1 Brushless DC motors (BLDC):

Brushless DC motors (BLDC) have been a much focused area for numerous motor
manufacturers as these motors are increasingly the preferred choice in many applications,
especially in the field of motor control technology. BLDC motors are superior to brushed DC
motors in many ways, such as ability to operate at high speeds, high efficiency, and better heat
dissipation.
They are an indispensable part of modern drive technology, most commonly employed for
actuating drives, machine tools, electric propulsion, robotics, computer peripherals and also for
electrical power generation. With the development of sensor less technology besides digital
control, these motors become so effective in terms of total system cost, size and reliability.

Construction of BLDC Motor:

BLDC motors can be constructed in different physical configurations. Depending on the stator
windings, these can be configured as single-phase, two-phase, or three-phase motors.
However, three-phase BLDC motors with permanent magnet rotor are most commonly used.
The construction of this motor has many similarities of three phase induction motor as well as
conventional DC motor. This motor has stator and rotor parts as like all other motors.

Stator of a BLDC motor made up of stacked steel laminations to carry the windings. These
windings are placed in slots which are axially cut along the inner periphery of the stator. These
windings can be arranged in either star or delta. However, most BLDC motors have three phase
star connected stator.
Each winding is constructed with numerous interconnected coils, where one or more coils are
placed in each slot. In order to form an even number of poles, each of these windings is
distributed over the stator periphery.
The stator must be chosen with the correct rating of the voltage depending on the power
supply capability. For robotics, automotive and small actuating applications, 48 V or less voltage
BLDC motors are preferred. For industrial applications and automation systems, 100 V or higher
rating motors are used.

Working Principle and Operation of BLDC Motor:

BLDC motor works on the principle similar to that of a conventional DC motor, i.e., the Lorentz
force law which states that whenever a current carrying conductor placed in a magnetic field it
experiences a force. As a consequence of reaction force, the magnet will experience an equal
and opposite force. In case BLDC motor, the current carrying conductor is stationary while the
permanent magnet moves.

When the stator coils are electrically switched by a supply source, it becomes electromagnet
and starts producing the uniform field in the air gap. Though the source of supply is DC,
switching makes to generate an AC voltage waveform with trapezoidal shape. Due to the force
of interaction between electromagnet stator and permanent magnet rotor, the rotor continues
to rotate.
Consider the figure below in which motor stator is excited based on different switching states.
With the switching of windings as High and Low signals, corresponding winding energized as
 North and South poles. The permanent magnet rotor with North and South poles align with
stator poles causing motor to rotate.
Observe that motor produces torque because of the development of attraction forces (when
North-South or South-North alignment) and repulsion forces (when North-North or South-
South alignment). By this way motor moves in a clockwise direction.
Here, one might get a question that how we know which stator coil should be energized and
when to do. This is because; the motor continuous rotation depends on the switching sequence
around the coils. As discussed above that Hall sensors give shaft position feedback to the
electronic controller unit.
Based on this signal from sensor, the controller decides particular coils to energize. Hall-effect
sensors generate Low and High level signals whenever rotor poles pass near to it. These signals
determine the position of the shaft.

Advantages of BLDC Motor:

BLDC motor has several advantages over conventional DC motors and some of these are

 It has no mechanical commutator and associated problems

 High efficiency due to the use of permanent magnet rotor
 High speed of operation even in loaded and unloaded conditions due to the absence of
brushes that limits the speed
 Smaller motor geometry and lighter in weight than both brushed type DC and induction AC
motors
 Long life as no inspection and maintenance is required for commutator system
 Higher dynamic response due to low inertia and carrying windings in the stator
 Less electromagnetic interference
 Quite operation (or low noise) due to absence of brushes

Disadvantages of Brushless Motor:

 These motors are costly

 Electronic controller required control this motor is expensive
 Not much availability of many integrated electronic control solutions, especially for tiny
BLDC motors
 Requires complex drive circuitry
 Need of additional sensors
 What is a Servo Motor?

A servo motor is an electrical device which can push or rotate an object with great precision. If
you want to rotate and object at some specific angles or distance, then you use servo motor. It
is just made up of simple motor which run through servo mechanism.

If motor is used is DC powered then it is called DC servo motor, and if it is AC powered motor
then it is called AC servo motor. We can get a very high torque servo motor in a small and light
weight packages. Doe to these features they are being used in many applications like toy car,
RC helicopters and planes, Robotics, Machine etc.

