1576 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 41, NO.

5, MAY 2005

A Phase Variable Model of Brushless dc Motors

Based on Finite Element Analysis and Its Coupling
With External Circuits
Osama A. Mohammed, Fellow, IEEE, S. Liu, Senior Member, IEEE, and Z. Liu
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Energy Systems Laboratory, Florida International University,
Miami, FL 33174 USA
This paper presents a fast and accurate brushless dc motor (BLDC) phase variable model for drive system simulations. The developed
model was built based on nonlinear transient finite-element analysis to obtain the inductances, back electromotive force as well as the
cogging torque. The model was implemented in a Simulink environment through the creation of an adjustable inductance component
to account for the dependence of inductances on rotor position. Since no model for BLDC actually exists, the significance of this
work is that it provides an accurate equivalent circuit model of BLDC motors for utilization in simulation environments. Using the
developed model, the sensorless control and the torque ripple control issues were investigated and the simulation results show its practical
effectiveness.
Index Terms—Brushless dc motor (BLDC), finite element analysis (FEA), motor control, phase variable model.

I. INTRODUCTION
A CCURATE and efficient simulation of brushless dc motor
(BLDC) machines, driven by power electronic switching
devices, is important for drive system design and optimization
[1]–[5]. Two key issues related to this topic are the machine
modeling and the coupling between the machine model and ex-
ternal circuits.
A fast and accurate machine model is always desirable. Com-
pared with an equivalent electric circuit model, the finite ele-
ment (FE) description is more accurate but can be time con-
suming.
Two types of circuit models are available for machines: the
-model and the phase variable model. BLDC has a trape-
zoidal back electromotive force (EMF) and requires rectangular
stator currents to produce constant torque. The variation of the
self and mutual inductances of the stator windings is nonsinu-
soidal. No particular advantage exists in transforming the
equations to the frame. The commonly used model as-
sumes that the self and mutual inductances are constant [1]. Due
to the physical rotation of the rotor and the nonlinear magneti-
zation property of stator iron, the inductance varies with rotor
position and winding current. Since the magnetic field of perma-
nent magnet (PM) machines is mainly established by permanent
magnets, the effects of current are usually ignored. The rotor
position dependence of inductances can be accurately evalu-
ated through nonlinear transient FE analysis. Similarly, the rotor
position dependence of the back EMF and the cogging torque
can be calculated from nonlinear transient FE analysis as well.
Using these rotor position dependent parameters, the physical
phase variable model of BLDC is developed.
For dynamic performance studies, the time-stepping FE pro-
cedure strongly couples the circuit equation with the FE motor
equations then solve the coupled system simultaneously [3]–[5].
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMAG.2005.845042
0018-9464/$20.00 © 2005 IEEE
This gives accurate results but is time consuming. Using the de-
veloped phase variable model, the drive system simulation
behaves much faster with the same level of accuracy.
The equation-based Simulink phase variable model is intro-
duced by the authors in the context of PM synchronous machine
implementation [6]. In order to connect the equation-based model
and external circuits, line voltage must be measured. For BLDC
machines, each commutation sequence has one winding that is
energized to positive power (current enters into the winding), one
winding is deenergized (current exits the winding) and the third
winding is in a nonenergized condition. This means that there al-
ways exists one phase which is open circuited. The input voltage
to this phase is immeasurable. This shows that the equation based
model cannot be applied to BLDC. An alternative model, com-
posed of circuit components, is built to implement the phase
variable model of BLDC presented here. An adjustable induc-
tance component is developed to represent the inductance depen-
dence on the rotor position.
II. PHYSICAL PHASE VARIABLE MODEL
The phase variable model of BLDC machines is given as
(1)
(2)
(3)
and (4)
where is the back EMF, is the cogging torque,
is the flux linkage contributed by the stator winding, and
is the matrix of apparent inductance. The rest variables are used
as their conventional meanings.
The , , and profiles are obtained from the non-
linear transient FE solutions, in which the rotor position depen-
dence as well as the saturation effect are considered.

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MOHAMMED et al.: A PHASE VARIABLE MODEL OF BDCM 1577

Fig. 1. Circuit diagram of BLDC stator phase “a” winding.

III. SIMULINK IMPLEMENTATION

A. Voltage Equation
Fig. 2. Adjustable self inductance block.
Expanding the derivative term of (1), one has

(5)
Substituting (2) into (5) and considering that the current in-
dependence of the winding inductances, one can obtain

(6)

Fig. 3. Equivalent circuit of phase “a” inductive voltage drop.

where are incremental inductances.
Substituting (6) into (1), the voltage (1) becomes
The mutual inductance voltage drop in the second term of (7),
( , ), are represented by CVSs.
Fig. 3 is the equivalent circuit of phase “a” inductive voltage
drop. The current passing through the weighted line is . The
inductances , , and are retrieved from the incre-
(7) mental inductance table by picking the values corresponding to
a specific rotor position.
Based on (7), the circuit diagram is constructed. As an ex-
ample, Fig. 1 shows the diagram of phase “a” winding. The con- B. Torque Calculation
trolled voltage source (CVS) component is adopted to describe As the rotor speed is used as a denominator in the torque
the voltage drop due to the flux cutting by the moving rotor. calculation of (3), it causes problems at the initial simulation
It represents the summation of the third and forth terms of (7). step due to the zero rotor speed. In order to solve this problem,
The derivative of apparent inductances with respect to the ro- a very small number is assigned to when starting the simula-
tation angle ( , ), are calculated in advance tion. In addition, an initial value of the electromagnetic torque
and stored in look-up tables. , which is larger than the load torque is assigned to .
An adjustable inductance component is developed to describe Otherwise, according to (4), one knows that the motor will not
the self-inductance voltage drop of the BLDC ( , start moving. Consequently, the back EMF, , , and , equal
), seen in the second term of (7). As the inductance zero and there will not be output toque .
current is a state variable, the adjustable inductance component The cogging toque are stored in tables and retrieved ac-
is built according to the integral description of inductance cording to the rotor position.

