment of inertia, but because of its higher angular speeds.

Total tractive effort: The total tractive effort is the sum of all these forces:

Fte = Frr + Fad + Fhc + Fa

Where:

Frr is the rolling resistance force, given by equation

Fad is the aerodynamic drag, given by equation

Fhc is the hill climbing force, given by equation

Fa is the force required to give linear acceleration given by equation

Fte = rrmg + 0.625ACdV2 + ma+ mg sin ()

The starting point in these calculations is to find the tractive effort, which is calculated
from above equation. The power is equal to the tractive effort multiplied by the
velocity. Using the various efficiencies in the energy flow diagram, the energy
required to move the vehicle for one second is calculated.

The energy required to move the vehicle for one second is the same as the power, so:

Energy required each second = Pte = Fte V

17
 To find the energy taken from the battery to provide this energy at the road, we
clearly need to be able to find the various efficiencies at all operating points.

2.4 Conclusion:

This chapter dealt with the different types of motors and its performance those
are used to drive the electric vehicles, and also about the factors which will influence
the selection of motor for an electric vehicle development. The following chapter deals
with the battery technology and its charging methods.

18
Chapter 3
Batteries
3.1 Introduction:

The main reason of the unpopularity of Electric Vehicle is the non-availability

of a cheap energy source that can drive the vehicle over a long distance and may be
refueled very quickly for further run. Among the prospective alternatives, the
batteries, fuel cells, ultra capacitors are important. Extensive research is going on to
develop fuel cells and batteries with high specific energy and specific power. Different
types of batteries e.g. lead acid, NiCad, Li-ion, and NiMH etc are available today with
different rating and parameters. This chapter deals with the Lead Acid battery which
we are using for our vehicle and their charging methods.

3.2 Lead Acid Battery:

The best known and most widely used battery for electric vehicles is the lead
acid battery. Lead acid batteries are widely used in IC engine vehicles and as such are
well known. However for electric vehicles, more robust lead acid batteries that
withstand deep cycling and use a gel rather than a liquid electrolyte are used. Because
of their cost and reliability, lead acid batteries are still considered to be the dominant
storage battery in the near to medium term especially in the EV industry where battery
technology is undergoing considerable development.

The lead acid battery is the most commonly used rechargeable battery in anything but
the smallest of systems. The main reasons for this are that the main constituents (lead,
sulphuric acid, a plastic container) are not expensive, that it performs reliably, and that
it has a comparatively high voltage of about 2V per cell.

One of the most notable features of the lead acid battery is its extremely low
internal resistance. This means that the fall in voltage as current is drawn is
remarkably small, probably smaller than for any of the candidate vehicle batteries.

19
 The capacity of a cell is approximately proportional to the area of the plates,
and the internal resistance is approximately inversely proportional to the plate area.
The result is that the internal resistance is, to a good approximation, inversely
proportional to the capacity.

A good estimate of the internal resistance of a lead acid battery is:

R = No. of cells 0.022/ C10 Ohms

The number of cells is the nominal battery voltage divided by 2.0, six in the case of a
12V battery. C10 is the Amp hour capacity at the 10 hour rate.

Battery charging:

Charging a lead acid battery is a complex procedure and, as with any battery, if
carried out incorrectly it will quickly ruin the battery and decrease its life. As we have
seen, the charging must not be carried out at too high a voltage, or water loss results.

There are differing views on the best way of charging lead acid batteries and it
is essential that, once a battery is chosen, the manufacturers advice is sought.

The most commonly used technique for lead acid batteries is called multiple
step charging. In this method the battery is charged until the cell voltage is raised to a
predetermined level. The current is then switched off and the cell voltage is allowed to
decay to another predetermined level and the current is then switched on again. A
problem is that the predetermined voltages vary depending on the battery type, but
also on the temperature.

An important point that applies to all battery types relates to the process of
charge equalization that must be done in all batteries at regular intervals if serious
damage is not to result. It is especially important for lead acid batteries.

3.3 Charging Methods:

There is no clear consensus of opinion on the best charging method. Various

battery charging methods are available. These include

20
 1. Constant voltage charging method
2. Constant current charging method
3. Controlled current-voltage charging method
4. Pulse charging method and
1. Constant Voltage Charging:

A constant voltage charger is basically a DC power supply which in its

simplest form may consist of a step down transformer from the mains with a rectifier
to provide the DC voltage to charge the battery. The voltage is generally kept at 13.6-
13.8V for 12v batteries. As the amount of electricity passed increases, the emf of the
cell also increases and the charging current reduced. During the initial stage of
charging high currents may flow. This high current can overdrive the chemical
reactions with regard to this supporting ion concentration available at the electrodes.
This results in the generation of heat, along with poor electrode crystalline
information. This method restores the large fraction of the discharged capacity
quickly, but then requires quite long time to bring the battery full charge.

