A PROJECT REPORT

on

SPEED REGULATION OF A BLDC MOTOR USING PI CONTROL

TECHNIQUE FOR MIXER APPLICATION

Submitted in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree

of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
in

ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS

by

ROHAN RAMDAS (Reg. No.: RA1511005010379)

ZUHA FAROOQ SOFI (Reg. No.:RA1511005010381)
ARGHYAA SRIVASTAVA (Reg. No.:RA1511005010389)

Under the guidance of

Dr. M. ARUN NOYAL DOSS

Associate Professor, EEE

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

SRM Nagar, Kattankulathur- 603 203
Kancheepuram Dist
MAY 2019
 BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
It is certified that this project report titled “ SPEED REGULATION OF A BLDC
MOTOR USING PI CONTROL TECHNIQUE FOR MIXER APPLICATION” is
the bonafide work of ROHAN RAMDAS (RA1511005010379), ZUHA FAROOQ
SOFI (RA1511005010381), ARGHYAA SRIVASTAVA(RA1511005010389) who
carried out the project work under my supervision. Certified further, that to the best of my
knowledge the work reported herein does not form part of any other project report or
dissertation on the basis of which a degree or award was conferred on an earlier occasion
on this or any other candidate.

Signature of the Guide Signature of the HOD

Dr. M. ARUN NOYAL DOSS Dr. K.VIJAYA KUMAR,M.E., Ph.D

Associate Professor, EEE Professor and Head of Department

Department of EEE Department of EEE

SRM IST SRM IST

Internal Examiner External Examiner

Date:

ii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my gratitude to our respected Director (E&T),

Dr. C. MUTHAMIZHCHELVANfor their encouragement towards our growth and

activities.

I extend my sincere gratitude to Professor and Head of EEE Department,

Dr. K. VIJAYA KUMAR, SRM University, Kattankulathur for his commendable
support and encouragement towards the completion of project with perfection.

I owe my deep sense of gratitude to my Project Coordinators Mr. V. Pradeep

and Dr. A. Rathinam having extended their fullest support in completing the project
work.

I whole heartily thank my guide, Dr. Arun Noyal Doss, Associate Professor,
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering for standing by my side during
the hard days and being my guide for this project.

Last but not the least; I would like to thank my parents, friends and Meghneel
Renewable Resources for the constant support, concerns and prayers, which were a
major factor in the completion of this project.

3
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

ABSTRACT 8

LIST OF TABLES 6

LIST OF FIGURES 7

1 INTRODUCTION 9
1.1 GENERAL 9
1.2 OBJECTIVE 9
1.3 LITERATURE SURVEY 10
1.4 MAIN FEATURES 11
1.5 DIFFERENCES BETWEEEN UNIVERSAL MOTOR 11
AND BLDC MOTOR

2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION 12

2.1 EXISTING SYSTEM 12

2.2 DISADVANTAGES OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM 12
2.3 PROPOSED SYSTEM 13
2.4 ADVANTAGES OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM 14

3 SIMULATION 15
3.1 GENERAL 15
3.2 SIMULATION 15
3.3 BLOCK DIAGRAM REFERRED 16
3.4 SIMULATION MODEL 16
3.5 SIMULATION MODULES 17
3.6 SIMULATION RESULTS 18

4
4 HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS 19
4.1 INTRODUCTION 19
4.2 MODULES USED 19
4.3 MODULES DESCRIPTION 19
4.3.1 SMPS 19
4.3.2 BLDC MOTOR 20
4.3.3 CONTROLLER UNIT 21
4.3.4 HALL SENSOR 26
4.3.5 INVERTER CIRCUIT 26
4.4 PI CONTROLLER 29
4.5 SOFTWARE USED 32
4.5.1 MP lab 32
4.5.2 PROTEUS 33
4.5.3 REALTERM 33
4.6 RESULTS AND GRAPHS 34

5 SOCIAL RELEVANCE AND INNOVATION 36

5.1 SOCIAL RELEVANCE AND INNOVATION 36

6 REFERENCES 37

5
 LIST OF TABLES

TABLE TITLE PAGE

1.1 COMPARISON BETWEEN UNIVERSAL MOTR 11

AND BLDC MOTOR
4.1 BLDC MOTOR SPECIFICATIONS 20

6
 LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE TITLE PAGE

3.1 BLOCK DIAGRAM OF BLDC MOTOR DRIVE 16

3.2 SIMULATION MODEL 17
3.3 SIMULATION RESULTS 18
4.1 SMPS MODULE 20
4.2 BLDC MOTOR 20
4.3 CONTROLLER MODULE DESIGNED USING 22
PROTEUS SOFTWARE
4.4 PCB FABRICATION 22
4.5 IC LM317 23
4.6 PIC 18F4431 MICROCONTROLLER 24
4.7 INVERTER CIRCUITRY 28
4.8 Pictoral representation of a Proportional and Integral 31
controller
4.9 performance output 34
4.10 fabrication of fiberglass body 34
4.11 Final setup 35

