Application Report

SLOA203 – August 2016

Speed-Control Techniques in AC-DC Operated BLDC

Applications

Naveen Bevara ..................................................................................................... BLDC Motor Drivers

Sanjay Dixit

ABSTRACT
To achieve energy efficiency, ceiling fans and ventilation fans are moving from simple alternate-current
(AC) induction motors to brushless direct-current (DC) motors (BLDC). An AC-operated BLDC motor
requires two sections to run the BLDC motor: the AC-DC power conversion section and the DC to 3-phase
AC conversion section. The Texas Instruments reference design, TIDA-00652, helps to meet these
challenges of higher efficiency and power factor in a simpler way by using a single-stage power supply to
convert the AC mains input into a low-voltage DC output. This reference design also combines a fully
integrated and well protected single-chip, DRV10983, sensor-less sinusoidal brushless motor controller for
low-noise operation.
For the DRV10983 device, the motor can be controlled directly through PWM, analog, or I2C inputs. With
the physical arrangement of ceiling fans, the speed control of an AC-operated BLDC motor can be
possible with an infrared (IR) remote or any high-end wireless control. The speed can also be varied with
a change in the supply voltage of the DRV10983 device, but with the variation of AC over universal range,
the output of AC-DC is regulated to 24 VDC. Therefore the speed of the fan is controlled by providing a
fixed DC or PWM signal at the SPEED pin of the DRV10983 device. The speed of the fan can also be
controlled using the I2C input of theDRV10983 device, as demonstrated in the TIDA-00652 reference
design.
This application report presents two different ways to control the AC-operated BLDC ceiling fan with
existing infrastructure. The first solution is to vary the speed by only toggling the AC mains switch. The
second solution is to vary the speed using the TRIAC component similar to an existing AC-operated
ceiling fan.

Contents
1 Speed Control of BLDC motor by toggling the AC mains switch ..................................................... 3
1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 3
1.2 Additional Circuit Using CD74HC4017 and SN74HCT14 ..................................................... 4
2 TRIAC Control of BLDC Motor ............................................................................................. 6
2.1 Optocoupler Circuit to Detect the Firing Angle .................................................................. 6
2.2 Additions to Input Filter for TRIAC Operation ................................................................... 8
3 References ................................................................................................................... 9

List of Figures
1 BLDC Ceiling Fan Demonstrated in TIDA-00652........................................................................ 3
2 Modified Block Diagram..................................................................................................... 3
3 Proposed Solution to Control the Speed of the Fan by Toggling AC ................................................. 5
4 Probable LED Arrangement to Indicate the Speed of Fan ............................................................. 6
5 TRIAC-Based Control of AC Operated BLDC Fan ...................................................................... 7
6 PWM Signal at Emitter of Optocoupler ................................................................................... 7
7 TRIAC Current and Input Rectified Voltage Without RC-Damped Circuit ............................................ 8
8 TRIAC Current and Input Rectified Voltage With RC-Damped Circuit ............................................... 8

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9 Input Resistor and RC-Damping Circuit Added to Input Filter ......................................................... 8

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www.ti.com Speed Control of BLDC motor by toggling the AC mains switch

1 Speed Control of BLDC motor by toggling the AC mains switch

1.1 Introduction
Figure 1 shows a basic block diagram for an AC-operated BLDC ceiling fan demonstrated using the TIDA-
00652 reference design.

85 VAC to
High-PF AC-DC 24 V
265 VAC DC to 3-Phase
Converter
BLDC BLDC Motor
(UCC28180)
(DRV10983)

SPEED

IR Receiver
and
PWM Generator
(MSP430G2231)

Figure 1. BLDC Ceiling Fan Demonstrated in TIDA-00652

With the addition of a proposed circuit to the existing solution, the speed can be controlled by only toggling
the AC mains switch. The proposed solution can completely eliminate the option of a remote to reduce the
cost of the microcontroller (MCU), remote, and IR receiver. These devices can be replaced by a low-cost
solution based on a ring counter (TI's CD74HC4017 device) and inverter (TI's SN74HCT14 device) which
varies the speed by only toggling the AC mains and avoids the cost of a TRIAC component which are
used in conventional ceiling fans. This solution can also be used along with the IR remote solution and
can be used as additional control in case of the remote is lost.
In addition, using the proposed solution, an arrangement of sequence LEDs can be implemented on the
surface of the fan to indicate the speed of the fan. Figure 3 shows this modification of the proposed
solution.