Fig 3.1 Charging voltage, charged volume and charging current during constant
voltage charging method

21
2. Constant Current Charging:

Constant current chargers vary the voltage they apply to the battery to maintain
a constant current flow, switching off when the voltage reaches the level of a full
charge. This design is usually used for nickel-cadmium and nickel-metal hydride cells
or batteries.

These chargers will provide a very low, constant current rate to the battery and
rely on user intervention to stop the charge when the battery has returned to full
capacity. These slow, overnight chargers are generally designed to fully charge a
battery in approximately 10 hours. The next step up in technology is to increase the
constant charging current to achieve faster charge times. The increased charge current
requires the addition of rudimentary charge control circuitry, which will determine
when the battery is fully charged and terminate charging. The advantage of this
method is that an equivalent charge is achieved in only two to three hours. However,
this approach also ignores the electrochemical process within the battery, resulting in
significant long-term negative effects. The high constant current will cause significant
deviation in ion concentrations between electrodes.

Fig 3.2 Charging current and voltage profiles during constant current chargin

22
 3. Controlled Current-Voltage Charging (two-step charging):

A deviation on the constant current charge approach is the constant

current/constant voltage charge profile. Under this arrangement, a constant current is
applies until battery voltage rises to a predetermined value, at which point the
charging voltage is held constant and the current is reduced. The charging stops, when
the current reaches a minimum value. This approach drops current in the final phase of
charging when less electrode surface is available to react and the overall concentration
of ions may be lower. This approach suffers from all the same problems too a slightly
lesser degree as the constant charge regime. The direct result of these lower-cost,
simply designed conventional battery chargers are a potential reduction of battery
capacity and a shorter life span.

Fig 3.3 Falling of current and voltage rising modes during two step charging

4. Pulse Charging: This method increases the efficiency of the charging process
by addressing the chemical processes occurring in the battery. As in the
constant current charge method, ions are generated at one electrode. If the
constant is applied for a significant period of time, an ion concentration
gradient builds up due to mass transport limitations within the battery.

23
This leads to poor charge efficiency which results in heat generation, poorer battery
capacity and shorter life span. Pulsed chargers feed the charge current to the battery in
pulses. The charging rate (based on the average current) can be precisely controlled by
varying the width of the pulses, typically about one second. During the charging
process, short rest periods of 20 to 30 milliseconds, between pulses allow the chemical
actions in the battery to stabilize by equalizing the reaction throughout the bulk of the
electrode before recommencing the charge. This enables the chemical reaction to keep
pace with the rate of inputting the electrical energy. It is also claimed that this method
can reduce unwanted chemical reactions at the electrode surface such as gas
formation, crystal growth and passivation.

Fig 3.4 Current Pulses and rest period during pulse charging method

3.4 Conclusion:

This chapter deals with the batteries used for electric vehicle and their charging
techniques such as constant voltage, constant current, controlled voltage/current and
pulse charging methods are discussed. The next chapter deals with the different stages
in development of electric vehicle, like the electronic differential design, hardware
implementation of controller and mechanical modeling of electric vehicle chassis.

24
Chapter 4

Electric
Electric Vehicle Development
Development
4.1 Introduction:

This chapter describes the design of a Brushless DC Motor (built in motor

wheel) controller, designing of twin Brushless DC motors driven Electric three-
wheeler (selection of motor, battery rating etc.) and its mechanical modeling. And it is
very important to know the maximum power and torque requirement for the vehicle to
run at a specified speed. The first stage of this chapter provides some mathematical
calculation of power and torque requirement of the vehicle, which decides the motor,
battery and controller ratings. In Second stage, the electronic differential model is
designed and simulated, followed by hardware implementation of the BLDC controller
and experimental results.

4.2 Selection of Electric motor ratings:

The power rating of the motor which we require to drive the vehicle with a
maximum speed of 30kmph is calculated below.

Chassis and body weight without motor and battery: 60 kgs

Approximated weight of the battery weight: 40 kgs

The total mass of the vehicle is: 100 kgs (approximately).

