Proceeding of International Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems 2007, Oct.

8~11, Seoul, Korea

A Novel Adaptive Commutation Angle Method for

Single Phase BLDC Motor
Jian Ni, Lijian Wu, Bo Zhang, Wanbing Jin, Jianping Ying
DELTA ELECTRONICS(SHANGHAI) CO., LTD.
No.238 Minxia Road, Pudong, Shanghai, 201209, China

Abstract- Single-phase BLDC motor is widely applied in Rotation

cooling fan, pump and blower. Due to high energy price,
efficiency is gotten more attention. Commutation angle is one of
key factors determining efficiency of BLDC motor. The optimal N S
commutation angle increases with speed increasing. Generally
commutation angle is adjusted by software, but the cost of such α
system is high. In this paper, a novel low-cost adaptive
commutation angle method is proposed to improve the Fig.2. Expansion figure of Hall element position
performance of single － phase BLDC motor. Analysis and Vm
simulation verify its effectiveness. Experimental results show the 12V
motor efficiency using adaptive commutation angle is about
average 4% higher than that without adaptive commutation ZD
angle.

Diode
I. INTRODUCTION
Hall Hall Drive Triode
Signal Circuit Triode
Single-phase BLDC motor is widely used in cooling fan, IC
pump and blower for its simple structure, easy assembly and
low cost. A typical structure of the single-phase BLDCM is
shown in Fig.1. The control system of traditional single phase
BLDC motor is shown in Fig.3. A position detector such as Fig. 3. Control system
Hall sensor is employed to detect the rotor position. Hall IC’s
Otherwise if a small commutation angle fit for low speed is
position is shown in Fig.2. And the drive system switches the
set, the commutation is lagged at high speed. It will lead to
current in the winding according to the position signal. The
high efficiency at low speed but low efficiency at high speed.
interaction between two magnetic fields produced by stator
Based on above analysis, it’s important to auto-adjust motor
winding and permanent magnet drives the rotor to rotate.
commutation angle according to speed changing. Some
Commutation angle [1], which is an angle between voltage
methods have been introduced such as adaptive commutation
commutation in motor windings and zero-crossing point of
angle based on software. But the cost of such system is high.
back EMF, is one of key factors determining BLDC motor’s
So developing low-cost adaptive commutation angle is
performance. Optimal commutation angle depends on winding
significant.
voltage, speed, load and winding inductance etc. Generally
In this paper a novel adaptive commutation angle method
optimal commutation angle increases with speed increasing [2].
based on RC circuit is developed. The operating principle is
If a large commutation angle fit for high speed is set, the
analyzed in detail below. Using this method, system cost is
commutation is advanced at low speed. It will bring on high
low.
efficiency at high speed but low efficiency at low speed.

N II. ADAPTIVE COMMUTATION ANGLE METHOD

For BLDC motor, regulating average voltage of motor
winding (Vm) means to tune the rotational speed. The general
S S method is to set an original commutation angle firstly. And
delaying an angle makes commutation optimal. The delay
angle is implemented by Delaytime in (1). The needed
stator core delaytime could be gotten by simulation or experiment. From
N
rotor yoke (1), it is also founded that needed delaytime that makes
Fig. 1. Cross-section of single phase BLDC motor commutation angle optimal decreases as speed increasing. In

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traditional adaptive commutation angle method, software is
used to implement needed delaytime. III. MODEL VERIFICATION
α opt = α orig − Needed _ Delaytime × ω (1)
The proposed model was applied to the design and
In this paper needed delaytime is implemented by hardware, simulation of a prototype single-phase BLDCM. The cross-
not software. There exists a delay circuit between Hall signal section of the motor is shown in Fig.1 and its drive circuit is
and Drive circuit. Hall signal is from Hall element. Control shown in Fig.3. The rated voltage of the motor is 12V.
signal is connected to drive circuit. Delay time is generated by
a delay circuit according to Vm (represent speed). Fig.4 shows A. Needed Delaytime
the fundamental principle during Hall signal jumping from In this paper, the needed delaytime of the motor is obtained
zero to a positive signal. If Hall signal is zero, the capacitor by experiment. When initial commutation angle is set a value
voltage is zero too and control signal is zero. If Hall signal fit for high speed running (aorig= a0, ,a0 is an angle fit for high
jumps to a positive value, the capacitor voltage begins to speed running), the needed delaytime is shown in table.1.
increase. When the capacitor voltage reaches Vref, the control The relationship between Vm and n (speed) is also given by
signal will step into a positive signal. There exists a Delaytime experiments, as in Fig.6.
between Hall signal and control signal. This relationship can be approximated as
When Hall signal jumps from zero to a positive value, n=230.77*Vm (6)
capacitor starts being charged. The capacitor voltage is Then table.1 can be described as the relationship between
described as needed delaytime and Vm, as in Fig.7.
VC = Vm(1 − e −t / τ ) (2) TABLE I
Where τ=R*C Relationship between needed delaytime and speed
When VC reaches Vref, the Control signal will step into a Speed(rpm) Needed Delaytime(us)
positive value. 2800 0
Vc=Vref (3) 2400 75
By (2) and (3), the hardware delaytime between position 2000 150
signal and control signal can be described as 1600 225
Vm
Hardware _ delaytime = τ ln( ) (4)
1203 300
Vm − Vref 1098.1 350
Where Vref is a reference voltage. 991.1 375
Fig.5 shows the function of delay circuit. From (4) it is 895 425
founded that hardware delaytime decreases due to Vm 796.4 475
(represent speed) increasing. It’s the same changing rule as 703.9 575
needed delaytime. Equati on (5) shows least square 601 625
technology is used to get optimized aorig, τ and Vref that make 499.8 750
hardware delaytime closing needed delaytime more. By this
method optimal commutation angle is gotten in whole speed
range.
n 
Min ∑ ( Needed _ delaytime − Hardware _ delaytime)2  (5)
 i =1
Vm

