Sensorless Position and Speed Control of a Brushless DC Motor from Start-Up to Nominal Speed

SummaryThe brush less DC motors are synchronous motors, self-commutated through a transistor bridge. The aim is to generate a magnetic field always positioned so that the torque is maximum. This principle needs a rotor position detection. Sensors as Hall effect devices, resolvers or optical disks arc generally used. For small motors as those used in computer peripherics, it becomes impossible to implement such devices. Thus, the goal is to realize indirect sensors. The present paper describes a methodology to control a motor from standstill to full speed without direct position and speed sensors.At standstill, the position is determined by short current pulses, enabling to detect indirectly the saturation level of the different phases. In order to avoid the temperature effect on the time constants, the measurement is converted into a current difference, with positive and negative current pulses in each phase. So, a logical state is defined, corresponding to the actual position with an angular accuracy of ...