85 VAC to
High-PF AC-DC 24 V
265 VAC DC to 3-Phase
Converter
BLDC BLDC Motor
(UCC28180)
(DRV10983)

SPEED

Additional Circuitry Using

CD74HC4017 and SN74HCT14

Figure 2. Modified Block Diagram

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1.2 Additional Circuit Using CD74HC4017 and SN74HCT14

Figure 3 shows the working of an additional circuit. Whenever the AC is turned on, 24 V is formed at the
output of the AC-DC section which is fed to the DRV10983 device. A 5-V supply is then formed to
CD74HC4017 and 74HCT4017 using a Zener diode of 5V1. The 24 V is divided using a resistor divider
and fed to the SN74HCT14 device to form 5 V at the input. If the AC is tuned off, 24 V goes to zero
making the input of Inverter to zero and, because the 5-V supply is still present because of a high
capacitor value, the output of inverter is high. And now, if the AC is turned on again, 24 V is formed at the
AC-DC section and gives a high signal at the input of the inverter. The high signal at the input of the
inverter provides a high-to-low signal at the output which is fed to the clock of the counter resulting in a
change of the output state. Therefore, with each toggle of the AC mains Q0, Q1, Q2, and Q3 turn on
consecutively. With each signal output, the resistor divider network forms different voltages between 0 and
3.3 V in four different levels that can be fed to the SPEED pin of the DRV10983 device for different
speeds of the fan. Q4 is connected to the master reset (MR) to revert back to initial step. The number of
steps of speed can be increased by increasing the use of the number of outputs and adjusting the resistor
divider network accordingly.

4 Speed-Control Techniques in AC-DC Operated BLDC Applications SLOA203 – August 2016

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www.ti.com Speed Control of BLDC motor by toggling the AC mains switch

24V

24V FROM AC-DC OUTPUT

2
4.7k

4.7k

4.7k
R10

R11
R9

4.7k
R12
200
0 Q0 2 1

1
R16

1
1

D8

D9
D7
200 200
1 2

D10
Q1 2 1 Q1 2 1

LED

LED

LED

A
Q2

LED
R15 R17
2

K
200 200 200
2

K
Q2 2 1 Q2 2 1 2 1

2
R13 C R18 C R20 C C
200 3 200 Q2 200 Q3 200
3 Q4

390
Q3 2 1 B Q3 2 1 B 2 1 B 2 1 B

R3 R14 Q1 R19 R21 R22

1 E E Q3 E Q3 E

3
3
D1

5V1

D2
5V Q1 1 RESISTOR DIVIDER NETWORK
2

5V0
47uF
47uF
C2
39k

47k
R1

A1
2 1 C
74HCT14 CD74HC4017_N_16

0 R5
4.7k
Q5
1

Q0 D4 24V 2 1 B
U1-A 16 1 100k
VCC 5 R26
22k Q4 15 2 2 1 D13
MR 1
1 2 2 1 5V0 14 3 E
CP 0

2
13 4 R4
*CE 2 D3
2

R23 12 5 22k
TC 6

4.7k
R27
74HCT14 11 6 2 1
9 7
R24

10k

10 7 Q2
D11

4 3 R6
Q4 9 8 GND 8 D5
2
2

1
10k
1

2 1
10k
R2

C1
4.7n R7
CD74HC4017 Q3
D6

2
1

20k
R8
U2-A U3-A

1
1 2 1 2
0.47u
C3

74HCT14 74HCT14
2.2M
R25
1

5V0

D12
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Figure 3. Proposed Solution to Control the Speed of the Fan by Toggling AC

SLOA203 – August 2016 Speed-Control Techniques in AC-DC Operated BLDC Applications 5

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To achieve four different steps of speed, 0.8 V, 1.6 V, 2.4 V, and 3.3 V must be generated at the output of
the network. If 20 kΩ is used at the output, the R4, R5, R6, and R7 resistors must be used at the outputs
of the ring counter.
When Q0 is ON, R4 = ((20 kΩ / 0.8) × 5 V) – 20k = 105 kΩ (1)
When Q1 is ON, R5 = ((20 kΩ / 1.6) × 5 V) – 20k = 42.5 kΩ (2)
When Q2 is ON, R6 = ((20 kΩ / 2.4) × 5 V) – 20k = 21.67 kΩ (3)
When Q3 is ON, R7 = ((20 kΩ / 3.3) × 5 V) – 20k = 10 kΩ (4)
In the schematic, the closest available resistor values were used
In addition, the output of Q0, Q1, Q2 and Q3 can be used to create an LED indication as shown in
Figure 4. Whenever Q0 turns on, one LED turns on, and when Q1 turns on, two LEDs turn on, and so on.
These LEDs can be kept on the surface of the ceiling fan which appears as a circle and variation of speed
can be indicated with variation in size of circle accordingly.

Example of LED
arrangement that can
be made on the
surface of a BLDC fan
to indicate the speed
of the fan.

