2004 35th Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference Aachen, Gemany.

2004

PLL Control Algorithm for Precise Speed Control

of the Slotless PM Brushless DC Motor Using 2Hall-ICs

Yong-Ho Yoon Mu-Seon Woo Tae-Won Lee Chung-Yuen Won You-Young Choe
Sungkyunkwan Univ. Sungkyunkwan Univ. Sungkyunkwan Univ. Sungkyunkwan Univ. Kinemotion CO. Ltd
Su-won city, Korea Su-won city, Korea Su-won city, Korea Su-won city, Korea Su-won city, Korea
dydgh@skkn.edu wolfU 1 18@hotmail.com twlee@skku.edu won@yurim.skku.ac.!u yychoe@kinemotion.com

Abstract- The high performance drives of the slotless

Permanent magnet Brushless DC(PM BLDC) motor can be
achieved by the current control, where the currents flow
according to the rotor position and the current phase i s suitably
controlled according to the operation condition. Rotor position
information can be provided by Hall-IC or sensorless algorithm.
However, basieslly sensorless algorithm is not suitable for the
complicated operation conditions of PM BLDC. So, the Hall-ICs
are set up in this motor to detect the main flux from the rotor,
Instead of using three Hall-ICs and encoder, this paper uses
only two Hall-ICs for the permanent magnet rotor position and
the speed feedback signals, and uses a microcontroller of 16-bit Fig. I. Slotless PM BLDC Motor.
type (80C196KC) with the 3-phase slotless PM BLDC whose six
stator and two rotor designed. Two Hall-ICs HA and He a r e However, instead of using three Hall-ICs and encoder, we
placed on the endplate at 12Odegree phase difference. With used only two Hall-ICs for the permanent magnet rotor
these elements, we estimate information of the others phase in position and for the speed feedback signals with the 3-phase
sequence through a revolving rotor. Also because of low
resolution obtained by using Hall-IC even low-cost and simple
slotless PM BLDC motor whose six stator and two rotor
structure, to improve the wide range of speed response designed.
characteristic more exactly, we propose the rotor position Fig. 1 shows a nos-section of a threephase, 2 pole, radial-gap,
signal synthesizer using PLL circuit based on two Hall-ICs. slotless PM BLDC. Two Hall-ICs, HA and HBare placed on
the endplate at 120degree intervals, and with these elements,
I. INTRODUCTION we estimated information of the othets phase in sequence through
The emergence of high-energy permanent magnets has a revolving rotor. The%hysteresis current controller is adopted
promoted renewed interest in slotlessbrushless motor topologies, for inverter to further reduce switching loss.
since although their power densities maybe lower than for Also a digital signal processor, namely 8Oc196kc is used to
equivalent slotted machines, they e l i n a t e cogging torque. implement the speed controller.
Generally, the position sensor represents the important factor in Finally, a prototype is constructed and some experimental
PM BLDC motor drives. It drives employ encoders or resolvers and simulation results are presented. It is found that for general
mounted on the shaft to identify the rotor flux position. But the PM BLDC motor applications, the proposed slotless PM BLDC
presence of the encoder ormsolver causes several disadvantages motor drive can indeed satisfy the desired performance without
in high-speed motors. using an expensive encoder or resolver.
In order to meet the demand of mechanical ruggedness and
stiffness of high-speed motor, the shaft should be as sholt as 11. MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF THE PM BLDC MOTOR
possible. It may be difficult to mount an encoder or a resolver Fig. 2 shows the equivalent circuit of the PM BLDC Motor.
on shaft.
In fact, in order to obtain good performances and low torque
ripple, high-resolution sensor is needed, which is costly and
usually needs a special consbudion for the machine.(for example
a second shaft end to couple the sensor)[ I] On the other hand,
low- resolution sensors are cheaper generally. In this paper, a
robust and low cost Hall-ICs-based PLL circuit is proposed
for Slotless PM BLDC motor drives.
So, the Hall-ICs are set up in this motor to detect the main
flux from the rotor, and the output signal from Hall-ICs is used
to drive a power transistor to control the winding current.
Fig. 2. Equivalent circuit of the PM BLDC Motor

0-7803-8399-0/04/$20.0002004 IEEE. 1315

 2004 35rh Annual IEEE Power Elecrronics Specialists Conference Aachen. Germany. 2004

The hack EMF'S e,. e,, and e, have trapezoidal shapes

and the currents i,z, ih, and i, needed to produce a steady
state torque without torque pulsations are shown in Fig. 3

