DSCs Enable Field-Oriented
Control for Washer Motors
Digital signal controllers enable drives for
permanent magnet synchronous motors
to be optimized with complex algorithms at
low cost.
W
hen used in an appliance, a permanent
magnet synchronous motor (PMSM)
provides very good efficiency because of
its constant rotor magnetic field, which is
produced by a permanent magnet on the
rotor. In addition, its stator magnetic field is generated by
sinusoidal distribution of the windings. Compared to induc-
tion motors, PMSMs have a very high power/size ratio. They
also produce less electrical noise compared to dc motors
since brushes are not used.
In PMSM-based appliances, field-oriented control (FOC)
offers a great cost benefit because it eliminates the position
sensors. The sensorless FOC technique also overcomes re-
strictions placed on some applications that cannot deploy
position or speed sensors, such as those in which the motor
is immersed in oil. Although proprietary FOC designs using
ASICs are available, a new generation of digital signal con-
trollers (DSCs) offer a low-cost alternative for implementing
the FOC algorithm.
DSCs are suitable for appliances like washing machines
because they feature peripherals tailored for motor control
such as pulse width modulators (PWMs), analog-to-digital
converters (ADCs) and quadrature encoder interfaces. When
executing controller routines and implementing digital fil-
ters, DSCs help designers optimize code execution by being
able to carry out the multiply-accumulate instructions and
fractional operations in a single cycle. Also, for operations
requiring saturation capabilities, DSCs help designers avoid
overflows by offering hardware saturation protection.
DSCs need fast and flexible ADCs for current sensing,
a crucial function in motor control. For example, the Mi-
crochip dsPIC DSC family features ADCs capable of con-
verting inputs at a 1-Msample/sec rate and handling up to
four inputs simultaneously. Multiple trigger options on the
ADCs enable the use of inexpensive current-sense resistors
to measure motor phase-winding currents. Triggering ADCs
Power Electronics Technology March 2007
By Jorge Zambada,Applications Engineer, Digital Signal
Controller Division, Microchip Technology, Chandler, Ariz.
with PWM modules enables inexpensive current-sensing
circuitry, by sensing inputs at specific times where switching
transistors allow current to flow through the current-sense
resistors.
Development Tools
The FOC motor-control firmware discussed in this article
was developed based on Microchip’s dsPICDEM MC1 Mo-
tor Control Development Board.[1] Microchip’s data moni-
tor and control interface (DMCI) tool, which is a module
within the MPLAB Integrated Development Environment
(IDE), was used to test and debug the FOC algorithm. The
DMCI tool provides a quick and dynamic IDE, which allows
designers to graphically represent the application feedback.
For instance, DMCI’s IDE provides project-aware naviga-
tion of program symbols (variables) that can be dynami-
cally assigned to any combination of slider, direct input or
Boolean controls. These controls can be used interactively
to change the values of program variables within the DMCI
IDE. Further, the graphs can be dynamically configured for
viewing program-generated data.
In the system overview block diagram (Fig. 1), it can be
seen that no position sensors are attached to the motor shaft.
However, there are some sensors used for current measure-
ments on the motor. These sensors feature low-inductance
resistors that are part of the inverter function block. A three-
phase inverter stage drives the motor windings (Fig. 2).
The FOC Algorithm
The following is a step-by-step summary of the FOC (or
vector-control) algorithm:
1. Measure the stator currents phase currents iA and iB.
Calculate iC from the fact that iA + iB + iC = 0 and calculate
the currents from the two current sensors.
2. Convert the set of these three-phase currents onto
a two-axis system. This conversion provides the variables
34 www.powerelectronics.com
 DIGITAL SIGNAL CONTROLLERS

variables from i and i. Now, trans-

����� ������������
�������� form the quadrature currents, iD and
����� iQ, onto the rotating coordinate system.
����� ������ During steady-state conditions, iD and
������ ����� iQ will remain constant. This step is
����� ����

�����������
called the Park Transformation.
����� 4. Error signals are formed using iD,
����� � iQ and reference values for each. The
��
iD reference controls rotor-magnetiz-
���� ing flux. The iQ reference controls the
��� torque output of the motor. The error
��
��� signals are input to proportional and
�� integral (PI) controllers. Then, the PI
�������������

���
������������ controller’s output provides VD and
���� VQ , which is a voltage vector that will
��� be sent to the motor.
���������������
��� ������ 5. Estimate the new coordinate
��� transformation angle, where V, V, i
��� ������������ and i are the inputs. The new angle
���������� �� guides the FOC algorithm as to where
���
to place the next voltage vector.
��� 6. Rotate the VD and VQ output val-
���
��� ues from the PI controllers back into
���
���
���
��� the stationary reference frame, using
���� ��� the new angle. This calculation pro-
�� vides new quadrature voltage values,
���
�� V and V.
���
��� 7. Transform the V and V values
���
back to three-phase values VA, VB and
VC. The three-phase voltage values are
Fig. 1. In this basic implementation of a field-oriented-control-based PMSM driver, one advan-
tage that is immediately apparent is the absence of position or speed sensors. used to calculate new PWM duty-cycle
values that generate the desired voltage
�������������������� vector. The entire process of trans-
forming, PI iteration, transforming
back and generating PWM is shown
����� ����� ����� ����
������� in Fig. 3.
�� �����
�������
����� ����� ����� Sensorless FOC for PMSMs
The sensorless control technique
implements the FOC algorithm by
estimating the position of the motor
�������� without using speed or position sen-
�����
������������� sors. Fig. 4 shows a simplified block
�� diagram of the position-estimator
��
function. The FOC algorithm is ex-
ecuted at the same rate as that of the
�� PWM duty-cycle algorithm. In the
FOC algorithm, the PWM triggers two
Fig. 2. A three-phase inverter drives the PMSM windings. The figure shows the three-phase respective ADC conversions for the
windings, along with the current-sensing and fault-generation circuitry built into the power two winding-current shunt resistors.
inverter, to protect the system against excessive currents.
Then a potentiometer is used to set the
i and i from the measured iA, iB and 3. Rotate the two-axis coordinate reference speed of the motor. The ADC
iC values; i and i are time-varying system to align with the rotor flux, us- interrupts generate the data samples
quadrature current values, as viewed ing the transformation angle calculated needed to execute the algorithm.
from the stator’s perspective. This step at the last iteration of the control loop. From the motor model in Fig. 5, the
is called Clarke Transformation. This conversion provides the iD and iQ input voltage can be obtained:

Power Electronics Technology March 2007 36 www.powerelectronics.com

 DIGITAL SIGNAL CONTROLLERS

���� ����� �� ��
� �� � �� ���� ������ � ����
� ��� ����� � ���
� � �� ������ �
�� ����
�����
� ��
� �����
� �
�

���� �� ��
����
��
�� �� Fig. 5. The PMSM can be approximated by an
�� �����
���� electrical model, comprising the winding
resistance, winding inductance and back EMF,
����
����� which is dependent on the motor speed.
�������� �������� ��
����� ���������
��������� �� either a positive feedback gain (K) or
a negative feedback gain (-K) to get
Fig. 3. In the field-oriented-control (or vector-control) algorithm, the three-phase voltage values the estimated current to match the
are used to calculate new PWM duty-cycle values to generate the desired voltage vector. measured current. Because the input
voltages are the same for both the mo-
tor and its model, the back EMF can
���������
��� ������� be calculated when the estimated and
���� measured currents match.
���

����
���

��� � ��������
������� �����
Back-EMF Estimation
����� Once the input currents and volt-
� �
ages of the model and the actual motor
�������� ��
��������� � match, the correction factor z from
���

