IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 54, NO.

5, OCTOBER 2007 2365

A Novel Digital Control Technique for

Brushless DC Motor Drives
Fernando Rodriguez, Student Member, IEEE, and Ali Emadi, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract—Brushless dc (BLDC) motor drives are continually fixing the synchronous reference frame to the instantaneous
gaining popularity in motion control applications. Therefore, rotor flux linkage instead to the rotor geometric axis. However,
it is necessary to have a low cost, but effective BLDC motor this method is cumbersome since the instantaneous rotor flux
speed/torque regulator. This paper introduces a novel concept
for digital control of trapezoidal BLDC motors. The digital linkage must be found experimentally and programmed into a
controller was implemented via two different methods, namely digital signal processor (DSP). Sliding mode control techniques
conduction-angle control and current-mode control. Motor opera- have proved to be computationally extensive when adaptive pa-
tion is allowed only at two operating points or states. Alternating rameter estimation is used to estimate load parameters [4], [5].
between the two operating points results in an average operating Hysteresis current control and pulsewidth-modulation (PWM)
point that produces an average operating speed. The controller
design equations are derived from Newton’s second law. The novel control coupled with continuous control theory produce the
controller is verified via computer simulations and an experimen- most widely used BLDC motor control techniques [6], [7].
tal demonstration is carried out with the rapid prototyping and Hysteresis current control is essential toward achieving ad-
real-time interface system dSPACE. equate servoperformance [8], namely instantaneously torque
Index Terms—Brushless dc (BLDC) motor drives, digital con- response yielding faster speed response compared to PWM con-
trol, electric motor drives, inverters, modeling and analysis, trol. For most applications, a proportional-integral current and
motion control, permanent-magnet machines, power electronic speed compensators are sufficient to establish a well-regulated
converters. speed/torque controller. In other cases, a state feedback control
is needed to achieve more precise control of the BLDC motor.
I. I NTRODUCTION Classic control theory and linear system theory are well un-
derstood, but are highly complex and require extensive con-
P ERMANENT magnet motors with trapezoidal back EMF
and sinusoidal back EMF have several advantages over
other motor types. Most notably, (compared to dc motors) they
trol systems knowledge to develop a well-designed controller.
Discrete control theory allows for such controllers to be dig-
itally implemented with microcontrollers, microprocessors, or
are lower maintenance due to the elimination of the mechan-
DSPs. Digitizing analog controllers serves to add complexity to
ical commutator and they have a high-power density which
the overall design procedure.
makes them ideal for high-torque-to weight ratio applications
It is important to note that digital implementation of a
[1]. Compared to induction machines, they have lower inertia
continuous control technique does not produce a pure digital
allowing for faster dynamic response to reference commands.
controller. Instead, what results is a digitally implemented
Also, they are more efficient due to the permanent magnets
nondigital control technique. This paper proposes a novel digi-
which results in virtually zero rotor losses [2]. The major
tal controller that treats the BLDC motor drive like a digital sys-
disadvantage with permanent magnet motors is their higher
tem. The BLDC system may only operate at a few predefined
cost and relatively higher complexity introduced by the power
states that produce constant predefined motor speeds. Speed
electronic converter used to drive them. The added complexity
regulation is achieved by alternating states during operation,
is evident in the development of a torque/speed regulator. Using
which makes the concept of the controller extremely simple
the d − q transformation to ease the complexity of analyzing
for design and implementation purposes. This novel concept
three phase machines may serve to design an adequate con-
will help reduce the cost and complexity of the motor control
troller. However, development of a controller based on the
hardware. That, in turn, can boost the acceptance level of
transformation of the a − b − c equations to the d − q vari-
BLDC motors for commercial mass production applications,
ables is only advantages for permanent magnet motors with
successfully fulfilling the promises of energy savings associated
sinusoidal back EMF. Applying the d − q transformation to
with adjustable speed drives.
a trapezoidal back EMF motor does not eliminate the angle
Newton’s second law and the characteristic equations of a
dependent phase inductances [3]. The author in [1] applied
BLDC machine were used to derive a design procedure for
the d − q transformation to a brushless dc (BLDC) motor by
the novel controller. It will be shown that the design proce-
dure involves a simple first-order nonhomogeneous differential
Manuscript received January 3, 2006; revised June 22, 2006.
The authors are with the Electric Power and Power Electronics Center, Elec- equation. During steady-state operation, the design procedure
trical and Computer Engineering Department, Illinois Institute of Technology, is reduced to a few simple algebraic equations. Computer
Chicago, IL 60616-3793 USA (e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]). simulations were used for proof-of-concept and implementation
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. of the novel digital controller was carried out with the rapid
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIE.2007.900312 prototyping and real-time interface system dSPACE.