(8)
Using as an example, the circuit diagram of the devel-
oped adjustable inductance is illustrated in Fig. 2. The initial
value of the integrator is set to zero. The voltage measurement
block (VM) and the controlled current source (CCS) are used to
realize the connection of the adjustable inductance component
and the external circuits.
C. Phase Variable Model
The developed physical phase variable model is shown in
Fig. 4. Subsystem 1 is the implementation of voltage (1), as in-
troduced in section A. This subsystem is built using
and in form of tables. Subsystem 2 performs
the torque calculation according to (2). A value of 3.5 Nm, max-
imum torque of this BLDC motor, is used as the initial torque to

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1578 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 41, NO. 5, MAY 2005

Fig. 4. Developed physical phase variable model for BLDC.

Fig. 6. (a)–(b) From full FE model. (c)–(d) From phase variable model.
Fig. 5. (a) Self inductance L . (b) Per-unit speed back EMF. (c) Cogging
torque. (d) dL =d .

start the rotor’s motion. It lasts 0.1ms, which is controlled by a

step function block. The motion (4) is performed at the right por-
tion of Fig. 4. The two tables in Fig. 4 are the cogging torque and
back EMF. The unit speed back EMF is stored
in the back EMF table to perform speed control simulation.
The table data are obtained from nonlinear transient FE anal-
ysis. In order to obtain high accuracy, attentions to the rotating
air gap mesh and the time step in transient FE analysis are given.
Nodes on the lateral dimension of the rotating air gap must be
evenly distributed. The time step of transient analysis should be
kept as the time required for moving the radial angle between
two contingent nodes.

IV. MODEL VERIFICATION

As an example, the phase variable model of a 4-pole 24-slot
24-V BLDC motor is built. The incremental inductance ,
per-unit speed back EMF, cogging torque, and the derivative of Fig. 7. Zero crossing detection of back EMF.

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MOHAMMED et al.: A PHASE VARIABLE MODEL OF BDCM
Fig. 8. (a), (c), and (e): without torque ripple control; (b), (d), and (f): with
torque ripple control.
mutual inductance with respect to rotor position are
shown in Fig. 5.
The performance of the developed physical phase variable
model is examined by comparing it with the full FE model in
an electric commutation circuit. The obtained torque and three
phase current profiles during the starting process are given in
Fig. 6. It shows that the developed physical phase variable model
is capable of providing the same dynamic simulation character-
istics as the full FE model.
V. APPLICATIONS
Sensor-less control and torque ripple minimization of ma-
chines are two topics of major interess by researchers. The con-
trol strategy study is usually performed via experiments and/or
computer simulation. The computer simulation is the only pos-
sible way in the machine design stage. A fast and accurate model
facilitates such a study.
A. Sensorless Control
The zero-crossing instance of back EMF waveform can
be utilized to perform senseless motor control. As the back
EMF waveform of the motor cannot be directly measured,
various methods were proposed to identify the back EMF
zero-crossing. [7] introduced a method to find the zero-crossing
instance through the phase to ground PWM waveform, which
was verified by experiments. In this paper, we provide the
simulation verification of their zero-crossing detection method
by using the developed physical phase variable model. The
back EMF waveform obtained from simulation as well as the
switching off process of PWM is shown in Fig. 7(a), which
reproduces the experiment results given in [7]. Therefore, we
can say that the developed phase variable model provides an
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1579
alternative way for the verification of control strategies. Fur-
thermore, with the developed model, the accuracy of the control
strategy can be investigated. In addition, the inverter parameter
design can be studied. Fig. 7(b) demonstrates the consequence
of inappropriate inverter parameters to the sensorless control
strategy of [7]. In this case, the zero crossing point cannot be
identified properly.
B. Torque Ripple Reduction
The ripple torque occurs as the results of fluctuations of the
field distribution and the armature MMF. Using the developed
physical phase variable model, the fluctuations of the field dis-
tribution and the armature MMF can be captured. In this way,
the torque ripple control can be studied under the real situa-
tions. As an example, the phase variable model is applied to
a ripple torque forward-fed compensation method. The results
are shown in Fig. 8, which demonstrates the effects of the torque
ripple control. The torque ripple is greatly reduced and the speed
becomes smooth.
VI. CONCLUSION
A physical phase variable model of BLDC machines is pro-
posed. Its parameters are obtained from transient FE analysis
of the machine. Simulink implementation details of the pro-
posed model are presented. The proposed phase variable model
has the accuracy of the full FE model with much faster simula-
tion speed. To maintain the accuracy of the proposed model, the
inductance was distinguished as apparent and incremental in-
ductances. The per-unit speed back EMF was used as the back
EMF table data. The rotating air gap meshing and the time step-
ping FE analysis were related. The effectiveness of the proposed
phase variable model was tested through implementation of sen-
sorless control and torque ripple reduction examples.
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Manuscript received June 8, 2004.