Working principle of Servo Motors:

A servo consists of a Motor (DC or AC), a potentiometer, gear assembly and a controlling circuit.
First of all we use gear assembly to reduce RPM and to increase torque of motor. Say at initial
position of servo motor shaft, the position of the potentiometer knob is such that there is no
electrical signal generated at the output port of the potentiometer. Now an electrical signal is
given to another input terminal of the error detector amplifier.

Now difference between these two signals, one comes from potentiometer and another comes
from other source, will be processed in feedback mechanism and output will be provided in
term of error signal. This error signal acts as the input for motor and motor starts rotating. Now
motor shaft is connected with potentiometer and as motor rotates so the potentiometer and it
will generate a signal. So as the potentiometer’s angular position changes, its output feedback
signal changes. After sometime the position of potentiometer reaches at a position that the
output of potentiometer is same as external signal provided. At this condition, there will be no
output signal from the amplifier to the motor input as there is no difference between external
applied signal and the signal generated at potentiometer, and in this situation motor stops
rotating.

Applications of Servo Motor:

1. It is used in robotic industry of position control.

2. It is used in robotic arms.
3. It is used in press and cutting industry for the cutting and pressing the piece precisely.
4. It is used in conveyer belt for start and stop the conveyer belt at every position.
5. It is used in digital cameras for auto focusing.
6. It is used in solar tracking system for tracking the sun at every precise moment of time.
7. It is used in labeling and packing industry for labels the monogram and packing the things
Advantages of Servo Motor:

 Closed loop control

Higher torque at higher speed
Very efficient - lower motor heating
Better choice for variable load system
 Disadvantages of Servo system-
 More complex control - tuning required
Position feedback required -increase cost
Higher overall system cost

Disadvantages of Servo Motor:

 Since the servomotor tries to rotate according to the command pulses, but lags behind,
it is not suitable for precision control of rotation.
 Higher cost.
 When stopped, the motor’s rotor continues to move back and forth one pulse, so that it
is not suitable if you need to prevent vibration

3 Ac series motor:

Ac series motor or the universal motor is an electric motor which operates in either Ac or Dc
power at the same speed and output. Also Ac series motor is a modified Dc series motor!! What
does this mean; it means that we modify the Dc series motor to be able to work in Ac single
phase supply as:

 We laminate the entire magnetic circuit of the Dc series motor so the eddy current loss
reduces, but this means the construction of the Ac motor will be more expensive.
 We use a few turns series field windings so the reluctance of the field winding reduces;
By the way, the voltage drop across the field windings reduces and the power
factor improved.
 Also, a low reluctance magnetic circuit is used to obtain a high field flux.
 And we use a high resistance lead that connects the coils and the commutator segments
to eliminate the possible sparking produced between the brushes and the commutator
when the motor works on Ac supply.
It’s important to know that the relative efficiency of small universal motors is about 30% and of
the largest motors is about 70_75%.

Applications of universal motor:

Before we search for characteristics and operation of Ac motor it’s important to know where
we use the series motor; Ac motor has a high starting torque, it’s cheap so we can find it in many
industrial and domestic applications as:

 Sewing machines.
 Electric traction.
 Hoists.
 Kitchen applications.
 Hairdryers.
 Table fans.
 Portable drills.
 Food Mixers.
 Locomotives.
 Hand tools.
 Grinding mills.
 Vacuum cleaner.
  And electric shavers.

Working principle of Ac series motor:

Of course, the working principle of the Ac motor doesn’t differ a lot than the Dc motor, but it’s
able to run on both Ac and Dc current, we have a wound armature and field that are
interconnected in series.

When we apply an alternating E.M.F to the terminals, alternating current flows through both the
field and the armature windings; So the field winding produces an alternating flux (this produced
flux is only alternating not rotating) this flux reacts with the armature current to produce torque.

Characteristics of Ac series motor:

There are some characteristics or features of the Ac motor such as:

 It’s self-starting and it has a high starting torque so we don’t require a starting device.
 Has a lightweight besides, it’s compact.
 It’s easy to control it.
 It operates at high speed (1500_15000 r.p.m).
 We can use tapped coils which makes the motor electromechanically or electronically.
 And unfortunately, it’s typically very noise (acoustically and electromagnetically)
because of the commutator. The power factor is about 90% at full load.
AC Advantages:

 Voltage can be stepped up and down.