0278-0046/$25.00 © 2007 IEEE

2366 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 54, NO. 5, OCTOBER 2007

Fig. 1. Proposed digital control.

II. N OVEL D IGITAL C ONTROL Fig. 2. Digital control actuation signal.

The proposed digital controller treats the BLDC motor like a
digital system, which may only operate in two predefined states.
Operation of the motor in state 1 will result in a motor speed
of Low Omega (ωL ). Operation in state 2 results in a motor
speed of High Omega (ωH ), where speed ωH is greater than
ωL . If the commanded speed is ω ∗ , where ωL ≤ ω ∗ ≤ ωH , the
digital controller will achieve speed regulation by appropriately
alternating states. The rules that the digital controller follows
are extremely simple. Fig. 3. Conduction-angle control state definitions.

1) If the actual motor speed is less than the commanded until the commanded speed is achieved. That will achieve
speed, then switch or stay at state 2 (ωH ). the fastest speed response considering all practical limitations.
2) If the actual motor speed is greater than the commanded Then, the two states are used to achieve speed regulation in
speed, then switch or stay at state 1 (ωL ). steady-state operation, which highlights the simplicity of this
The task of the digital controller is ideally suited for a control algorithm. This paper covers the design and experi-
DSP because the rules are nothing more than two IF THEN mental verification of steady-state operation. Dynamic oper-
statements. Although, the main goal is not to use a DSP. Instead, ation (application of rated state actuation) will be developed
the proposed method can be implemented in an application- and experimentally verified in subsequent publications. The
specific integrated circuit. The simplicity results in a very low- following section will introduce two possible implementation
cost IC. Fig. 1 shows an illustrative description of the digital methods for the proposed digital control, namely conduction-
controller. The digital controller can be implemented several angle control and current-mode control. The design procedure
ways, the distinction lies in the method of attaining the two for each method is derived and computer simulations are pro-
operating states. vided for each method. Experimental validation is provided
The novelty of the control lies within the means of attaining for the conduction-angle control method.
the actuation signal which drives the BLDC motor. Control
systems design allows for very large bandwidth BLDC motor
III. C ONDUCTION -A NGLE C ONTROL
drives systems. However, that bandwidth is always limited by
practical constraints. Some of those constraints include the The name conduction-angle control stems from the defini-
use of a finite power source and maximum current allowable tions of state 1 and state 2. Fig. 3 shows that the ideal current
in the stator windings before fusing occurs. In other words, for a BLDC motor is a square wave with a periodic conduction
a 1-kW 20-kHz bandwidth BLDC motor drive system, designed angle from θ1 to θ2 . Modification of the conduction angle or
with classic control theory, may require hundreds of amps to conduction length produces ωL and ωH . At the beginning of
achieve such a wide bandwidth. However, such a high-current each conduction-angle the controller decides the appropriate
demand for a 1-kW motor will certainly damage the motor. The state so as to achieve speed regulation.
proposed controller combines control system knowledge with Conduction-angle control is very similar to hysteresis current
practical knowledge of BLDC motor drives. Fig. 2 illustrates control, it is necessary to define a current band (CB), as well
an actuation signal u(t) that results from applying a step as θ1 and θ2 (see Fig. 3) [9]. Once those parameters are
speed changes at time t1 and t2 . A classic controller reacts appropriately defined for a given BLDC motor, the motor can
exponentially to the increase in speed error in order to track be operated at a fixed speed. However, there is a need for
the reference speed. speed control; therefore, two states are defined in order to
The actuation signal shape depends on the controller gains produce ωL and ωH , as required by the digital controller. These
which may result in an overshoot or a slow response. On states are produced by assigning two distinct values to θ2 ,
the other hand, the digital control immediately applies the namely θ2,min and θ2,max , while maintaining the CB and θ1
full actuation signal (rated current of the motor) immediately constant, as shown in Fig. 3.
RODRIGUEZ AND EMADI: NOVEL DIGITAL CONTROL TECHNIQUE FOR BRUSHLESS DC MOTOR DRIVES 2367

Fig. 4. Current-mode control state definitions.