Weight of the persons: 150 kgs (approximately)

Now the forces which are experienced while driving the vehicle are

1. Aerodynamic drag:
Fad = ACdV2

Power required to overcome this force is: Padw = Fadw V = ACdV3 (watts)

25
 is air density (kg.m3), A is the frontal area (m2), v is the velocity (m.s1) and
Cd is the drag coefficient, which is dimensionless.

Typical value of air density is: 1.25 kg/m3

Typical value for the drag coefficient is: 0.19 to 0.3

Maximum speed of the vehicle is: 30kmph (8.34 mps)

Frontal area of the vehicle (0.8m width, 1.0m height): 0.8m2

Power required to overcome this force is: 87 Watts.

2. Rolling resistance force:

Frr = rrmg

Prr = Frr V = rrmgV

rr is road friction coefficient varies from 0.015 to 0.005

Power required to overcome this force is: 210watts

3. Acceleration force:
Fa = ma

Let us assume the acceleration of the vehicle is: 0.5 m/s2

Then the power required for this acceleration is: 1037Watts (initial
requirement)

4. Hill climbing force:

Fhc = mg sin

Phc = Fhc V = mgV sin

Power required: 756Watts

The total tractive effort which is required for initial starting the vehicle to
climb the inclination is: 2068Watts, but this is impossible to go with a maximum

26
speed during starting of the vehicle, the speed varies time to time and not possible to
estimate the exact values.

So it is better to consider the aerodynamic and rolling resistance forces only.

The initial torque required: power * wheel radius (0.2m)

Required torque: 60Nm

Therefore the continuous power required to drive the vehicle is: 300Watts (48 Volts)

Due to advances and improvement in quality of magnetic material, existing DC

motors are replaced by BLDC Motors to avoid brush maintenance, to reduce the
weight, wear & tear of the machine.

A BLDC Motor (Inbuilt motor) mainly used for Electric Vehicle purpose is
having extremely good Torque-Speed characteristics compared to all other electric
motors. From above calculation the total power and torque required to drive the
vehicle is 600watts, but here as we are using the two motors the rating of each motor
is half f the total power required to drive the vehicle. Usually the BLDC motors which
are used for EVs having 3 phase armature winding on stator, mounted on the axle.
Permanent magnet (AlNiCo) strips are mounted on the rotor frame to form the number
of required poles.

4.3 Calculation of Battery Rating:

To maintain the standard voltage for light vehicles 48V lead acid battery
system is selected.

The continuous power required by the vehicle: 400watts

Now the continuous current required is: 8A

For traveling 80-90km distance required Ampere hour rating is: 30Ah

Required battery ratings: Voltage: 12 V (sealed lead acid)

Amp hour: 30 Ah

27
 No of Modules: 4

Maximum discharge current: up to 13Ampere

4.4 Mechanical design of prototype:

By considering the different factors like space, weight, length, width of

the vehicle which is the main factors which influence the design of any vehicle the
prototype is designed as per the data taken for calculation of motor rating and battery
rating. This prototype is a simple three-wheeler for which the rear wheels are two
Brushless DC motors and the front wheel is freely rotating wheel. The prototype of the
vehicle is designed such a way that it has to maintain the centre gravity of the vehicle.

The following measurements are which we taken for the design of prototype:

Fig 4.1 Designed model of the prototype

28
 Fig 4.2 Proposed control system for two motors

4.5 Electronic Differential

Traction drives used in electric vehicles can he divided into two categories, (i)
single drive systems, and (ii) multi drive systems. With multi-drive systems the motor
controllers must additionally be configured to provide an electronic differential effect
i.e. they must also perform a similar function as their mechanical differential
counterpart. Thus the electronic differential must take account of the speed difference
between the two wheels when cornering.

4.5.1 Proposed Electronic Differential Model:

The usual configuration of electrical and non-electrical vehicle present only

one traction motor driving two wheels using mechanical differential gears. In this
work, a structure of vehicle was adopted to obtain a vehicle with two independent
wheel drives. This configuration with two motors in the vehicle may present some

29
advantages such as increasing the vehicle power with a better weight distribution,
stability control and no power loss in electronic differential system. In this section
presented the algorithm developed for an electronic differential, it is described its
implementation and latter several simulation results that demonstrate the algorithm
developed are presented.