7
 ABSTRACT

The project aims at substituting the standard universal motor (AC series motor) used in
mixers with a Brushless DC motor (BLDC) and drive system and by developing a
suitable PI speed controller for controlling the speed of operation . The project aims at
overcoming the shortcomings of universal motors like the maintenance of brushes and
commutator, high starting current and lowered efficiency by developing a suitable PI
controller and BLDC motor for mixer applications. Brushless DC motors (BLDC)
motors are a classification of DC motors that, as their name suggests, do not have any
brushes or commutator arrangement as compared to the brushed DC motor. BLDC
motors pose a wide range of advantages such as high improved efficiency, reduced
starting current consumption, sparkless and smooth operation due to the absence of
brushes, low noise and better power output for its size.

8
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 GENERAL

The mixers commercially being sold in the market employ the universal motor or the
AC series motor for mixing action. These motors have many disadvantages such as the
maintenance of brushes and commutator, high starting current, sparking and burning out
of the coils, lowered efficiency and heavier weight of the motor. Moreover due to the
high starting current consumed these mixers also cause a substantial increase in
operational costs and contribute to the increase in electricity bill costs. Hence, to
overcome the above mentioned disadvantages and reduce the costs in operation, the
project aims to replace the universal motor with a BLDC (brushless DC motor) and to
develop a suitable PI (proportional and integral) controller for the control of the BLDC
motor. Brushless DC motors offer superior control of speed, spark-less operation due to
the absence of commutator and brushes assembly, they are smaller in size and lighter in
weight, require little to no maintenance and consumes a very low starting current and
operational current hence reducing the electricity bill of the consumers. For the control
of the motoring operation, a suitable PI control mechanism is employed for operating
the motor smoothly and efficiently with the least deviation in error.

1.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

The objective of the project is to develop and tune a suitable PI controller to run

a brushless DC motor efficiently and with the least error possible for a mixer

application. The proportional integral (PI) controllers are widely applied in

industrial process, and the tuning method of PI controller parameters is still a hot

research area.

9
PI controllers are a variant of the PID (proportional, integral and

derivative) controllers and can be implemented by making a small change in the

PID controller by eliminating the ‘Derivative’ term by setting it as zero. Implementation

of PI controller in closed loop conditions is first done using MATLAB/Simulink.
Analysis of classical tuning methods to obtain best PI parameters for speed control is
calculated. PI controllers, if tuned properly is one of the best controlling method used
for the control of a BLDC motor. The practical implementation of the PI logic code and
controller can be implemented using MP Lab and Proteus software .

1.3 LITERATURE SURVEY

1. C. Sheeba Joice, S. R. Paranjothi, and V. Jawahar Senthil Kumar (2013) Digital
control strategy for four quadrant operation of three phase BLDC motor with
load variations.

Simple hardware circuit, reliability of the control algorithm, excellent speed

control, smooth transition between the quadrants and efficient conservation of
energy is achieved with and without load conditions. The designed and
implemented prototype model may be implemented even for higher rated
motors. Arcing might occur during the switching on and off of the relay contacts,
when implemented in higher rating motors. But if the proposed method is
implemented in low power motors, like motor used in sewing/embroidery
machines, arcing will be very less which is not even visible.

2. Gui-Jia Su, Senior Member, IEEE, and John W. McKeever (2004) Lw cost
sensorless control of BLDC motors with improved speed range.
A low-cost position and speed sensorless control scheme for brushless dc motors.
Cost saving is achieved by significantly reducing the number of components in
the position sensing circuit and by coupling the sensing circuit with a single-chip
microprocessor for speed control. Reduction in torque ripple and improve motor
efficiency by always maintaining the motor currents in phase with the back
EMFs.

10
1.4 MAIN FEATURES OF THE PROJECT

The following are some of the main features of the project-

 Low starting current consumed

 Reduction in operational costs
 Spark-less operation
 Noiseless operation of the mixer
 Reduction in overshoot
 Longer operational life of the mixer
 Able to perform standard household mixing applications
 Able to run the motor on inverter supply in case of power outage.