111. PLL ALGORITHM OF SLOTLESS PM BLDC

MOTOR CONTROL

The mathematical model for this motor can be described in With reference to Eq. (5) and (6), the back emf is directly
Eq. (I) with the assumption that the magnet and stainless steel proportional to the motx speed, and the developed torque is
retain sleevesbas high resistivityand mtor-indud currents can be almost directly proportional to the phase current. This means
neglected.[3,5] Where it has been assumed that the stator that the torque can be maintained constant by a stable supply
resistances of all the windings are equal. current. In order to realize this state, one method is to keep the
Assuming further that there is no change in rntnr reluctance ratio of voltage to frequency a constant.
with angle, then It is also required along with frequency control to avoid
L, = L , = L , = L saturation of magnetic $circuit.This can be achieved by using
(2) a speed and current closed-loop control as shown in Fig. 4.
L , , = L,, = L , , = M
The control structure has an innermost current closed-loop
Hence assuming constant self and mutual inductance, the and an outer-speed loop to govern the current.
voltage equation is:
0 0
(3)

+[
L-M
0
0
0
L-M
0 L-M
0
0 ] $ [i] [ir] + Fig. 4. Closed-Impcontrol for slotless PM BLEC Motor.

In Fig. 5, hysteresis current control comparing real current

In state-space form the equation are arranged as follows gained by feed back with calculated reference value is applied
for variable speed range.
The error between real current obtained from CT(Current
Transducer) and reference current of 80c196kc is applied to
the first OF'-Amp's input and output of the second OP Amp
and the electromagnetic torque is divided by RI and Rz gets into the non-inverting terminal,
making up hysteresis band. Gate signals keep on and off
T, = ( e,ia + ehih+ ecic)/ w , maintaining the steady current between reference values and
real current into the hyirteresis band.
The equation of motion is Speed controller regulates the rotor speed by varying the
d frequency of the pulse based on signal feedback from the
-0, = (T, - T, - B o , ) / J
Hall-ICs. This pulse is ti, be injected to the inverter to energize
dr
the stator windings.
.a 1.

I In

4 SC

7. 1
ra
r. Fig. 5. Hysteresis cumnt controller.

The speed PI feedback loop compares the rotor speed o with

P ~ n~ e a c c M
~ F ~ c ~ ~ the desired
~ ~mtor speetl
~ ad~to produce the comtnand toque
component current.
Fig. 3. Back EMF, current, torque w a v e i o m a i If the speed is faster than desired speed, it will decrease the
the slotlessPM BLDC Motor.

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2004 35th Annual IEEE Power Elecrronics Specialists Conference
frequency of the pulse to be injected to the inverter.
Oppositely, if speed is slower frequency, it will he increased.
Using 2 Hall-ICs, the position and speed estimatio; is
achieved for speed regulation reference h m e transformation.
The position estimator for the slotless PM BLDC motor needs
to detect six positions, which determine the commutation
points.
111
rll
Fig. 6 . The proposed slotless PM BLDC Motor driving system.
To further illustrate the importance of rotor position
estimation, Fig. 6 shows the schematics of the slotless PM
BLDC motor with two Hall-ICs installed. The two Hall-ICs
NA and He evenly distributed around the stator circumference.
Generally, to drive and control of the slotless PM BLDC
motor, it is necessary that the three Hall-ICs evenly be
distributed around the stator circumference and encoder
installed in case of the 3-phase motor.
In this paper, a low-resolution position sensor (2Hall- ICs
and the other phase estimation circuit), which has accuracy
of only 60 electrical degrees, is used instead of a high-resolution
position sensor. For example, such low-resolution position
information can he obtained by the processed signals from 2
Hall-ICs (HA,HB)and Hc signal estimation circuit (the other
phase estimation circuit) as shown in Fig. 6.
Two Hall-ICs, HA and He are placed on the endplate at
120degree intervals, and with these elements, we estimated
information of the others phase signal (Hc) in sequence through a
revolving rotor. We extend frequency as six times using logical
operation at the EPLD because the resolution of frequency is
low related to speed at Hall-IC signals. Therefore, one cycle
is divided into six intewals of 60 electrical degrees each by
the processed signals HA, He, and the other phase estimation
signal circuit, Hc as shown Fig. 7.
lad0
dnrit
6&%d
Fig. 7. Speed pulse and Hall-IC signals.
1317
Aachen. Cemmnny, 2004
Initially, The Hall-IC signals (HA, HE)and estimation signal
(Hc) feedback occurred starting the motor by speed command.
Logic signals of gate driver are generated using these Hall-IC
signals and estimation signal in the switching logic part. The
speed controller regulates the speed of the rotor by varying the
frequency of the pulse based on the signal feedback from the
Hall-ICs.
Refemng to Fig. 7, we assuming that the motor spends "t"
seconds between two consecutive transitions, then the average
rotor speed in this section can be calculated.
So the speed algorithm can be simply implemented by a micro-
controller. Noting that depending on allowed cost and
required performance, 2 Hall-ICs can he used.
4"-1-1 counter
Fig. 8. The block of the mtor position signal synthesizer.
HA
HB
Fig. 9. Illustration ofthe synthesizedsignal during
one hall sensor transition period.
In order to use conventional Hall ICs to generate a series of
pulse trains as that of an encoder, PLL circuit to acquire
sufficiently accurate speed information must process the rough
output signals of the Hall ICs. [4]
Fig. 8 shows a simplified schematic diagram of the rotor
position signal synthesizer. For the concerned 2-pole slotless
PM BLDC motor, the Hall ICs provide a, He signals and
estimated Hc signal fmmrough rotor position information.
Hence PLL circuit is used to synthesize HA, He signals
and estimation signal of the Hc into one pulse resulting
from either the rising or falling edge of respective signals as in
Fig. 9. Then, concerning the desired accuracy of 2-pole
slotless PM BLDC motor, the frequency of the pulse train can
multiply by 1-99. In this paper, for precise control we
designed the frequency of the pulse train is multiplied by
23 from the 6 pulse frequency.
IV. SIMULATION
RESULTS
Fig. 10 shows the overall block diagram of the developed
model for slotless PM BLDC motor drive system.
The simulation is performed using the PSIM software.
Above the system is composed of slotless PM BLDC motor,
 ~