���������� ��
the motor model can be filtered to get
the back EMF. For this step, we use a
first-order digital low-pass filter, with
Fig. 4. The position estimator is based on the currents and voltages of the motor, and uses a the equation:
motor model to measure the motor position indirectly via a current observer model. The motor
position can be estimated by assuming that the PMSM’s motor model above is the same as y[n] = y[n − 1]]+
+ T × 2πfC × (x[n]
n] − y[n]).
n
that of a dc motor, shown in Fig. 5.
To filter z to get eSESTIMATED , we sub-
v S = Ri
d
Ri S + L i S + e S . Current Observer Model stitute the value of fPWM in the equation
dt A current observer model enables below:
And solving for iS gives the motor the indirect measure of the back EMF  1 
e[n] = e[n − 1] + 
current: by ensuring that the input to the system  f PWM 
d R 1 (motor) is equal to the input to the mo-
i S = − i S + (v S − e S ), ×2πfC × (z[n] − e[n]),
dt L L tor model. Here is how it works: The
where iS equals motor current vec- motor and motor model are fed with where e[n] equals the next estimat-
tor, vS equals input voltage, eS equals the same input, but the motor model ed back-EMF value, e[n-1] equals the
back-EMF vector, R equals wind- has a closed-loop controller to ensure last estimated back-EMF value, fPWM
ing resistance and L equals winding that the estimated value matches the equals the PWM frequency at which
inductance. measured value. For example, at any the digital filter is being calculated,
In the digital domain, this equation given time, if the actual motor input fC equals the cutoff frequency of the
becomes: voltage and current are the same as the filter and z[n] equals the unfiltered
i S[n + 1] − i S[n] model, then we can “observe” the back back EMF, which is output from the
= EMF by solving for eS. sliding-mode controller
TS
For the observer model compensa- Solving this equation for e[n]
R 1 tion, a sliding-mode controller can yields the updated back-EMF value.
− × i S[n] + × (v S[n]
n] − e S[n]).
n
L L track the input reference and force the The value of the cutoff frequency
Again, solving for iS yields: error to zero between the measured can be determined through trial and
i S[n + 1] = current iS and the estimated current error, depending on the selection of the
iSESTIMATED. Depending on the error sign, sliding-mode controller gain. The re-
 R TS
 1 − TS ×  i S[n] + × (v S[n]
n] − e S[n]).
n the sliding-mode controller will apply lationship between back EMF and the
L L
www.powerelectronics.com 37 Power Electronics Technology March 2007

���������
��
��� ������
�����������������������
������������
�����
����������
�����������������������������������
�����������������������
�����������������������������
����������������������������
��������������������������������������
���������������������
����������������������
������������
������������������������
Power Electronics Technology March 2007
DIGITAL SIGNAL CONTROLLERS
��
��������
����
���������������������
Fig. 6. The motor model’s closed-loop controller works to ensure that the estimated value
matches the measured value, which yields the back EMF by solving for eS .
rotor’s updated position is given by:
θROTOR = arcc tan(e α , eβ ).
Speed Calculation
Due to the filtering function applied
during the theta calculation, some
phase compensation is needed before
the calculated angle can be used to en-
ergize the motor windings. The amount
of theta compensation is dependent on
the rate of change of θROTOR, or the speed
of the motor (ROTOR). The compensa-
tion for θROTOR is performed in two
steps: First, the speed of the motor is
calculated based on the uncompen-
sated theta calculation; second, this
speed is used to calculate the amount
of compensation. The speed can be
calculated by summing θROTOR values
over M samples, and then multiplying
the summed values by a constant. This
is given by:
ω ROTOR [n] =
 M  the FOC, and commutation angle (θ) is
 ∑ (θROTO
ROTORR [n] − θ ROTOR [n − 1]) × K ,

n=0
where  ROTER [n] equals angular
velocity of the motor, θROTOR[n] equals
current rotor position value, θROTOR[n-
1] equals previous rotor position value
and K equals amplification factor for
desired speed range.
Motor Startup
Because the sensorless FOC algo-
rithm is based on the back-EMF calcu-
lation, the motor needs to run at a min-
imum speed to get the back-EMF value.
Therefore, energizing motor windings
with the appropriate estimated angle
is required. To handle this, a motor
startup subroutine was developed and
38
��
������������
����������
�����������
����������������� ��
�����������
��
works as follows: When motor is at
standstill, and with the start/stop but-
ton pressed, the dsPIC DSC generates
a series of sinusoidal voltages to set the
motor spinning. While the motor spins
at a fixed acceleration rate, the FOC
algorithm controls the currents iD and
iQ. The value of θ is incremented based
on the acceleration rate.
Software State Machine
It is helpful to visualize the FOC
algorithm as a software state machine
(Fig. 7). First, the motor windings are
de-energized and the system awaits
the user to press the start/stop button.
Once the user presses the start/stop
button, the system enters the initial-
ization state where all variables are set
to their initial value. Then, the startup
subroutine is executed. The current
components for torque (iQ) and flux
production (iD) are being controlled by
being generated in a ramp fashion, to
get the motor spinning and reaching
the minimum speed required to run
the estimator.
After going through the startup
subroutine, the system switches over
to sensorless FOC control, where the
speed controller is added to the ex-
ecution thread, and the sliding-mode
controller (SMC) starts estimating θ,
as previously explained.
Upon entering the sensorless FOC
control state, the reference speed is
continuously read from an externally
connected potentiometer, and the
start/stop button is also monitored to
determine whether or not to stop the
motor.
www.powerelectronics.com
 DIGITAL SIGNAL CONTROLLERS