1.5 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN UNIVERSAL MOTOR AND BLDC MOTOR

UNIVERSAL MOTOR BLDC MOTOR

Consumes more starting current Low value of starting current
Heavier Lighter
Brushes and commutator present Electronic commutator
Good speed control Superior speed control
May result in Sparking No sparking
Very noisy Noiseless

Table 1.1 Comparison between Universal motor and BLDC

11
 CHAPTER 2

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

2.1 EXISTING SYSTEM

The mixers commercially being sold in the market use universal motors. These motors
are also referred to as AC series motors and they can operate on both AC or DC power.
These motors have brushes and commutators. The brushes allow the current to enter the
circuit and the commutator is used to excite the windings and constantly reverse the
direction of the magnetic field. They are employed in mixers and other small appliances
due to their high speed operation and good torque characteristics. However, due to the
presence of brushes and commutator assembly, they are prone to sparking caused due to
friction between the brushes and are generally very noisy. They also consume a very
high starting current and hence increase the operational costs.

2.2 DISADVANTAGES OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM

The following are the disadvantages of the universal motor being used in mixers-

 Very high starting current

 Noisy operation
 Heavier motor
 Larger in size
 Sparking and burning of coils
 Lower efficiency
 Maintenance of the commutator and the brushes
 High risk of overheating due to prolonged operation

12
2.3 PROPOSED SYSTEM

The project aims to solve the shortcomings of the universal motor by substituting it by a
suitable BLDC motor and developing a PI speed controller system for providing the
excitation and controlling the speed. The basic building blocks of a BLDC motor and its
driving circuitry for a mixer include an inverter circuit, a current controlling block
current, back EMF and torque feedback relays, speed regulating unit and an LCD
display unit or a computer display monitor to view the output. To rotate a BLDC motor
we need to control the direction and timing of the current into the coils. The inverter
circuit will consist of 6 MOSFET switches which convert DC input into AC input and
uses it to excite the three phase windings of the motor based on a proper timing
sequence determined based on the back EMF from the motor. A switched mode power
supply (SMPS) can be used to send 24 volts input to the controller. The advantage of
implementing a BLDC motor in a mixer is that- even a lower rated BLDC motor, say of
150 watts, running at 24 volts, can provide greater output and performance at reduced
current consumption due to the low starting current drawn during operation hence
reducing the consumption of electricity and bringing down costs of the consumers. The
aim is to use a suitable PI controller to control the operation and regulate the speed of
the motor. The PI controller will be designed and developed for a motor rated at 150
watts running at 24volts. LCD segment display or a computer screen will be used to
verify and check whether the motor is performing well with respect to the expected
results and to display various parameters like the speed, voltage, errors and the gains
(Kp and Ki). First a model was developed on MATLAB/ Simulink software. The model
was compiled and run with theoretic values of gains and input voltage and tested to see
if it was displaying the expected results. PCB board and various components for the
controller were then designed using PROTEUS software and the 3D controller board
model was developed and procured. Coding for the controller was done using MP lab
and using trial and error method the values of gains were set and fixed in a way that
they throw the least amount of error and the motor runs at desired speed. Finally the
code was loaded on to the PIC microcontroller using the PIC KIT and the system was
fine tuned to give the least possible errors.

13
2.4 ADVANTAGES OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM

The following are the advantages of implementing the BLDC motor and drive system-

 Very low consumption of starting current

 Reduction in running costs
 Spark-less operation
 Smaller in size
 Lighter in weight
 Noiseless operation
 Better power output for its size
 Better torque to weight ratio
 Longer life of the mixer
 Able to run the motor on inverter supply during power outages.

14
 CHAPTER 3

SIMULATION MODEL

3.1 GENERAL

A highly efficient language for technical computation is called MATLAB. It combines

visual, computations, and programming in an easy-to-use environment where problems
and solutions are given in well-known mathematical expressions.
It is used for algorithm development, scientific and engineering graphics, modeling,
simulation, and prototyping, application development, including Graphical User
Interface building, Math and computation, Data analysis, exploration, and visualization.
MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming
language. Although MATLAB is intended primarily for numerical computing, an
optional toolbox uses the MuPad symbolic engine, allowing access to symbolic
computing capabilities. An additional package, Simulink, adds graphical multi-domain
simulation and Model-Based Design for dynamic and embedded systems. It provides
an interactive environment with hundreds of built - in functions for technical
computation, graphics and animation.