 Can be transmitted at high voltage.
 Less energy loss in transmission.
 Simple slip ring commutator is used.

AC Disadvantages:

 Back emf opposes supplied emf.

 Emits EMR, so wires need insulation and shielding.
 Frequency must be sent to consumer at 50Hz. This has to be maintained and
monitored.
4 Permanent Magnet DC Motor or PMDC Motor:

In a DC motor, an armature rotates inside a magnetic field. Basic working principle of DC motor
is based on the fact that whenever a current carrying conductor is placed inside a magnetic
field, there will be mechanical force experienced by that conductor.

All kinds of DC motors work in this principle only. Hence for constructing a DC motor it is
essential to establish a magnetic field. The magnetic field is obviously established by means of
magnet. The magnet can by any types i.e. it may be electromagnet or it can be permanent
magnet. When permanent magnet is used to create magnetic field in a DC motor, the motor is
referred as permanent magnet DC motor or PMDC motor. Have you ever uncovered any
battery operated toy, if you did, you had obviously found a battery operated motor inside it.
This battery operated motor is nothing but a permanent magnet DC motor or PMDC motor.
These types of motor are essentially simple in construction. These motors are commonly used
as starter motor in automobiles, windshield wipers, washer, for blowers used in heaters and air
conditioners, to raise and lower windows, it also extensively used in toys.
Construction of Permanent Magnet DC Motor or PMDC Motor:

As it is indicated in name of permanent magnet DC motor, the field poles of this motor are
essentially made of permanent magnet. A PMDC motor mainly consists of two parts. A stator
and an armature. Here the stator which is a steel cylinder. The magnets are mounted in the
inner periphery of this cylinder.
The permanent magnets are mounted in such a way that the N-pole and S-pole of each magnet
are alternatively faced towards armature as shown in the figure below. That means, if N-pole of
one magnet is faced towards armature then S-pole of very next magnet is faced towards
armature. In addition to holding the magnet on its inner periphery, the steel cylindrical stator
also serves as low reluctance return path for the magnetic flux. Although field coil is not
required in permanent magnet DC motor but still it is sometimes found that they are used
along with permanent magnet. This is because if permanent magnets lose their strength, these
lost magnetic strengths can be compensated by field excitation through these field coils.
Generally, rare earth hard magnetic materials are used for these permanent magnet.
 Working Principle of Permanent Magnet DC Motor or PMDC Motor:

As we said earlier the working principle of PMDC motor is just similar to the general working
principle of DC motor. That is when a carrying conductor comes inside a magnetic field, a
mechanical force will be experienced by the conductor and the direction of this force is
governed by Fleming’s left hand rule. As in a permanent magnet DC motor, the armature is
placed inside the magnetic field of permanent magnet; the armature rotates in the direction of
the generated force. Here each conductor of the armature experiences the mechanical force F
= B.I.L Newton where, B is the magnetic

field strength in Tesla (weber / m2), I is the current in Ampere flowing through that conductor
and L is length of the conductor in metre comes under the magnetic field. Each conductor of
the armature experiences a force and the compilation of those forces produces a torque, which
tends to rotate the armature.

Advantages of Permanent Magnet DC Motor or PMDC Motor:

PMDC motor have some advantages over other types of DC motors. They are :

1. No need of field excitation arrangement.

2. No input power in consumed for excitation which improve efficiency of DC motor.
3. No field coil hence space for field coil is saved which reduces the overall size of the
motor.
4. Cheaper and economical for fractional kW rated applications.

Disadvantages of Permanent Magnet DC Motor or PMDC Motor:

1. In this case, the armature reaction of DC motor cannot be compensated hence the
magnetic strength of the field may get weak due to demagnetizing effect armature
reaction.
2. There is also a chance of getting the poles permanently demagnetized (partial) due
to excessive armature current during starting, reversal and overloading condition of
the motor.
3. Another major disadvantage of PMDC motor is that, the field in the air gap is fixed
and limited and it cannot be controlled externally. Therefore, very efficient speed
control of DC motor in this type of motor is difficult.
Applications of Permanent Magnet DC Motor or PMDC Motor:
PMDC motor is extensively used where small DC motors are required and also very effective
control is not required, such as in automobiles starter, toys, wipers, washers, hot blowers, air
conditioners, computer disc drives and in many more.

