Unbalanced ZCP Compensation Method for Position Sensorless BLDC Motor

This letter presents a position sensorless control method of brushless dc (BLDC) motors considering unbalanced zero-crossing detection of back electromotive force (back EMF). The zero-crossing point (ZCP) of back EMF voltage is detected by comparing the dc-link voltage with the back EMF voltage. The unbalanced ZCP detection is caused by the dc-link voltage drop, dc-link offset voltage, and a motor having asymmetric back EMFs. Because the sensorless BLDC motor control is based on unbalanced ZCP detection, issues with torque ripple and current ripple may be increased. Therefore, sensorless operation with unbalanced ZCP detection may be unstable. In this study, an improved sensorless control method based on a simple compensation algorithm using ZCP signals is proposed. Using the proposed control method, balanced commutation instants can be obtained and the benefits of high-performance operation of BLDC motors can be accomplished. Through application of the proposed method, the effectiveness of the proposed method was experimentally verified.