3.2 SIMULINK

Simulink, developed by MathWorks, is a commercial tool for modeling, simulating and

analyzing multi-domain dynamic systems. Its primary interface is a graphical block
diagramming tool and a customizable set of block libraries. It offers tight integration
with the rest of the MATLAB environment and can either drive MATLAB or be scripted
from it. Simulink is widely used in control theory and digital signal processing for
multi-domain simulation and Model-Based Design.

Simulink is a block diagram environment for multi-domain simulation and

Model-Based Design. It supports system-level design, simulation, automatic code

15
 generation, and continuous test and verification of embedded systems. Simulink
provides a graphical editor, customizable block libraries, and solvers for modelling and
simulating dynamic systems. It is integrated with MATLAB, enabling you to
incorporate MATLAB algorithms into models and export simulation results to
MATLAB for further analysis. Simulink provides a set of predefined blocks that you
can combine to create a detailed block diagram of your system. Tools for hierarchical
modelling, data management and subsystem customization enable you to represent even
the most complex system concisely and accurately.

3.3 BLOCK DIAGRAM REFERRED

AC SUPPLY AC TO DC INVERTER BLDC HALL

MOTOR SENSORS

PI LOGIC
CONTROLLER

Figure 3.1 Block diagram of BLDC motor drive

3.4 SIMULATION MODEL

The following matlab simulation has been developed containing the BLDC motor,
mosfet inverter switching circuit and the PI controller. Since the stator output currents
are in radian per second, a gain multiplier of 30/pi has been created in order to get the
speed in RPM.

16
 Figure 3.2 Simulation model

3.4 SIMULATION MODULES

The simulation diagram is made up of the following blocks-

 MOSFET inverter block

17
 Gain blocks
 PI controller block
 BLDC motor module
 Bus selector
 AC voltage input
 Reference block of 1500 RPM
 Scopes to view the output parameters like Speed and Current

3.5 SIMULATION RESULTS

CHAPTER 4

18
 HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

4.1 INTRODUCTION

The hardware system of the proposed BLDC motor controller is implemented using a
PIC18F4431 micro-controller. The software’s like Proteus, MPlab, and Realterm are
used for the system design for coding the gating sequences in to the PIC controller.

4.2 MODULES USED

 SMPS (switched mode power supply)

 BLDC motor

 Controller unit

 Hall sensors
 Three phase inverter

4.3 MODULES DESCRIPTION

4.3.1 SMPS
Switched-mode power supply or SMPS is an electronic power supply that incorporates
a switching regulator to convert electrical power efficiently. It is used to obtain a
regulated dc supply from an un-regulated AC supply. In the project we are using an
SMPS to provide a regulated DC supply of 24 volts to run the motor and the controller
unit.

19
 Figure 4.1 SMPS module

4.3.2 BLDC MOTOR

PARAMETER RATING
RATED SPEED 3000 RPM
RATED CURRENT 6.25 AMPS
RATED VOLTAGE 24 VOLTS
INPUT POWER 150 WATTS
RATED TORQUE 0.48 NEWTON METER

Table 4.1 BLDC motor specifications

Figure 4.2 BLDC motors

BLDC motors are, as their name suggests, are motors that do not have any brushes or
commutator arrangement. The Brushless DC (BLDC) motor is the ideal choice for
applications that require high reliability, high efficiency, and high power-to-volume
ratio. Generally speaking, a BLDC motor is considered to be a high performance motor
that is capable of providing large amounts of torque over a vast speed range. . BLDC
motors are a derivative of the most commonly used DC motor, the brushed DC motor,
and they share the same torque and speed performance curve characteristics. The major
difference between the two is the use of brushes. BLDC motors do not have brushes
(hence the name “brushless DC”) and must be electronically commutated.

Commutation is the act of changing the motor phase currents at the appropriate times to
produce rotational torque. In a brush DC motor, the motor assembly contains a physical
20
commutator which is moved by means of actual brushes in order to move the rotor.
With a BLDC motor, electrical current powers a permanent magnet that causes the
motor to move, so no physical commutator is necessary. A BLDC motor is reliable and
requires little to no maintenance at all due to the absence of brushes and commutator
assembly. A BLDC motor has two parts the rotor, the rotating part, and the stator, the
stationary part. Other important parts of the motor are the stator windings and the rotor
magnets. There are two basic BLDC motor designs, the in-runner type and out-runner
type. In an inner rotor design, the stator windings surround the rotor and are affixed to
the motor’s housing as shown here. The primary advantage of an inner rotor
construction is its ability to dissipate heat. A motor’s ability to dissipate heat directly
impacts its ability to produce torque. For this reason, the overwhelming majority of
BLDC motors use an inner rotor design.

