Three-phase operation of brushless DC motor drive controlled by a predictive algorithm

A novel predictive control algorithm for the current control of brushless DC drives is presented in the paper. It allows to exploit the three phase of the motor simultaneously. The pulse width of the chain voltages are determined by means of the proposed algorithm, under the constraints of minimum Joule losses and torque ripple free operation. At maximum speed, high torque ripple appears but it is lower than that of six step operation of the traditionally controlled drive. Also the mean torque is higher than that of six step operation. Simulation results highlight the better dynamic and steady state performance of the drive controlled by the propose algorithm, with respect to the one of the traditional control.