Speed 1 Speed 2

Speed 3 Speed 4

Figure 4. Probable LED Arrangement to Indicate the Speed of Fan

2 TRIAC Control of BLDC Motor

2.1 Optocoupler Circuit to Detect the Firing Angle

In a BLDC motor, the variation of RMS AC source does not change the output DC. The TIDA-00652
reference design (BLDC ceiling fan TI Design) is used to implement TRIAC-based fan control. A small
optocoupler-based circuit is connected to the TIDA-00652 BLDC board as shown in Figure 5. The rectified
AC is sensed using the optocoupler. As the phase angle of TRIAC is varied, a PWM signal is generated
accordingly. The average of PWM is fed to the SPEED pin of the DRV10983 device.

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www.ti.com TRIAC Control of BLDC Motor

F1
FUSE-PCB
R1
1 2 1 2 24V

2
47

K
R2

1k

D4

2
RLT1-1099
2

2.2k
1

A2

A1

R3
AC Input R7

L3
1 2 1
(With Triac Controlled)

1
330k
C1 C2

K2

K1
4

3
0.033uF 0.22uF 5
C5 L1 L2

D3
0.22uF IND-UPRIGHT IND-UPRIGHT Q1 5V1 C3
2 1uF
1 2 1 2

A
??? ??? 4
SPEED Pin of
1
R4
2
DRV10983

2
100k

2
470k
22k
R5

R6
C4
2.2uF

1
Copyright © 2016, Texas Instruments Incorporated

Figure 5. TRIAC-Based Control of AC Operated BLDC Fan

The AC waveform chopped with a TRIAC at a certain firing angle generates a PWM signal corresponding
to the firing angle as shown in Figure 6. This PWM signal is averaged using the RC low-pass filer. The
variation in the PWM signal from 10% to 90% results in analog voltage from 0.8 V to 3.3 V
correspondingly. The DRV10983 device can be used in Analog control mode and this output analog
voltage can be connected to the SPEED pin of the DRV10983 device.
Voltage (V)

Vmax

x 2x 3x

. Time (t)
Voltage (V)

Time (t)

Figure 6. PWM Signal at Emitter of Optocoupler

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2.2 Additions to Input Filter for TRIAC Operation

The resonance of the undamped EMI filter causes the input current, iin(t) to oscillate in response to the
step change in the input voltage caused by the TRIAC firing action. Each time the input current falls below
the holding current, ITH, the TRIAC commutates off. The internal RC timer initiates a new firing sequence
leading to repeated firing and misfiring of the TRIAC. Therefore the transient response of the EMI filter
must be controlled by incorporating suitable damping circuits. The standard method is to use RC snubber
as shown in Figure 9.
A small value selected for R2 will cause the pole to move away from the zero while a large value for R2
will lead to insufficient damping of complex filter poles. As a result, a small optimal range of resistance
between 100 Ω and 2 kΩ exists, which leads to a non-zero input current. This value can either be
iteratively derived using simulation software or empirically estimated based on experimental data.
The TRIAC-chopped AC looks similar to the waveform shown in Figure 7. With addition of an R and C
snubber, false triggering is eliminated and should result in the waveform shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8. TRIAC Current and Input Rectified Voltage With

Figure 7. TRIAC Current and Input Rectified Voltage RC-Damped Circuit
Without RC-Damped Circuit

Rapid charging of the EMI filter capacitance during the firing sequence causes a large inrush current to
flow through the TRIAC. A single series resistor, R1, shown in Figure 9, is required to limit the inrush
current. The resistor also damps any high frequency oscillations caused by the internal TRIAC inductance
or parasitic inductance and the EMI filter capacitance. The value of R1 is generally in the range of 10 Ω to
100 Ω and is limited by the acceptable power loss and efficiency. Improvement in efficiency is achieved by
incorporating an active MOSFET-based bypass circuitry at the cost of additional components.
Figure 9 shows the addition of the Ri and RC snubber in the input filter section with the previously
mentioned considerations.
F1
FUSE-PCB R1
1 2 1 2
2

47
K
R2

1k

D4
2

1
RLT1-1099
1

A2
A1
L3

AC Input
(With Triac Controlled)
C5
K2
K1
4

0.22uF
D3
A

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Figure 9. Input Resistor and RC-Damping Circuit Added to Input Filter

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www.ti.com References

3 References
• 90- to 265-V AC, 91% Efficiency, >0.94 PF Buck-PFC Plus 24-V, 30-W Brushless DC Motor Drive
Reference Design (TIDUAS3)
• CD74HC4017 High Speed CMOS Logic Decade Counter/Divider with 10 Decoded Outputs (SCHS200)
• DRV10983 12- to 24-V, Three-Phase, Sensorless BLDC Motor Driver (SLVSCP6)
• M.D. Singh, K.B. Khanchandani, Power Electronics, Second Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill Education,
2007.
• Montu Doshi, James Patterson ; Lighting Power Products, Texas Instruments, Inc., Longmont,
Colorado; “Input filter design for TRIAC dimmable LED lamps,” IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and
Exposition, Sept. 2013, pp. 4631 – 4638.
• SN74HCT14 Hex schmitt-trigger inverters (SCLS225)

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