4.3.2 CONTROLLER UNIT

a) IC LM317
b) IC 7805
c) PIC18F4431
d) Hall effect sensors
e) 3 phase inverter circuit along with the driver circuit

MOSFETS

MOSFET DRIVER
CIRCUIT

PIC18F4431

IC 7805

IC LM317

21
 Figure 4.3 Controller module designed using PROTEUS software

Figure 4.4 PCB after fabrication and attachment of components

a) IC LM317

The IC LM317 is a voltage regulator and part of the power source block in the
controller circuit. It consists of 3 pins- input, output and adjust. It functions on 14 volts
of input supply.

22
 Figure 4.5 IC LM317

b) IC 7805
It also functions as a voltage regulator. It works on 5 volts of input. It has three
terminals – input (5-10 volts), output (5 volts) and ground (maintained at 0 volts). It also
has a charge reservoir to store charge in case the supply voltage drops at any stage. The
IC 7805 along with the IC LM317 work together as the power source block and is used
to drive the PIC18F4431 microprocessor.

c) PIC18F4431 microprocessor

The PIC18F4431 is a power control PWM module .The PIC is used to drive and give
gating PWM signals to the MOSFETS. This unit is the one that decides what phases are
to be energised at what instant of time and switches the MOSFETS accordingly after
analysing the signals coming from the hall sensors.

23
 Figure 4.6 PIC 18F4431 pin diagram

It consists of the following features-

1) Power control PWM module

2) Motion feedback module
3) 200K ADC module
4) Self-programmable
5) USART (universal synchronous asynchronous transmitter and receiver)
6) 9 channel ADC input
7) Operating voltage (2 to 5 volts)
8) 40 pin IC

It consists of 3 modules-
1) PWM module
2) Motion feedback module
3) High speed ADC converter

Analog to digital converter (ADC)-

It is a system that converts analog signals into digital signals. They convert continuous
time signals into discrete time signals that can be used by the microprocessor. They may
also convert the input analog voltage into a digital equivalent magnitude.ADC does this
conversion periodically by sampling the input. Sampling is the process of reducing a
continuous time signal into a discrete time signal. The number of samples taken per

24
second is called the sampling rate of the ADC. A sample may be a value or a set of
values.

The performance of an ADC depends on the following-

1) Bandwidth
2) Signal to noise ratio (SNR)
3) Resolution

An anti-aliasing filter is used before sampling to limit the bandwidth to a suitable value.

Resolution is the bit depth or the depth of information that each sample can hold.

Resolution indicates the number of discrete values the ADC can generate. Resolution
can be applied in volts and can produce n discrete values. The performance of an ADC
2
can be further improved by adding a dither (white noise). There are various types of
ADC’s. Here in the project the microprocessor makes use of the successive
approximation type ADC.

Pulse width modulation-

It is a method used to reduce the average power supplied to an electrical system. PWM
can be used for increasing or decreasing the time of operation of certain devices like
lights motors etc. by controlling the duty cycle. Duty cycle is defined as the proportion
of ‘ON’ time with respect to the ‘OFF’ time.

4.3.3 HALL-EFFECT SENSORS

Hall sensors are used to measure the magnitude of the magnetic field. A hall effect
sensor stationed near the rotor is used to detect the orientation of the rotor very precisely
by measuring variations in the magnetic field. It sends this feedback data to the
microprocessor so it can take the necessary steps to decide the sequence of energising
the phase windings of the rotor.

25
4.3.4 INVERTER

An inverter refers to a power electronic device that converts power in DC form to AC

form at the required frequency and voltage output. It is usually made up of MOSFET
switching devices.

Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) − The voltage source inverter has stiff DC source
voltage that is the DC voltage has limited or zero impedance at the inverter input
terminals.

Current Source Inverter (CSI) − A current source inverter is supplied with a variable
current from a DC source that has high impedance. The resulting current waves are not
influenced by the load.

Single Phase Inverter

There are two types of single phase inverters − full bridge inverter and half bridge
inverter.

Half Bridge Inverter

This type of inverter is the basic building block of a full bridge inverter. It contains two
switches and each of its capacitors has a voltage output equal to Vdc2Vdc2. In addition,
the switches complement each other, that is, if one is switched ON the other one goes
OFF.