Stepper Motor:

Stepper Motor is a brushless electromechanical device which converts the train of electric
pulses applied at their excitation windings into precisely defined step-by-step mechanical shaft
rotation. The shaft of the motor rotates through a fixed angle for each discrete pulse. This
rotation can be linear or angular.It gets one step movement for a single pulse input.
When a train of pulses is applied, it gets turned through a certain angle. The angle through
which the stepper motor shaft turns for each pulse is referred as the step angle, which is
generally expressed in degrees.
The number of input pulses given to the motor decides the step angle and hence the position of
motor shaft is controlled by controlling the number of pulses. This unique feature makes the
stepper motor to be well suitable for open-loop control system wherein the precise position of
the shaft is maintained with exact number of pulses without using a feedback sensor.
If the step angle is smaller, the greater will be the number of steps per revolutions and higher
will be the accuracy of the position obtained. The step angles can be as large as 90 degrees and
as small as 0.72 degrees, however, the commonly used step angles are 1.8 degrees, 2.5
degrees, 7.5 degrees and 15 degrees.
The direction of the shaft rotation depends on the sequence of pulses applied to the stator. The
speed of the shaft or the average motor speed is directly proportional to the frequency (the
rate of input pulses) of input pulses being applied at excitation windings. Therefore, if the
frequency is low, the stepper motor rotates in steps and for high frequency, it continuously
rotates like a DC motor due to inertia.
Like all electric motors, it has stator and rotor. The rotor is the movable part which has no
windings, brushes and a commutator. Usually the rotors are either variable reluctance or
permanent magnet kind. The stator is often constructed with multipole and multiphase
windings, usually of three or four phase windings wound for a required number of poles
decided by desired angular displacement per input pulse.
Unlike other motors it operates on a programmed discrete control pulses that are applied to
the stator windings via an electronic drive. The rotation occurs due to the magnetic interaction
between poles of sequentially energized stator winding and poles of the rotor.

There are several types of stepper motors are available in today’s market over a wide range of
sizes, step count, constructions, wiring, gearing, and other electrical characteristics. As these
motors are capable to operate in discrete nature, these are well suitable to interface with
digital control devices like computers.
Due to the precise control of speed, rotation, direction, and angular position, these are of
particular interest in industrial process control systems, CNC machines, robotics, manufacturing
automation systems, and instrumentation.
Types of Stepper Motors:

There are three basic categories of stepper motors, namely

 Permanent Magnet Stepper Motor
 Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor
 Hybrid Stepper Motor

Advantages of Stepper Motor

 At standstill position, the motor has full torque. No matter if there is no moment or changing
position.
 It has a good response to starting, stopping and reversing position.
 As there is no contact brushes in the stepper motor, It is reliable and the life expectancy
depends on the bearings of the motor.
 The motor rotation angle is directly proportional to the input signals.
 It is simple and less costly to control as motor provides open loop control when responding
to the digital input signals.
 The motor speed is directly proportional to the input pulses frequency, this way a wide
range of rotational speed can be achieved.
 When load is coupled to the shaft, it is still possible to realize the synchronous rotation with
low speed.
 The exact positioning and repeatability of movement is good as it has a 3-5% accuracy of a
step where the error is non cumulative from one step to another.
 Stepper motors are safer and low cost (as compared to servo motors), having high torque at
low speeds, high reliability with simple construction which operates at any environment.

Disadvantages of Stepper Motors

 Stepper motors having low Efficiency.

 It has low Accuracy.
 Its torque declines very quickly with speed.
 As stepper motor operates in open loop control, there is no feedback to indicate potential
missed steps.
 It has low torque to inertia ratio means it can’t accelerate the load very quickly.
 They are noisy.
Applications of Stepper Motors:

 Stepper motors are used in automated production equipment’s and automotive gauges and
industrial machines like packaging, labeling, filling and cutting etc.
 It is widely used in security devices such as security & surveillance cameras.
 In medical industry, stepper motors are widely used in samples, digital dental photography,
respirators, fluid pumps, blood analysis machinery and medical scanners etc.
 They are used in consumer electronics in image scanners, photo copier and printing
machines and in digital camera for automatic zoom and focus functions and positions.
 Stepper motors also used in elevators, conveyor belts and lane diverters.