2004 351h Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialisfs Conference Aachen, Germany, 2004

six-step inverter, gate drive of inverter, switching logic, 6

pulse logic(DLL block of PSIM), and current control block.
Fig. 11 shows the estimation signal ofHc in case of not using
Hall-IC of the Hc. Firstly, gotten signal of HA from Hall-IC
of the HA can convert to bipolar square of range from +15V to
-15V hy the OP Amp and with this converted signal, we can
get a triangle wave t7om the OP Amp's integrator output.
Furthermore, using the triangle wave and comparator, we
can also get a compared value which can be changed by the
upper limit value and lower limit value of comparator.

Fig. 12. Hall-IC sienals and estimation signal ofthe Hc.

.."
Fig. 13. f, pulse and Hall-IC signals

Fig. 10. Configurationof simulation

n :I -
................. ! ........
% ...... ,.,..

_ $

- _.
I -
A- -.--A
le I

Fig. 14. Each phax currentwaveforms. (IAldiv, Imsldiv)

.. Generated lrianglr HP)P .by .the integrator
5:; , :
.I
3 :

.
. . .
.._
*"
' '

. ' 5V::
.. - - -~Estimaliun'rl~nal
....
uf the ilc
1.3
3.3

Fig. I I . Estimation Hall-IC signal(He).

At this point, we h o w that compared value accords with the

generated signal h m Hall-IC of Hcin case of using of Hall-IC.
Fig. 12 shows each phase Hall-IC signals and estimation
signal of the Hc that would he generated from the estimation
signal circuit. Hall-IC signal and estimation signal of Hc
show nearly the same wave of non-phase difference.
Fig. 13 shows the 6 pulse and estimation signal of the Hc are
created in case of using two Hall-ICs, HA and He. Fig. 15.6 pulse signal and synthesized rotor
positian(PLL) signal at 5000rprn.

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2004 35th Annual IEEE Power Elecrronics Specialisrs Conference Aachen, Germany, 2004

Fig. 14 shows the current of each phase waves at 20000rpm. The motor used in this paper is a 2-poles, Y-connected,
Fig. 15, 16, 17 show the Hall-IC signal of one phase and 6 slotless PM BLDC motor. The windings of the motor are
pulse signal and the corresponding synthesized rotor position arranged in three phases: Phase-A, Phase-B, and Phase-C.
signal at 5000,7000, lOOOOrpm respectively. These three phase winding are distributed in the stator with a
.- separation of 120 degrees from one another.
The rotor has 1 pairs of permanent magnets flux, which
5%
.-
IL
provide distributed magnetic flux in the air gap between the
I C
stator and the rotor. The machine parameters and ratings are:
TABLEI . S P E C ~ F ~ C A T ~ O NSLOTLESS
OF PM BLDC MOTOR
Stator resistance 0.88 Q
90V 340Vdc -
"...
6 pulse signal 0.9 KW

Rated current

Fig. 16.6 pulse signiiand synthesized rotor Fig. 19 shows the block diagram of the experimental system,
position(PLL) signal at 7000rpm. which consists of EPLD, a slotless PM BLDC motor, and the
associated circuits. According to the signal of the position
.= sensor, the switches state of the inverter (TRl-TR6) can be
sv::
l.! determined. The dates of switches related to rotor position are
stored in EPLD in case positive and negative rotation.
Therefore, the switching sequence is accomplished by data in
the EPLD that related to rotor position.
.........
.....

..............................
........ an
..............

Fig 17 6 pulrc signal and syshcrwed ro1Jl ................... .::.:: " : . . ! .