4.5.2 Electronic differential algorithm:

The electronic differential algorithm is based on the prediction of the speed

difference between the driving wheels when the EV is moving. In order to predict the
speed difference a simple model for the dynamic behavior of the vehicle was
developed and is presented next. The vehicle has three wheels and is rear wheels are
two BLDC propelled. The curvature radius for each wheel can be defined as:

 

, and
  


where d represent half the distance between the two rear wheels and R the curvature
radius for the middle point of the rear axis. Using simple trigonometric relationships,
R and R can be expressed as:

Fig 4.3: Vehicle dynamics model

30

 sin  and
  tan

Where L is the vehicle length and  is the curvature angle. The centre of rear axis is
turning at an angular speed and the velocity and angular velocity of each wheel can
be defined as

   

   
 
  
 

    
 
     
  
   
 

where r is wheel radius. From the difference between the angular speeds of the two

 
rear wheels we obtain:

      2


To determine the rear angular velocity , the speed from the two rear wheels is
used because it isalso used in the motor controllers.

      

   
2 2

Fig 4.4: Electronic differential control technique

31
 $     ,
  "%  2
& "
    )

 # 'tan(+
" "
! *

Substituting in above equations we will get;

  tan   



The electronic differential uses the above equation to determine the reference *
based on its actual speed and steering angle .The measured is then compared with
the reference value and an error signal generated. This value is added and subtracted to
the vehicle speed reference (*) generating the two speed references for each driving
wheel.

Fig 4.5: Proposed Electronic differential controller Block diagram

The above diagram shows the proposed electronic differential control

model for twin Brushless DC motors for our three wheeler. Here for electronic

32
differential part the inputs are the steering angle and main speed reference (i.e
accelerator, for this we are using a pedal which is just like a potentiometer to get the
desired speed reference). This pedal will give the speed proportional voltage and this
will be added with the corresponding voltages which will get from the steering angle
and now the individual motors speed proportional feedback voltages are subtracted
from this obtained reference to get the require error which will be compensated and
given to the controller to get the required gate pulses for each inverter by which will
obtain the desired speed of individual motors for the particular angle and speed
reference(i.e from pedal).

But if we take the general case of the any vehicle with this control
technique the motors speed should follow both with angle and speed reference. It
means for example when the vehicle is moving in straight direction the speeds of two
motors should be same and when the vehicle is taking the left direction then the speed
of the motor which is on left side should be less than the speed of motor which on
right side and vice versa if it takes right direction. This required speed of two motors
in each instant is achieved by this Electronic differential as explained below.

1. Now take the case when the vehicle is moving in straight, at this condition
the speeds of the two motors will be same because the amount of speed variation due
to the angle is zero as the steering angle with respect to the central axis of the vehicle
is zero. Therefore, speed contribution from steering angle is zero then the reference
speed for two motors will be same but the error will be the difference of the speed
reference and the feedback speed of individual motor will acquire its own error, from
the two errors one will be more and other is less but the final speeds obtained for each
motor will be same.
2. For the second case when the vehicle taking left direction, by our
common knowledge we know that the radius of curvature of the outer wheel (in this
case right wheel) is more than the inner wheel (left wheel). Therefore, the speed of the
right wheel should be more than the left wheel such that the vehicle turns smoothly
toward left direction. From the figure we shown that the speed contribution from
steering angle block is added to and subtracted from speed reference for the left and

33
right wheels respectively. Also from the figure we observe that as the vehicle moves
towards left then the speed contribution by the angle is negative magnitude it means
the magnitude is added for right wheel and subtracted for left wheel from reference
speed. Therefore the error output of the summer is such that to decrease the speed of
left wheel and increase the speed of right wheel.
3. For the third case when the vehicle taking right direction, we know that
the radius of curvature of the outer wheel (in this case left wheel) is more than the
inner wheel (right wheel). From the figure we observe that as the vehicle moves
towards right then the speed contribution by the angle is positive magnitude it means
the magnitude is subtracted from and added to reference speed for right wheel and left
wheel respectively.

This electronic differential is lossless, increase the stability of the vehicle and decrease
the power required to drive the vehicle.

Fig4.6: Electronic differential circuit

Above Electronic differential model is designed in MATLAB/simulink then simulated

with two motors and successfully tested for different steering angles and reference

34
speeds, then it is analyzed that both motors are following the two inputs reference
speed and steering angle given to electronic differential model.