Full Bridge Inverter

This inverter circuit converts DC to AC. It achieves this by closing and opening the
switches in the right sequence. It has four different operating states which are based on
which switches are closed.

26
Three Phase Inverter

A three phase inverter is basically three single phase inverter connected in parallel to
each other. A three-phase inverter converts a DC input into a three-phase AC output. Its
three arms are normally delayed by an angle of 120° so as to generate a three-phase AC
supply. The inverter switches each has a ratio of 50% and switching occurs after every
T/6 of the time T (60° angle interval). The switches S1 and S4, the switches S2 and S5
and switches S3 and S6 complement each other.A three-phase BLDC motor requires
three Hall sensors to detect the rotor’s position. Based on the physical position of the
Hall sensors, there are two types of output: a 60° phase shift and a 120° phase shift.
Combining these three Hall sensor signals can determine the exact commutation
sequence. Figure 13 shows the commutation sequence of a three-phase BLDC motor
driver circuit for counterclockwise rotation. Three Hall sensors—“a,” “b,” and “c”—are
mounted on the stator at 120° intervals, while the three phase windings are in a star
formation. For every 60° rotation, one of the Hall sensors changes its state; it takes six
steps to complete a whole electrical cycle. In synchronous mode, the phase current
switching updates every 60°. For each step, there is one motor terminal driven high,
another motor terminal driven low, with the third one left floating. Individual drive
controls for the high and low drivers permit high drive, low drive, and floating drive at
each motor terminal. However, one signal cycle may not correspond to a complete
mechanical revolution. The number of signal cycles to complete a mechanical rotation
is determined by the number of rotor pole pairs. Every rotor pole pair requires one
signal cycle in one mechanical rotation. So, the number of signal cycles is equal to the
rotor pole pairs.

The figure below shows a circuit for a three phase inverter. It is nothing but three single
phase inverters put across the same DC source. The pole voltages in a three phase
inverter are equal to the pole voltages in single phase half bridge inverter.

27
 Figure 4.7 inverter circuitry
The two types of inverters above have two modes of conduction − 180° mode of
conduction and 120° mode of conduction. Although the 120 degree mode of operation is
the most common, it is also subject to certain disadvantages like more noise production,
larger vibrations and reduced efficiency when compared to the 180 degree mode of
operation.

The various phases of the motor are excited based on the turning on and off (switching)
of the MOSFETS. The inverter consists of 6 MOSFETS. The lower MOSFETS are
labelled as Q0, Q2 and Q4 for convenience and the upper MOSFETS are labelled as
Q1,Q3 and Q5 . No two MOSFETS of the same branch can be turned ON together and
there should be a certain minimum time between the turning OFF of one MOSFETS
and the switching ON of the other MOSFET. This minimum time is known as the dead
time. The signals for the order in which the MOSFETS are switched are given by the
PIC18F4431 microprocessor. Each MOSFET has its own driver circuit and based on the
switching signal sent to the MOSFET, the phases are excited and the motor rotates.

4.4 PI CONTROLLER

The PI controller is a controller obtained by modifying the PID controller. It is

essentially a variation of the PID controller in which only the ‘proportional’ and the

28
‘integral’ terms are used for controlling the system. A system which does not use a
feedback loop is termed as an open loop system. An open loop system can’t be
controlled and in case the system encounters errors, it can’t rectify the errors. The
proposed project deals with operating the BLDC motor in a closed loop. A closed loop
is one where feedback is taken from the output end of the system and fed back to the
system input. This feedback signal is then compared to a set reference and the error is
calculated. The error is calculated as the difference between the expected value and the
actual value. An ideal control technique must be able to reduce the error value to zero in
order to ensure that the system functions according to expectations. To achieve this
there are many control strategies that can be implemented such as Fuzzy controllers, ST
controllers and PID controllers to name a few. The ideal method that a system designer
uses to control his system depends on several factors such as the parameters monitored,
the application of the system and the expected outcomes form the system. The project
aims to use a PI controller which is a variation of the PID controller in which the
‘derivative’ term is not used. The PI controller has two terms namely the ‘proportional’
term and the ‘integral’ term. Each of these terms is used to describe the way by which
the error developed can be handled and resolved. Each term of the PI controller has
gains namely ‘Kp’ for proportional gain and ‘Ki’ for the integral gain.

