Design of sensorless BLDC motor driver using variable voltage and back-EMF differential line

Abstract

A sensorless motor control scheme with conventional back-Electro Motive Force (EMF) sensing based on zero crossing point (ZCP) detection has been widely used in various applications. However, there are several problems with the conventional method for effectively driving sensorless brushless motors. For example, a phase mismatch of 30 degrees occurs between the ZCP and commutation time. Additionally, most of the motor speed/current controls are achieved based on a pulse width modulation (PWM) method, which generates significant noise that distracts the back-EMF sensing. Due to the PWM switching, the ZCP is not deterministic, and thus the efficiency of the motor is reduced because the phase transition points become uncertain. Moreover, the motor driving performance is degraded at a low speed range due to the effect of PWM noise. To solve these problems, an improved back-EMF detection method based on a differential line method is proposed in this paper. In addition, the proposed sensorless BLDC driver addresses the problems by using a variable voltage driver generated from a buck converter. The variable voltage driver does not generate the PWM switching noise. Consequently, the proposed sensorless motor driver improves 1) the signal-to-noise ratio of back-EMF, 2) the operation range of a BLDC motor, and 3) the torque characteristics. The proposed sensorless motor driver is verified through simulations and experiments.