�������
������� �����������
���������� ������� ���������
������ ��������
�������
���������� ���� ����������
����� ������������� ��������� �����������
������� ������� ����������� �������������
���������� ����� ��� ���
������������� ���������
�����������
��� ���������
������������� �����
������ ������� �������� �������
PwrBlade® Power Distribution �����
����������
����������
���������� ������� ������������ �������
���
Connector System
����������������� �������������
Ideal for servers, storage systems, fault-tolerant ���������������� �������
���
computers, uninterruptible power systems, and ���� �����������������
���������������� ���������
����� �����
redundant power distribution systems. The one-piece ������� ����
����������
PwrBlade connector mixes power and signal contacts ������� ���
���������
����������� ����������
for a variety of custom design configurations. ��������� ���
www.fciconnect.com/pwrblade
�������
������� �������
�������������� ��������
����������
���������

�������
���������� �����������
������� ���������
�������� ��������
��������� �������
����� ���

Fig. 7. This state-machine diagram shows the different states of a sensorless FOC control
for PMSM, as well as the conditions that make the system transition to a different state.

In addition to the stop/start but- the CodeGuard feature,[2] which helps

Bus Bar Simplifies Complex Wiring
FCI’s Laminated Bus Bars and Power Distribution
Systems solve power distribution challenges in
electronic systems, such as wireless base stations,
switches, storage enclosures, routers, and servers.
Where space, temperature rise, current or voltage drops
are critical concerns, FCI bus bars replace bulky cable
harnesses, optimize cabinet space, and increase power
transmission efficiency. Multilayer bus bars may be
equipped with cables ultra-sonically welded to specific
conductors, clinch studs, integrally stamped connector
contacts, as well as active components.
www.fciconnect.com
AirMax VS® Power Connectors
FCI’s compact and cost-effective AirMax VS power
connectors address system designers’ need to carry
higher current to faster, more powerful processors on
add-in cards. A 2x2 connector has a current-carrying
capacity of up to 80 amps and a voltage rating of 150V
and are used in data, industrial or communications
equipment, as well as in medical electronics
and instrumentation.
www.fciconnect.com/airmax
ton being pressed while the motor is to protect IP in collaborative design
running, any fault in the system will environments by securing IP segments
cause the motor to stop and return to separately.
the “motor stopped” state. The motor Since programming DSCs is similar
remains stopped until the start/stop to programming microcontrollers, ap-
button is pressed again. pliance designers can quickly design
their motor-control algorithm and
DSC-Based FOC Control test their prototypes. Best of all, fine-
A major advantage of deploying tuning the motor control has been
DSCs in motor control is the practi- simplified through the use of IDE-
cality of a common design platform, based tools such as the DMCI, which
which can lower production costs. This allows designers to easily port their
means appliance makers now have an algorithms across a variety of motor
economical way to offer a range of platforms including PMSM, brush-
appliance models that use PMSMs, less-dc, brushed-dc and ac-induction
or other motor types, with sensor- motors.[3] PETech
less FOC algorithm control. These
software-based motor-control designs References
enable rapid customization to address 1. The dsPICDEM MC1 Motor Con-
multiple applications. trol Development Board is available at
Firmware IP protection is a major www.microchipdirect.com.
issue for manufacturers with design 2. See www.microchip.com/codeguard
teams across many geographies. De- for information on the CodeGuard
sign teams based in different locations security feature, including how it can
could work in tandem to implement be used to improve IP protection.
FOC firmware, develop the appli- 3. See www.microchip.com for appli-
ance front panel and complete the cation notes on motor control of ac
final system integration. Furthermore, induction (AN984, AN908 and GS004)
in developing their designs, these and brushless dc (AN901, AN957,
teams will generate their own IP. AN992, AN1017) motors, based on the
Microchip’s dsPIC DSC family offers dsPIC30F motor-control family.

Power Electronics Technology March 2007 40 www.powerelectronics.com