Fig 4.7: Electronic differential model in MATLAB/simulink

The above figure shows the electronic differential control of two motors which is
simulated using Matlab, this model is verified with different steering angle inputs and
reference speeds. The simulation results shows the speed, torque and current
waveforms of the two motors when the vehicle is moving forward, left and right
directions.

35
4.6 Simulation Results

Here the simulation results of Electronic differential model are presented, these Shows
how the two motors speeds are varying when the vehicle is moving in different
directions (i.e forward, left and right).

Fig 4.8: Speeds (rad/sec) (top), Torque (N.M) (middle) and Currents (A) (bottom) of
Two Motors at different reference speed. These are taken when the vehicle is is
turning at different angles (RED)

36
Fig 4.9: Speed (rad/sec) (top), Torque (N.M) (middle) and Currents (A) (bottom) of
Two Motors at constant reference and torque speed at different steering angles (RED)

Fig 4.10: Speed (rad/sec) (top), and Currents (A) (middle) Torque (N.M) (top) of
Two Motors at constant reference speed and different steering angles (RED)

37
Fig 4.11: Speed (rad/sec) (top), Currents (A) (bottom) of Two Motors at constant
Reference, different steering angles, the red color shows the directions (i.e steering
angle RED) of the vehicle.

38
4.7 Hardware implementation of Brushless DC motor Controller

Brushless DC (BLDC) motors find use in many applications ranging from

printer head motors to Electric Vehicle drives. With the upcoming 48-volt automotive
electrical system, more mechanical loads will be electrically driven. The electric
motors driving these loads may be brushed DC motors or brushless DC motors.
Brushless DC motors will find use in applications that are constantly running. As the
name suggests, Brushless DC motors does not have any brushes, as do their brushed
counter parts. As such, they require additional control circuit to perform motor
commutation sequence. The additional control circuit is the motor controller, as it runs
on 3-phase supply it requires inverter which is a part of the controller.

4.7.1 Proposed Brushless DC motor controller:

The Brushless DC motor is a permanent magnet motor which runs on 3-phase
AC supply and it has three Hall sensors (or position sensors) on stator which will
sense the rotor position when the rotor is moving by detecting the north and south
poles of the rotor when they passes the sensors, therefore these hall sensors play an
important role as feedback for the controller from motor. As the motor runs on AC
supply it requires an inverter, the switches are controlled by the gate pulses from the
controller by PWM technique. The hall sensors output is given to the controller as
feedback from the motor which will decide the energizing of the motor winding in a
particular sequence. A speed reference is given to the controller through a
potentiometer and it is compared with the saw tooth waveform (which is generated
from the oscillator with fixed frequency) to get the corresponding pulses for the
inverter.

To control speed of a BLDC motor, it needs

1. Hall sensors to detect rotor position

2. Rotor position decoder, which generates proper gate signals to the

Inverter to excite the armature winding.

3. High side and Low side gate driver and 3 phase Inverter.

39
 Fig 4.12 Shows the Block diagram BLDC motor controller

This controller will supply power to Brushless DC motor from the three phase Inverter
Which is shown below.

Fig 4.13 Inverter bridge circuit

40
Fig 4.14 Complete Schematic of BLDC controller

41
 Normally the Hall sensors which are used in BLDC motors are North Pole
detection type gives a high pulse signal when it is crosses a North Pole and gives a low
signal when it experiences a South Pole to excite correct sequence of armature 3 phase
winding on the stator side to create an angular Force to rotate the wheel

Fig 4.15 Shows North Pole detect hall sensor signal

A rotor position decoder monitors the three sensor inputs to provide the proper
sequencing of the top and bottom drive outputs. The Sensor Inputs are designed to
interface directly with open collector type Hall Effect switches. Internal pull-up
resistors are included to minimize the required number of external components. With
three Sensor Inputs there are eight possible input code combinations, six of which are
valid rotor positions. The remaining two codes are invalid and are usually caused by
an open or shorted sensor line. With six valid input codes, the decoder can resolve the
motor rotor position to within a window of 60 electrical degrees. A 3 phase BLDC
motor is having 3 hall sensors on its stator and gives appropriate signal to the rotor
position decoder block to generate gate signals for the Inverter. In BLDC motor stator
winding is energized either 60 degrees or 120 degrees electrical rotation of the rotor,
i.e. Hall sensors are placed 60/120 degrees (Electrical) apart from each other.