Proportional controller

The proportional controller describes how fast the motor can attain the desired speed.
The gain associated with the proportional controller is termed as ‘Kp’. If a very high
value of gain is applied to the proportional controller, it causes an overshoot to occur
which can be observed on a graph. If a very low value of gain is applied, then it may
take the motor a very long time to attain the desired speed hence making the response of
the system slow. So it is necessary to choose a suitable value of gain ‘Kp’ in such a way
that the system responds quickly without a peak overshoot. The control variable for a P
controller can be obtained by multiplying the error by a set constant gain (Kp). Where,
the error is the difference between the set speed and the actual speed. The value of Kp
needs to be chosen carefully in order to get the optimum system response. Lower values
for Kp will tend to give smoother but slower responses. Higher values of Kp will yield

29
much quicker response but may cause overshoot, where the output oscillates before
settling.

ERROR= set speed (set point) – actual speed (process variable)

CONTROL VARIABLE= (ERROR) * (Kp)

Integral controller

Even after the Proportional controller resolves its error, another error called the constant
error and the steady state errors may still persist. To eliminate the steady state error we
go for the integral controller. The gain associated with the integral controller is termed
as ‘Ki’ (integral gain). The integral controller constantly keeps on adding the error to the
integral value until the system error gets reduced to zero.

INTEGRAL= INTEGRAL + ERROR

The overall response of the PI controller can be obtained by summing up the

Proportional and the integral terms as seen in the following formula-

CONTROL VARIABLE = (Kp * Error) + (Ki * Integral)

While designing the controller the value of the integral gain term must be carefully set.
If the value chosen is too small, the steady state error is corrected slowly and the system
response is slow. If the value chosen is too high the system becomes even more unstable
and may oscillate. There are two methods for tuning a PI controller namely

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Ziegler-Nichols method and trial and error method. The PI controller used in the project
was tuned using the Trial and Error method.

In the project, the following values of gains were chosen to reduce the error-

 Kp = 0.01
 Ki = 0.001
 Kd = 0

The following formula was is used to determine the pulse width signals needed to be
sent to get the expected results out of the system-

PWM = PWM + ((Kp*speed error) + (Ki*integral) + (Kd*derivative) – (current+1)

Kp

TARGET PWM
MOTOR
SPEED Ki (1/s)

ERROR

Figure 4.8 Pictoral representation of a Proportional and Integral controller

4.5 SOFTWARE USED

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The following softwares were used to code the PIC, interface it and to display the output.

4.5.1 MP LAB

MPLAB Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is a free, integrated toolset for the
development of embedded applications on Microchip's PIC and dsPIC microcontrollers.
HI-TECH Software is an Australian-based company that provides ANSI C compilers
and development tools. Founded in 1984, the company is best known for its HI-TECH
C PRO compilers with whole-program compilation technology, or Omniscient Code
Generation (OCG). HI-TECH Software was bought by Microchip on 20 February 2009,
whereupon it refocused its development effort exclusively on supporting Microchip
products.
The HI-TECH C Compiler for PIC10/12/16 MCUs (Lite mode) is a freeware compiler.
It supports all PIC10, PIC12 and PIC16 series devices.

The features of HI-TECH C Compiler are listed as followings:

 Fully compatible with Microchip’s MPLAB IDE
 Fully ANSI-compliant
 Includes Library source - for standard libraries and sample code for I/O drivers
 Includes macro assembler, linker, preprocessor, and one-step driver
 Runs on 32/64-bit Windows, Linux and Mac OS X

4.5.2 PROTEUS

The Proteus is an electronic circuit design software which includes a schematic capture,
simulation and PCB (Printed Circuit Board) Layout modules for PCB designing because
of its flexibility.
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Even though if you are not using PCB designing you can view the PCB layout of the
component individually while selecting the component it helps during the soldering of
components in PCB.

Proteus is ahead in simulating the circuits containing the micro controllers where we
can simulate the circuit by uploading the hex code to the Micro-controller.

4.5.3 REALTERM

Realterm is an engineer’s terminal program specially designed for capturing,

controlling and debugging binary and other difficult data streams. It is the best tool for
debugging and viewing running program output. In the project Realterm software is
used to display the output of the PI controller gain terms ‘Kp’ and ‘Ki’ and how they
constantly influence the system in reducing the error so as to achieve the desired speed.

