High-performance multilevel inverter drive of brushless DC motor

Abstract

The brushless DC (BLDC) motor has numerous applications in high-power systems; it is simple in construction, is cheap, requires less maintenance, has higher efficiency, and has high power in the output unit. The BLDC motor is driven by an inverter. This paper presents design and simulation for a three-phase three-level inverter to drive the BLDC motor. The multilevel inverter is driven by discrete three-phase pulse width modulation (DPWM) generator that forced-commuted the IGBT’s three-level converters using three bridges to vectored outputs 12- pulses with three levels. Using DPWM with a three-level inverter solves the problem of harmonic distortions and low electromagnetic interference. This topology can attract attention in high-power and high-performance voltage applications. It provides a three-phase voltage source with amplitude, phase, and frequency that are controllable. The proposed model is used with the PID controller to follow the reference speed signal designed by variable steps. The system design is simulated by using Matlab/Simulink. Satisfactory results and high performance of the control with steady state and transient response are obtained. The results of the proposed modelare compared with the variable DC-link control. The results of the proposed model are more stable and reliable.