It means in 60 degree mode of operation hall sensor SB (meant for B phase)

gives a high signal after 60 degree rotation of the rotor from the starting point of hall
sensor SA (meant for A phase) and hall sensor SC (meant for C phase) gives high
signal after 60 degree (Electrical) starting from hall sensor S B as shown below.

42
 Fig 4.16 Hall sensor output signals in 60 degrees operation of BLDC motor.

Where as in case of 120 degrees mode of operation, hall sensor SB gives high
signal after 120 degrees (Electrical) rotation from the starting point of hall sensor SA
and hall sensor SC starts after 120 Electrical degrees rotation of the rotor from starting
point of the hall sensor SB as shown below.

Fig 4.17 Hall sensor output signals in 120 degrees operation of BLDC motor.

The existing rotor position decoders which are used for BLDC motors are
applicable only for a particular position of hall sensors i.e. either 60 or 120 degree of
operation. There is a necessity to know on what basis of operation motor has been
designed and according to that operation we need to choose the controller operation
before using the motor. A new kind of rotor position decoder has been designed to
avoid the above complexity, which is a universal rotor controller works in all mode of
operation irrespective of mode (60\120 degree) of operation.

43
 The below table shows the Top and Bottom side gate drive signals in 120
degrees operation of BLDC motor, when it rotates in a Forward direction.

Hall sensor inputs for direction Top drive output pulses Bottom drive output
120 degree mode of inverter pulses of inverter
SA SB SC F/R AT BT CT AB BB CB
1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1
0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0
0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0
0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0
1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0

The below table shows the Top and Bottom side gate drive signals in 120
degrees operation of BLDC motor, when it rotates in a Reverse direction.

Hall sensor inputs for direction Top drive output pulses Bottom drive output
120 degree mode of inverter pulses of inverter
SA SB SC F/R AT BT CT AB BB CB
1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0
1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0
0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0
0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1
0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1
1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0

The BLDC controller IC mc33033 is used to get the pulses for the inverter, this
controller IC has special features that require for the control of motor. They are the
Forward/Reverse switch is used to change the direction of motor rotation by reversing
the voltage across the stator winding. When the input changes state, from high to low
with a given sensor input code (for example 100), the enabled top and bottom drive
outputs with the same alpha designation are exchanged (AT to AB, BT to BB, CT to
CB).
A high performance, fully compensated Error Amplifier with access to both
inputs and output is provided to facilitate the implementation of closed loop motor
speed control. The frequency of the ramp oscillator is programmed by the values
selected for timing components RT and CT. Capacitor CT is charged from the
44
Reference Output through resistor RT and discharged by an internal discharge
transistor. The use of pulse width modulation provides an energy efficient method of
controlling the motor speed by varying the average voltage applied to each stator
winding during the commutation sequence. As CT discharges, the oscillator sets both
latches, allowing conduction of the Top and Bottom Drive Outputs. The PWM
comparator resets the upper latch, terminating the Bottom Drive Output conduction
when the positive-going ramp of CT becomes greater than the Error Amplifier output.
Pulse width modulation for speed control appears only at the Bottom Drive Outputs.

4.7.2 Current sensing circuit:

Continuous operation of a motor that is severely over-loaded results in overheating
and eventual failure. This destructive condition can best be prevented with the use of
cycle-by-cycle current limiting. That is, each on-cycle is treated as a separate event.
Cycle-by-cycle current limiting is accomplished by monitoring the stator current
build-up each time an output switch conducts, and upon sensing an over current
condition, immediately turning off the switch and holding it off for the remaining
duration of oscillator ramp-up period. The stator current is converted to a voltage by
inserting a ground-referenced sense resistor RS in series with the three bottom
switches (Q4, Q5, Q6). The voltage developed across the sense resistor is monitored
by the current sense input of controller, and compared to the internal 100 mV
reference. If the current sense threshold is exceeded, the comparator resets the lower
latch and terminates output switch conduction. The value for the sense resistor is:
0.1

- 
1-234

Fig 4.18 Current sensing circuit

45
 Fig 4.19 BLDC motor Controller Hardware Circuit Board

Figure shows the motor controller circuit board. A ground plane was placed under the
lower power part of the circuit to reduce noise effects and increase the heat spreading
area. Reducing noise effect is particularly important to avoid false gate triggering.
False gate triggering would lead to cross conduction, which in turn would lead to large
amounts of dissipated power. MOSFET failure may or may not occur depending of the
temperature of the devices, so the thermal protection has taken care.

