Category: RC models

This article repeats some earlier tests on two competitive ESC firmwares for sensorless brushless DC motors.

The motor chosen for the tests, a 4822-690KV, is of a type that is very popular; a flat radial flux outrunner with high pole count. These are marketed as more suitable to multi-rotors that the barrel shaped motors developed for planes, but the claims are questionable, these motors are often at higher risk of sync loss due than the barrel shaped motors and used feature regularly in forum postings of de-sync problems. Continue reading A short comparison of the latest BLHeli_S with SimonK / tgy (~2017)

The article Demagnetisation in a sensorless brushless DC drive gave a broad overview of demagnetisation in a sensorless brushless DC drives that depend on Zero Crossing (ZC) detection to synchronise the next commutation phase.

There is no widely recognised method of prediction whether a drive is at risk of excessive demagnetisation time, not even in the steady-state wide open throttle (WOT) scenario.

This article proposes a statistic that might be used as a risk indicator, it is dimensionless and approximately proportional to the ratio of energy stored in the self inductance of a coil to the energy consumed by the motor in the time available for demagnetisation. Continue reading A Demagnetisation Risk Index for a sensorless brushless DC drive

This article explains the ‘demagnetisation’ issue that challenges sensorless brushless DC drives that depend on Zero Crossing (ZC) detection to synchronise the next commutation phase.

Above is a scope capture the ‘A’ terminals of a Multistar 4220-650Kv with 1045SF propeller running at about 50% throttle on 3S (about 4000rpm). The motor is quite lightly loaded for the purpose of illustration. The motor drive is low side complementary PWM modulated, and drive is advanced by 15° and the FETs are all N-FETs.

We will focus on the detail starting at about 5 divisions on the time axis (2500µs). The explanation will detail behaviour of the ‘A’ section of the drive, but the same thing happens on the B and C sections which follow each 120° electrical later respectively.

Above is a capture of the A terminal focussing on the end of one of six commutation phases. The A terminal is the ‘low side’ terminal on the left hand side (and C is the high) and the ‘sense terminal’ on the right hand side (C is the high and B is the low). Continue reading Demagnetisation in a sensorless brushless DC drive

This is a report on a series of tests performed on a Hobbyking Multistar 4220-650Kv sensorless brushless DC motor.

Above, a top view of the bare motor. It is a 12S16P disc form or pancake form motor, a style that is very popular though inclined to sync problems.

Above, the underneath of the bare motor.

The prop adapter is not shown, it had almost 1mm runout and would need to be replaced to actually fly the motor as propeller induced vibration would be unacceptable.

The motor would appear to be similar to the Hengli 42 20 650Kv, in fact so similar that it would seem possible, even likely that Hengli is the OEM.

Induced voltage waveform

The motor was driven at 970rpm and the voltage between two motor wires observed on a scope.

The line-line voltage is the sum of two phase voltages, one of which is a time delayed copy of the other and whilst the resultant is sinusoidal when the components are purely sinusoidal, the transformation is less obvious for complex waves such as shown above.

The phase voltage is of interest as it drives the sense process that provides motor timing crucial to commutation.

Direct measurement of the phase voltage using a star of 12kΩ resistors to establish a neutral reference yields the waveform above.

The induced voltage waveform somewhat the result of the 12N16P configuration. Period of the waveform is 7.7ms, equivalent to 60/0.0077=7790erpm indicating 7790/970=8 pole pairs or 16 poles.
Continue reading Hobbyking Multistar 4220-650Kv

Simple DC machines

Simple DC machines includes a DC motor with permanent magnet field and wound armature with commutator. The permanent magnet DC motor is a good case to study.

In simple DC machines, the difference between being a motor and generator is often simply a matter of rotational speed. The motor develops an induced voltage in its windings by virtue of its rotational speed, and current flows in the winding if that voltage is different to the terminal voltage… the direction of current determined by which voltage is higher and the direction of current determines whether the torque assists or resists the rotation.

The counter torque from reverse current is often referred to as regenerative braking as the retarding effect of the current driven by the induced emf of rotation slows the motor, and current flows into the source.

If a simple DC machine is powered from a simple rectifier circuit, the rectifier will block the flow of reverse current, and so there is no regenerative braking… the rotation induced emf simply raises the terminal voltage of the motor (possibly dangerously), but no current flows and there is no counter torque.

If a simple DC machine is powered from an electronic regulated power supply, the situation is a little different. The regulator will commonly block reverse current, and it may sense that output voltage is greater than desired and shut down, it may even be damaged by the excess terminal voltage.

Brushless DC motors

Brushless DC motors use some form of electronic driver to provide commutation of current in the coils, whether derived from sensors fitted to the motor or sensed from the undriven coil at any instant.

Some driver configurations provide a path for regenerative current to flow to the power source. If the power source blocks the regenerative current, the terminal voltage of the motor and power supply may increase, possibly to levels that may damage the motor driver and damage or disrupt the power supply. Electronic power supplies do not usually contain provision for regenerative current.

An example sensorless brushless DC motor used in UAVs

This example illustrates the nature of regenerative current in a particular application where rapid response of the drive is very important.

Above is a supply current graph for a test scenario that subjects the drive to a number of acceleration / deceleration scenarios. The current sensor does not measure negative current, its output is clipped at I=0. Continue reading Regenerative braking and electronic power supplies