4.6 RESULTS

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 Figure 4.9 Performance output

Figure 4.10 Fabrication of fiberglass body

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Figure 4.11 Final setup

CHAPTER 6

35
 SOCIAL RELEVANCE AND INNOVATION

The motors currently being used in mixer and grinder applications are generally
universal motors , but these motors consists of commutator and brush assembly that
generally get worn out after repeated regular usage, very high starting current at lowered
efficiency and are also prone to getting burnt due to sparking.

This sparking can also result in electromagnetic interference and hinder the
performance.

Moreover universal motors consume a high starting current that can also result in
high electricity bills for consumers.

Universal motors also have lousy speed control and reverse rotation is difficult.

Benefits of the proposed BLDC motor drive and controller-

 Superior control of speed

 No sparking due to electronic commutator
 Consumes very low starting current, hence reducing costs
 Able to function on inverter supply
 High output torque
 Uses back EMF method of feedback for PI operation
 Two stage error correction
 Smaller size of motor means smaller and compact mixer body kit
 Lower noise
 Accurate speed control
 Easy to reverse the motor
 Very low maintenance

REFERENCES

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1. C. Sheeba Joice, S. R. Paranjothi, and V. Jawahar Senthil Kumar(2013) ) Digital
control strategy for four quadrant operation of three phase BLDC motor with
load variations.

2. Gui-Jia Su, Senior Member, IEEE, and John W. McKeever(2004) Lw cost

sensorless control of BLDC motors with improved speed range.

3. J. Zhang, N. Wang and S. Wang, “A developed method of tuning PID

controllers with fuzzy rules for integrating process,” Proceedings of the
American Control Conference,Boston, 2004, pp. 1109-1114.

4. M. A. EL-Sharkawi, “Development an Implementation of High Performance

Variable Structure Tracking Control for Brushless Motors,”IEEE Transaction on
Energy Conversion, Vol. 6, no. 1 March1991, pp, 114-119.

5. W. R. Pearson and Paresh C. Sen, “Brushless DC Motor Propulsion Using

Synchronous Motor for Transient System,” IEEE Transection on Industrial
Electronics, Vol. IE 31, No. 4, Nov. 1984,pp.326-351.

6. C.-L. Xia, Permanent Magnet Brushless DC Motor Drives and Controls.

Singapore: John Wiley & Sons Singapore Pte. Ltd., 2012.

7. M. Thesis, “BLDC Motor Modelling and Control – A Matlab ® /Simulink ®

Implementation–,” 2005.

8. Ming Liang Chen "Multi-Layer Self Tuning Powe System Stabilizer," Ph.D.
Thesis, University of Washington, 1989.

9. A. Mohamed, “Optimization Techniques for Tuning the Controller of a

Permanent Magnet Brushless Motor,” Cairo, master of science, 2012.

10. H.X.Li and S.K.Tso, "Quantitative design and analysis of Fuzzy

Proportional-Integral- Derivative Control- a Step Towards Autotuning",
International journal of system science, Vol.31, No.5, 2000, pp.545-553.

11. G.R.Chen and T.T.Pham, "Introduction to fuzzy sets, fuzzy logic, fuzzy control
system", CRC.Press,Boac Raton,FL,USA,2000.

12. I. Science, “PID Parameters Optimization by Using Genetic Algorithm Andri

Mirzal, Shinichiro Yoshii, Masashi Furukawa.”

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13. M. Omar, M. Soliman, A. M. A. Ghany, and F. Bendary, “Optimal Tuning of
PID Controllers for Hydrothermal Load Frequency Control Using Ant Colony
Optimization,” vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 348–360, 2013.

14. J. P. Anderson, A. Julian, F. Approved, and O. M. B. No, “NAVAL

POSTGRADUATE AND CONTROL OF A 4th ORDER ROTATIONAL by,” no.
December, 2009.

15. R. Kandiban and R. Arulmozhiyal, “Speed Control of BLDC Motor Using

Adaptive Fuzzy PID Controller,” Procedia Eng., vol. 38, pp. 306–313, Jan. 2012.

16. C. Sheeba Joice, S. R. Paranjothi, and V. Jawahar Senthil Kumar, “Digital

Control Strategy for Four Quadrant Operation of Three Phase BLDC Motor
With Load Variations”, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL
INFORMATICS, VOL. 9, NO. 2, MAY 2013.

17. Changliang Xia, Member, IEEE, Zhiqiang Li, and Tingna Shi, “A Control
Strategy for Four-Switch Three-Phase Brushless DC Motor Using Single
Current Sensor”, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS,
VOL. 56, NO. 6, JUNE 2009.

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