46
 Fig 4.20 Experimental setup for testing of controller with BLDC motor

Fig 4.21 In-wheel Brushless DC motor Fig 4.22 Foot Pedal, 3 Wire 5K pot

47
 Fig 4.23 Prototype chasses of 3-wheeler

The fig 4.22 shows the foot pedal, it is a 5k ohm potentiometer used as accelerator for
speed variation of the vehicle. The vehicle needs to be test driven for further
improvement of design, and it is to be operated by connecting two in-wheel motors on
rear side. The space is provided for batteries at the middle besides the driver seat. A
simple pedal is used as an accelerator to vary the speed.

48
4.8 Experimental Results

Fig 4.24 Hall Sensor Inputs to the Controller from Motor.

These are the hall sensor outputs of the motor which are given to the controller,
according to this hall sensors it is to be energize the winding of the motor is the
sequence.

Fig 4.25.Gate pulses for Top switches of 3 phase Inverter legs

The frequency of these pulse is same as the hall sensors frequency and it varies with
varying speed of the motor.

49
 Fig 4.26 Gate pulses for Bottom switches of 3 phase Inverter legs
These pulse are will perform the pwm speed control action in the controller as the
width of the pulses increases the speed of the motor is increases.

Fig 4.27 Gate pulses for bottom switch at different pulse width by which speed can
vary by varying potentiometer

50
 Fig 4.28 Current waveform in phase A

Fig 4.29 Back emf (AB, BC, CA) voltages of the motor

51
 Fig 4.30 3-phase voltages of inverter with hall sensor input of phase A

Here we can observe that when hall sensor phase A is at high, the corresponding
voltage (RED) is in positive and when hall sensor is low the voltage is negative.

Fig 4.31 ch3 oscillator output, ch2 reference voltage from potentiometer

52
Here the ref voltage is compared with saw-tooth waveform, at the instant when the ref
voltage is more than saw-tooth the pulse is generated. As the ref voltage is varying
from zero to high the width of the pulse is increasing.

4.9 Conclusions:
This chapter discussed about the simulation modeling of electronic differential
control scheme using Matlab with simulation results and then explained the Hardware
implementation of controller for Brushless DC motor with its experimental results.

53
Chapter 5
Conclusions
Conclusions and Future Scope

5.1 General Conclusion:

Electric Vehicle is a challenging application of electric motor drive. The
foremost requirement of such a drive is safety and reliability. Moreover, high
performance is necessary for more driving comfort. The investigations on power
converters and motor drive have reached such a matured level that almost all existing
motors can be used to drive an EV safely. But these again generated the problem of
standardizing a particular motor or a certain power converter. This thesis worked on
the application of Brushless DC motors with its controller in EV applications and also
on the application of electronic differential control of electric vehicle. The proposed
concept for twin Brushless DC Motor control is somewhat complex but its advantages
and current research has motivated towards its development. The BLDC Motor is
operated like a 3-phase motor, and a controller with rotor position decoder has been
designed for 60/120 degree mode of operations. Results from the controller of BLDC
motor have confirmed good performance of proposed controller.

Practically only one motor is sufficient to drive a vehicle. However, this calls
for the need of a differential that is heavy and lossy. The removal of such element not
only reduces the weight of the vehicle but also generates more mileage per battery
charge, which is very vital for the EV. The thesis has presented the developmental
work as well as some design work of the motor controller. Removal of the differential
requires at least two motors, and these motors are independently controlled by the
individual controller according to the guidance from the electronic differential
controller. This electronic differential is to give the appropriate reference speeds for
two controllers at a time according to the inputs to it (i.e reference speed from pedal
and steering angle). This was the motivation for the development of twin Brushless
motor driven electric vehicle.

54
5.2 Scope of Future work:

While the thesis has successfully completed the design and testing work of
controller, however future work may progress in the following directions:

All components for the differential less Electric Vehicle are designed.
However, the vehicle needs to be operational with hardware design of
electronic differential. This work could not be completed due to lack of
time.

The vehicle needs to test driven for further improvement of design. Miles
per charge needs to be checked and improved.

The mechanical design of the chassis may further be improved.

The BLDC motor used for this study is imported from China. A redesign
may be made and the motor may be built in India.

55
 References
[1] Gair, S.; Cruden, A.; McDonald, J.; Hredzak, B.; Electronic Differential with
Sliding Mode Controller for a Direct Wheel Drive Electric Vehicle Mechatronics,
2004. ICM '04.Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on 3-5 June 2004
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