An adjustable-speed PFC bridgeless buck-boost converter-fed BLDC motor drive

Abstract

This paper presents a power factor corrected (PFC) bridgeless (BL) buck-boost converter-fed brushless direct current (BLDC) motor drive as a cost-effective solution for low-power applications. An approach of speed control of the BLDC motor by controlling the dc link voltage of the voltage source inverter (VSI) is used with a single voltage sensor. This facilitates the operation of VSI at fundamental frequency switching by using the electronic commutation of the BLDC motor which offers reduced switching losses. A BL configuration of the buck-boost converter is proposed which offers the elimination of the diode bridge rectifier, thus reducing the conduction losses associated with it. A PFC BL buck-boost converter is designed to operate in discontinuous inductor current mode (DICM) to provide an inherent PFC at ac mains. The performance of the proposed drive is evaluated over a wide range of speed control and varying supply voltages (universal ac mains at 90-265 V) with improved power quality at ac mains. The obtained power quality indices are within the acceptable limits of international power quality standards such as the IEC 61000-3-2. The performance of the proposed drive is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink environment, and the obtained results are validated experimentally on a developed prototype of the drive.