2009 International Conference on Industrial and Information Systems

Improved Design for Reduction of Torque Ripple of Brushless DC Motor

Aiyuan Wang [1, 2]
1. School of Electric Engineering Shanghai Danji University Shanghai, China wang_aiyuan@sohu.com
Abstract The paper has probed into the torque ripple of brushless DC motor fed by square wave. For the main torque ripple caused by electromagnetic factor, the equation of two-phase brushless DC motor has been deduced. Then considering the manufactured technique of the motor, an improved design for reduction the torque ripple has been presented with simplified and feasible proposition. And a case has been simulated by dynamic finite element method. The simulation results indicate that the improved design effectively reduces the torque ripple of the motor. Keywords- Brushless DC Motor; Torque Ripple; Motor Design

Zhihao Ling[2]
2. School of Information Science and Engineering East China University of Science & Technology Shanghai, China zhhling@vip.sina.com torque ripple has been proposed. And a simulated case by dynamic finite element method has been provided to verify the proposition. II. ELECTROMAGNETIC TORQUE RIPPLE OF THE MOTOR

I.

INTRODUCTION

The brushless DC motor switches phase by detecting rotor position and feeds by square wave current. Thus, it is easily controlled as DC motor and has high efficiency as synchronous motor. Moreover, it has the advantages of high reliability, small volume, and good dynamic response compared with other types of motor. Due to these advantages, the motor has applied in naval vessel, air craft, robot, and data-control machine tool. However, it has a projecting disadvantage of large torque ripple. The disadvantage baffles the further application of the motor in servo system demanded high performance. The large torque ripple of the motor results from many factors. The main factors are electromagnetism, harmonic component, slot-tooth effect, swathing phase of current, armature reaction, and so on. Many researches have dedicated the reduction of ripple torque of the motor in recent years. Some measures have been taken in motor design for rippling torque. For example, the rotor surface of the motor generally glues tile-shape permanent magnet. The permanent magnet possesses high remnant flux, high energy density, and large coercivity. Thus, the air gap is large considerably to deduce torque ripple brought by slot-tooth effect and armature reaction. Some papers have proposed overlapping swathed phases and DC-link current control in swathing phase for reduction torque ripple in motor control [1-4]. A few papers have investigated electromagnetic torque ripple, and modulated square wave to cut down the rippling torque. But the arithmetic is too complex to carry out in engineering application. This research bases on motor design to deal with electromagnetic torque ripple. Firstly, the equation of rippling torque for two-phase brushless DC motor has been deduced. Then, an improved design for reduction the

The phase current for brushless DC motor is nearly square wave. The current of the motor swatches from one phase to others after the rotor rotates definite electrical angle. The angle is sixty degree for three-phase motor, and ninety degree for two-phase motor. One magnetic state exists during two adjacent current swatches. In the state, the current is fixed, but the field of the permanent magnet varies with the rotor position. Thus, the rippling torque arises reacted by the fixed current and the varied field in air gap. The following analysis is about the torque ripple of two-phase brushless DC motor [6]. In order to simplify, gives the four presuppositions: a) Neglecting slot-tooth effect, armature reaction and process of swathing phase b) The armature windings equably and continuously distribute the inner surface of the rotor. c) Both the wave of air-gap flux density and current wave are square. d) The speed is invariable in every magnetic state. Fig. 1 shows the position variation of magnetic pole to stator windings in one magnetic state when current flows from A zone to X zone. In the figure, is the width of magnetic pole in radian, and is the position angle of S pole. Fig. 1(a) is the starting position. The central lines of S pole and N pole cross starting one side of A zone and X zone respectively. And the developed torque is the lowest. Fig. 1(b) is the midterm position. The central lines of S pole and N pole cross middle of A zone and X zone respectively. And the developed torque is the highest. Fig. 1(c) is the end position. The central lines of S pole and N pole respectively cross another side of zone A and zone X. And the developed torque is the lowest. The position angle of S pole corresponding to fig. 1(a), (b) and (c) is:

978-0-7695-3618-7/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE DOI 10.1109/IIS.2009.115

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 4 = 2 3 4
0 I m I A ( ) = 0 I m 0

fig.1(a) fig.1(b) fig.1(c)

0 < <
(1)

T1 ( ) =

KBm I m d = KBm I m + (3) 2 4

The current of phase A is:

where k is torque constant and Bm peak value of magnetic density. 3 , the position of (2) When < < + 4 2 4 2 magnetic pole to windings as fig.1 (b). The magnetic pole cut all windings of phase A, the developed torque is:

4 3 < < 4 4 3 5 < < 4 4 5 7 < < 4 4 7 < < 2 4

T2 ( ) =
(3) When

(2)

3 < < , the position of magnetic 4 4 2 pole to windings lies between fig. 1(b) and fig.1 (c). The magnetic pole cut partial windings of phase A, the developed torque is:

KBm I m

(4)

T3 ( ) =

3 + KBm I m d = KBm I m 2 4 2

3 4

(5) The ratio of torque ripple is defined as:

where I m is the magnitude of current. The developed torque sorts three different segments successively according to the position angle of S pole.

Tmax Tmin 100% Tav

(6)

The maximum torque corresponds to the second segment. That is:

Tmax = T2 ( ) =
2

KBm I m

(7)

3 Tmin = T1 ( ) = T3 ( ) = KBm I m 4 4 2
By (3) to (5), the average torque is:

The minimum torque is:

(8)

+ 1 34 2 4 2 Tav = 1 T1 ( ) d + 3 T2 ( ) d 1 2 4 2

T3 ( ) d + 4 2
2

2 = 2 + KBm I m

(9) The scope of torque ripple is:

T = Tmax Tmin
By (6) to (9), the ratio of torque ripple is:
Fig. 1 Position variation of magnetic pole to windings in one magnetic state

(10)

3 , the position of magnetic 4 4 2 pole to windings lies between fig. 1(a) and fig.1 (b). The magnetic pole cut partial windings of phase A, the developed torque is:

(1) When

< <

According to (11), when equals to / 2 , the ratio of torque ripple is maximum value of 68%. And when equals to , the ratio is minimum value of zero. Fig. 2 shows variation of width of magnetic pole to the ratio of torque ripple.