When the motor is operated with θ2 = θ2,min , a fixed speed

Fig. 5. Counter stop and start indicators.
of ωL results; current is injected into the motor for only
part of the conduction interval. When θ2 = θ2,max , the fixed rewritten to form (2), which is a first-order nonhomogeneous
speed of ωH results since current is injected for the entire differential equation. The solution to the differential equation
conduction interval. When a commanded speed (ω ∗ ) is given, gives the instantaneous speed as a function of motor parameters
where ωL ≤ ω ∗ ≤ ωH , the digital controller will use the rules and load conditions, see
mention earlier to regulate the motor speed. In order to develop
a simple design scheme for the digital controller, θ1 is always dω(t) b Td − T L
+ ω(t) = (2)
set to the beginning of the conduction interval and θ2,max is dt J J
fixed to the ending of the conduction interval.

Td − T L Td − TL
ω(t) = + ω(0) − e−(b/J)t .
b b
IV. C URRENT -M ODE C ONTROL
(3)
Current-mode control is also very similar to hysteresis cur-
rent control. For this control technique, the three hysteresis The mechanical time constant (τm ) is defined by the ratio of
current control parameters (CB, θ1 , and θ2 ) are once again the moment of inertia to the viscous friction constant. Under
defined (see Fig. 4). However, θ1 and θ2 are held constant while steady-state conditions and with the substitution of the time
the CB is given two distinct values, namely CBmin and CBmax constant into (3) yields (4), this is the equation for angular
[10]. These values serve to produce the two necessary states in velocity as a function of the operating parameters in steady state
order to carry out the proposed digital control. Fig. 4 illustrates
Td − TL
the two states and as with the conduction-angle control, state 1 ω(t → ∞) = ωss = τm . (4)
produces ωL while state 2 yields ωH . When a commanded speed J
(ω ∗ ) is given, where ωL ≤ ω ∗ ≤ ωH , the digital controller can Equation (4) defines the steady-state angular velocity as a
regulate the motor’s speed by following the rules mention function of the motor mechanical parameters. However, rotor
earlier. speed control is accomplished via applied voltage and the
resulting current. The approximate developed torque is propor-
V. C ONTROLLER D ESIGN tional to the peak current (I) as defined in (5). The instanta-
neous torque sensitivity values kti , i = a, b, c are approximated
The task at hand was to develop an efficient method of by kt which is the peak to peak value of kti . The current
designing the digital control for any BLDC motor, so as to attain peak values are assumed to be constant since operation is in
speed regulation for both implementation methods. Operating steady state
conditions of the motor and motor drive system must be defined
so as to produce ωL and ωH . The first step was to find the Td = kta ia + ktb ib + ktc ic ≈ kt I. (5)
equation for angular velocity as a function of the operating
parameters under steady-state conditions. To do so, Newton’s Equation (5) is substituted into (4) and solved for the average
second law applied to rotary motion as shown in (1) was used current. The equation for the current is a function of the desired
steady-state rotor speed. It can be used to find the necessary
dω(t) current to produce ωL and ωH for a given load
Td = ω(t)b + J + TL (1)
dt

1 J
where I(ωss ) = ωss + TL . (6)
kt τm
Td developed torque;
ω(t) rotor speed; The established relationship is between the rotor speed and
b viscous friction constant; the average current; this is sufficient to implement current-
J rotor moment of inertial; mode control since CBmin and CBmax can now be defined.
TL load torque. However, to implement conduction-angle control the relation-
The BLDC motor will only operates in two predefined states. ship between the rotor speed and the conduction angle θ2 must
Within those states and under steady-state conditions, the load also be established. The two possible values for θ2 are θ2,max
torque and the developed torque will be constant. Then, (1) is and θ2,min . θ2,max is always set equal to unity, allowing for
2368 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 54, NO. 5, OCTOBER 2007

Fig. 6. Instances of speed comparison for choosing state 1 or state 2.

current conduction during the entire conduction angle interval.

Therefore, it is only necessary to find a relationship between the
rotor speed and θ2,min . In other words, what θ2,min value will
result in a speed equal to ωL . To accomplish this, let

I(ωss = ωH ) = IH (7)

and

I(ωss = ωL ) = IL . (8)

