DTC Scheme for a Four-Switch Inverter-Fed PMBLDC Motor Emulating the Six-Switch Inverter Operation

The paper deals with the direct torque control (DTC) of brushless DC (BLDC) motor drives fed by four-switch three phase inverters (FSTPI) rather than six-switch inverters (SSTPI) in conventional drives. For any three phase inverter require six switches, but these switches are reduced to four. This reduction of power switches from six to four improves the reliability of the inverter, size of the inverter is reduced and cost of the inverter is also reduces. The FSTPI could be regarded as a reconfigured topology of the SSTPI in case of a switch/leg failure which represents a crucial reliability benefit for many applications especially in electric and hybrid propulsion systems. The DTC of FSTPI-fed BLDC motor drives is treated considering two strategies, such as: 1) DTC-1: a strategy inspired from the one intended to SSTPI-fed BLDC motor drives; 2) DTC-2: a strategy that considers a dedicated vector selection subtable in order to independently control the torques developed by the phases connected to the FSTPI legs during their simultaneous conduction. The operational principle of the four-switch BLDC motor drive and the developed control scheme are theoretically analyzed and the performance is demonstrated by simulation.