Hall signal
R
Vc
2.5v COMP Control
C Vref COMP Signal

Fig. 4. Delay circuit principle

Hall
Signal time

Fig. 6. Relationship between speed and

Control
Signal time

Fig. 5. Function of delay circuit

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 C. Parameters Calculation With α orig = α 0
aorig= a0 means origin commutation angle is set a value fit
for motor high speed running. Method of least squares is used
here to minimize error between needed delaytime and
hardware delaytime in whole speed range.
In this condition, the optimal parameters are Vref=1.488V
and τ=880us. The result of curve approaching is shown as
Fig.10.
Considering practical condition, tolerance rank of resistor
and capacitor should be taken into account. ±5% tolerance
capacitor and ±1% tolerance resistor are selected. Considering
tolerance, the result of curve approaching is shown as Fig.11.
Fig. 7. Relationship between needed delaytime and Vm
When aorig= a0, the absolute error between needed delaytime
and hardware delaytime is shown as Fig.12.
B. Delay Circuit Frame
Fig.8 shows the integral frame of delay circuit. The Hall
signal is from Hall IC. The Control signal is connected to drive
circuit.
If Hall signal jumps from zero to positive, the C1 voltage is Dotted: needed delaytime
Curve: hardware delaytime
charged and Vout1 is connected to Control signal. When the
C1 voltage reaches Vref, the control signal will step into a
positive signal. There exists a delay time between Hall signal
and Control signal. And when Hall signal is positive, C2 is
discharged
Otherwise if Hall jumps from positive to zero, the C2
voltage is charged and Vout2 is connected to Control signal
through a negation. When the C2 voltage reaches Vref, the
control signal will step into zero. There exists a delaytime
between Hall signal and control signal. And when Hall signal
is zero, C1 is discharged.The hardware Delaytime is decided Fig. 10. Relationship between needed delaytime and hardware
by (4). Fig.9 shows the relationship between hardware
delaytime and Vm.
Vm

Hall signal R
COMP Vout1 EN-
2.5v C COMP Hall signal
Vref
Vm S1 Control
Signal
R
2.5v Vout2
COMP COMP
C
Vref

Fig. 8. Delay circuit

Fig.11. Optimized result considering tolerance when

aorig= a0

Fig. 9. Relationship between hardware delaytime and Vm

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 0
Fig. 12. Absolute error when Fig. 15. Absolute error when aorig= a0+10
aorig= a0
0.7
D. Parameters Calculation With α orig > α 0 0.6

efficien cy
aorig> a0 means origin commutation angle is set a value large 0.5
than the value fit for high speed running. If aorig> a0, needed 0.4 Large commutation angle
delaytime is different from table.1.
0.3 Small commutation angle
Through calculation we find that as aorig increasing
Euclidean distance decreases. Through calculation, the 0.2
Our solution
optimized parameters are Vref=0.9444V, τ=4930us and 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
0
aorig= a0+10 . The result of curve approaching is shown as speed (rpm)
Fig.13. Fig. 16. Efficiency comparison of three methods
Considering tolerance, the result of curve approaching is
shown as Fig.14. Comparing Fig.15 with Fig.12, if resistor and capacitor had
no tolerance or very small tolerance rank, moving Hall element
Then absolute error of curve approaching is shown as Fig.15.
to a proper position (aorig= a0+100) would get a smaller
Euclidean distance. Considering component tolerance, moving
Dotted: needed delaytime
Curve: hardware delaytime
Hall element to such a “proper” position couldn’t keep a
smaller absolute error and error range. So aorig= a0 is selected.

IV. CONCLUSIONS
This method makes it possible to improve efficiency with
low cost. By this method, the motor efficiency (shown in
Fig.16) is about average 4% higher than the efficiency without
adaptive commutation angle. This paper presented a novel
commutation angle auto-adjustment method based on RC
0
circuit. This technique makes it possible to improve efficiency
Fig. 13. Optimized result when aorig= a0+10 with low cost. The relationship between commutation angle
and delay time is given. The operating principle of this method
is detailed analyzed and simulated. With this technique, the
motor efficiency is about 4% higher than the efficiency of a
traditional motor.
Experimental results verified that the commutation angle
auto-adjustment method is high efficiency and low cost.

REFERENCES
[1] Z.Q. Zhu, S. Bentouati and D. Howe "Control of single-phase permanent
magnet brushless dc drives for high-speed," IEE Power Electronics and
Variable Speed Drives, 18-19, September 2000.
[2] C.M. Chao, C.P. Liao, D.R. Huang and T.F. Ying "A New Automatic
Phase Adjustment of Optical Drive Signal," IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON
Fig. 14. Optimized result considering tolerance when
MAGNETICS, vol. 34, No. 2, March 1998
aorig= a0+100

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