100% 2 2

(11)

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The ratio of torque ripple (%)

For three-phase brushless DC motor, it can be similarly proved that when equals to 2 / 3 , the ratio of torque ripple is maximum, and when equals to , the ratio is minimum value of zero. III. IMPROVED MOTOR DESIGN The width of magnetic pole is determined by pole-arc coefficient. When the pole-arc coefficient equals to 1, the width of magnetic pole is , and the torque ripple does not exist. Limited by machining, technical assembling, and requirements of resistant flux leakage and separating magnet between magnetic poles, the pole-arc coefficient is from 0.6 to 0.8 practically. Thus, the torque ripple is very large for normally designed brushless DC motor. The electromagnetic torque ripple results from reciprocity of square wave current and square wave airgap flux density. Therefore, it will be decreased either by modulation of the square wave current or by improved design of the square wave air-gap flux. The research is based on the latter approach. The improved design of the air-gap flux is to mount several segments of permanent magnet for every magnetic pole. The number of segment equals to the number of current phase. The segments of permanent magnet have same polarity. Fig. 3 shows the design comparison of unimproved and improved for one magnetic pole of two poles, twelve slots, and two phase brushless DC motor. The space between two adjacent segments of permanent magnet for one magnetic pole is smaller than the space between two magnetic poles. Fig. 4 is the air-gap flux density of two magnetic poles for improved design. The figure indicates that there is a zero-flux zone in the middle of every magnetic pole. IV. SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS The brushless DC motor is fed by power converter and switched phase by position sensor. It has nonlinear, timevary, and strong electromagnetic coupling multivariable. Traditional simulation with equivalent circuit can not reflect the torque ripple caused by electromagnetic factor, slot-tooth effect, and swathing phase of current. Therefore, the simulation in this paper makes use of transient finite element coupled field with circuit. The method solves finite element equations combined with the circuit equations. The motor for simulation has two-pole, twelve-slot, 3000rpm-rated-speed, and 500W-rated-power. In order to compare the unimproved design with the improved design, the same effective current enforces on the two designs. Fig. 3 shows the torque comparison of unimproved design and improved design. The simulation results indicates that the average torque both for unimproved design and improved design is about 1.6N*m. But the scope of torque ripple is 2.9N*m for the former design, and 1.9N*m for the latter one. Thus, the ratio of torque ripples decreases 62.5% after improved design. The deduction of torque ripple is very effective. There are still torque ripples for the improved design. But they result from slot-tooth effect, swathing phase of current and other factors.

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0 1.4

1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3 3.2

Width of magnetic pole (rad)

Fig. 2 Variation of width of magnetic pole to the ratio of torque ripple

(a) Unimproved design

Permanent Magnet

(b) Improved design Fig. 3 Design comparison of unimproved and improved

Fig. 4 The air-gap flux density of two magnetic poles for improved design

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3.5

Unimproved Design
3

Improved Design

ACKNOWLEDGMENT Aiyuan Wang thanks Key Discipline of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (J51901). REFERENCES
[1] Murai Y, Kawase Y, Ohashi K, Nagatake K, and Okuyama K, Torque ripple improvement for brushless DC miniature motors, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 441 450, 1989 Kim GwangHeon, Kang SeogJoo, Won JongSoo, Analysis of the commutation torque ripple effect for BLDCM fed by HCRPWMVSI, in the Seventh Annual Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition, Boston, MA, USA, pp. 277-284, Feb. 23-27, 1992 LIN Ping, WEI Kun, ZHANG Zhong-chao, A Novel Control Scheme to Suppress the Commutation Torque ripple in BLDCM, PROCEEDINGS OF THE CHINESE SOCIETY FOR ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 153-158, 2006 Chang-hee Won, Joong-ho Song, Choy I, Commutation torque ripple reduction in brushless DC motor drives using a single DC current sensor, IEEE 33rd Annual Power Electronics Specialists Conference, Cairns, Queensland, Australia, Vol. 2, pp. 985 990, 2002 Lee C. K, Kwok N. M, Torque ripple reduction in brushless DC motor velocity control systems using a cascade modified model reference compensator, in 24th Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference, Seattle, WA, USA, pp. 458-464, Jun. 2024, 1993 WANG Ai-yuan, LING Zhi-hao, Analysis And Reduction of Electromagnetic Torque Ripple of Brushless DC Motor, MICRMOTOR of China, Vol. 41, No. 6, pp. 5-7, 2008

2.5

Torque (N*m)

1.5

[2]

0.5

0.004

0.006

0.008

0.01

0.012

0.014

0.016

0.018

Time (s)

[3]

Fig. 5 Torque comparison of unimproved design and improved design

V.

CONCLUSION

[4]

The analysis and deduced equation of electromagnetic ripple torque indicate that the torque rippling is very large for normally designed brushless DC motor. As compensation, an improved design for reduction of torque ripple of brushless DC motor has been proposed. The design mounts several segments of permanent magnet for every magnetic pole according to the number of current phase. The deduction of torque ripple is very effective. The theoretical analysis meets the simulating results. And the improved design can be applied in high demanded servo system for its lower torque ripple.

[5]

[6]

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