W?.
p o ~ ~ u ( ~I nJ ~t ~g in aat
i inwrpm.
~

m.......... ~

....................................
...................

V. EXI'~.KIMENTAL
KEI~.'I 1s
The experimental system io1 investigatingthe characteristics
o f 2 Hall-ICs speed control with slotless PM Rl.DC motor
e ..................
: K ~~ .........
..........................
- ~ .
a*n
.......
....................... 3
drive is shown in Fig. I R. The bystem is composed of s l o l l ~ bPM
BLDC motor. six-step inwner, gate driver of inverter, FPLD Fig. 19. Block diagram o f EPLD.
(Embedded Progammahle Logic Device), PLL circuit and PI In order to verify the proposed performance control, the
controller. Switchng logic. PWM resolution conveller(6pulse). system is implemented by software of INTEL 8OC196KC
tksignal estimation circuits are located within the I!PI,D. microcontroller hoard.
The 6 pulse and Hall-IC signals of each phase at real speed
AC
2OOOOrpm as shown in Fig. 20 and Fig. 2 1 respectively.
.%"IC.

I _.I U

Fig. 18. Slotless PM BLDC motor driving system. Fig. 20. Hall-IC signals and pulses.
(using the three Hall-ICs HA, HB and Hc)

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 2 w 4 351h A n n u l IEEE Power Elecrronics Specialists Conference Aachen, Germany, 2W4

Fig. 20 shows each phase Hall-IC signals and 6 pulse per
lcycle using the three Hall-ICs of the HA,He, and Hc.
Generally, using three Hall-ICs easily got the 6 pulse which
has the same interval of one pulse to another one.
Fig. 21 shows estimation signal ofthe Hc and 6 pulse per
lcycle created in case of using two Hall-ICs, HAand HE.
To get 6 pulse which has same interval of one pulse to another
one using two Hall-ICs in Fig. 21, it tested same experiment
as simulation.
Fig. 23,24,25 show the 6 pulse signal and the correspond
-inssynthesized rotor position signal at 5000,7000,10000rpm
respectively. It is seen that the synthesized rotor position
signal can lock the rotor position signal quite well.
Experiments show thai: even under this transient, the time
delay due to the Hall-ICs does not cause any problem to the
proposed PLL.
In wide speed range, we can more accurately control 3-phase
slotless PM BLDC motor using 2 Hall-IC with synthesized rotor
position signal obtained by PLL circuit.
In order to verify theoretical results of a prototype slotless
PM BLDC motor, Fig. 26 has been realized.

Fig. 21. Hall-IC signals and estimation signal

ofthe HC and pulse. (using the huo Hall-ICs H A , H B )
rn,W,b M *I *, It
indls M 15.1,I'L~

3 r m o
Fig. 24. (5 pulse signal and synthesized
rotor positio.i(PLL) signal. (SVIdiv, 7000rpm)
1 cycle
I---r*FT+il 7-1111-1

I 1- I I I * - I I I 1 - 1
Fig. 22. Each phase current. (3000Orpm 2A. 0.5ms)
Fig. 22 shows the current of each phase.
To examine the performance ofthe slotless PM BLDC motor
with the proposed control scheme, it is loaded with an fni'fc i* ,*<>;,,U
impeller, rated torque demand in this case is 0.3Nm and the
in,<,3 M il.il*Irn
motor speed is 30000 rpm.
D 3mmo
Fig. 25. .5 pulse signal and synthesized
lr!..c~s!e..lr... ~ : ... ~
I I I i I I
,
I,
rotor positioa(PLL) signal. (5V/div, 10000rpm)

I I

rmlfl I" CI.,*C

inrl,, M I:~liliLI

U SRCIO
Fig. 23.6 pulse signal and synthesized Fig. :!6. Experimental test setup
mtor position(PLL) signal. (5VIdiv. 5000rpm)

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2004 35th Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference Aochen, Germany, 2004

VI. CONCLUSION
Using the two Hall-ICs instead of the three Hall-ICs at the
3-phase slotless PM BLDC motor guarantees perfornhce
for the proposed control algorithm of the slotless PM BLDC
motor the same as that achieved with an expensive optical
encoder or resolver. As a d t , the reduction in size achieved by
eliminating the high-resolution rotor position sensor and the
encoder may be critical many applications. It has the advantage
of the low cost and the simple composition compared with the
conventional drive system.
Finally, to improve low-resolution of Hall-ICs and to get
more accurate rotor position information, we proposed the
synthesized signals from PLL control algorithm. A test system
is implemented, and experimental results verify the concept in
detail. It can be concluded that PLL control algorithm is
applicable to precise speed control and low cost of slotless PM
BLDC motor by 2Hall-ICs.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors of this paper would like to thank the Korea
Energy Management Corporation for supporting this research
with grant No. 2002-EELOlT023-0202002.

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