To attain ωH , the hysteresis CB (as defined in Fig. 3) must Fig. 7. Block diagram of proposed digital control implemented in PSIM.
have an average value equal to IH . The peak CB remains the
same for both states, but in state 1 the average current over the TABLE I
conduction interval is decreased to IL . That is accomplished SIMULATION PARAMETERS FOR 0.3-N · m LOAD
by ending the current conduction early, before the end of the
conduction interval as shown in Fig. 3. The average current in
state 1 must be equal to the integral over the partial conduction
angle as shown below. A direct calculation can now be used to
determine θ2,min , as described by (9). The period is normalized
to unity so as to express θ2,min as a ratio of the period
  VI. S IMULATIONS
θ
2,min 1
1  To carry out simulations, it was necessary to develop a PSIM
IL =  IH dσ + 0dσ 
model that carried out both digital controller implementation
T
0 θ2,min methods. The first step was to define a detailed system-level
θ block diagram, which outlined the communication between the
= IH |02,min
controller and the rest of the electric drive system [11]. The
IL controller requires position information from the Hall-effect
= IH θ2,min θ2,min = . (9)
IH sensors, as well as monitoring of the three phase currents. From
that information, the controller must be able to determine the
In summary, to implement the digital controller to any BLDC appropriate firing of the three-phase inverter, so as to implement
motor under a constant load torque, the following procedure the conduction-angle digital control. The specific tasks of the
should be followed. controller are presented below in detail.
1) Find the following motor parameters from the manufac- 1) Determine the conduction interval for all three phases.
turer’s data sheet. 2) Estimate the conduction interval duration (TC ).
kt Torque sensitivity constant. 3) Maintain the phase currents within the CB during the
b Viscous friction constant. conduction interval for all three phases.
J Rotor moment of inertia. 4) Determine when θ2,min is reached during a conduction
τm Mechanical time constant. interval.
2) Determine the desired operating speed and specify the 5) Choose the appropriate state to apply to the next conduc-
load torque. tion interval.
3) Choose ωH and ωL to cover the desired speed range. The second task, estimate TC , was accomplished with the
4) Use (6) to determine the values of IH and IL , (IH → use of resetable counters. For each phase, the hall sensors were
CBmin and IL → CBmax ). used to activate the counters at the beginning of the negative
5) Use (9) to determine the value of θ2,min (only necessary conduction interval (see Fig. 5). The counter stops at the end of
for conduction-angle control). that interval and stores the value as an estimate of the positive
RODRIGUEZ AND EMADI: NOVEL DIGITAL CONTROL TECHNIQUE FOR BRUSHLESS DC MOTOR DRIVES 2369

Fig. 8. Simulation results for a 0.3-N · m load (conduction-angle control). (a) Speed and current results for ω ∗ = 900 rpm with a 0.3 N · m load. (b) Speed and
current results for ω ∗ = 1000 rpm with a 0.3 N · m load. (c) Speed and current results for ω ∗ = 1100 rpm with a 0.3 N · m load.

conduction interval. Once the positive interval ends, the counter constant is roughly half a second (τm = 0.516 s), rotor inertia is
is reset and the procedure repeats each period. J = 4.943 kg · cm2 , and all other motor parameters are found
The third task is to maintain the phase currents within the in the manufacturers’ data sheet.
CB gap during the conduction intervals. In other words, control The simulation goal was to accomplish speed regulation
the current via hysteresis current control. For each phase, edge- between ωH and ωL for a constant-torque load. In order to
triggered set reset flip-flops were used along with comparators operate the motor in the predefined states, the CB-gap (CBmin
that established the CB gap Imax and Imin . and CBmax ) and θ2,min were found with the design method
The last function that the controller must perform is to choose outlined in Section V.
the appropriate state, given the actual speed of the motor. The The design was carried out for ωH ≈ 1300 r/min and ωL ≈
motor speed can be derived in two ways. A speed sensor can 800 r/min. The constant-torque load was set to 0.3 N · m. Speed
be applied directly to the rotor or the speed can be calculated regulation was tested at ω ∗ = 900, 1000, and 1100 r/min. Table I
by measuring the frequency of the hall-effect sensor outputs. outlines the operation conditions and designed parameters.
The controller chooses the state at the beginning of each pos- Figs. 8 and 9 display the motor speed and current waveforms
itive conduction angle. That is done for each phase as shown for conduction-angle control and current-mode control, respec-
in Fig. 6. tively. The commanded speeds tested in the simulation were
PSIM models were developed to carry out all the afore- 900, 1000, and 1100 r/min. Tables II and III summarize the
mentioned tasks. Fig. 7 illustrates a block diagram of the simulation results, specifying the speed ripple associated with
schematic constructed to simulate the proposed digital control each commanded speed.
methodologies. The BLDC motor model, in PSIM, requires the
input of various parameters to accurately carry out the simula-
VII. E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS
tions. These parameters were taken from an eight hundred and
60-W BLDC motor, provided by Poly-Scientific (model: BN42- The digital control design strategy was validated with the
53EU-02LH). The BLDC motor was also used for experimental PSIM simulation results. However, further proof-of-concept
testing, which will be presented in the following section. The was desired. An experimental setup was constructed in or-
BLDC machine has a rated speed of about 3000 r/min, it can der implement and further validate the simulation results for
continuously source 2.92 N · m of torque. The mechanical time conduction-angle control. Conduction-angle control displayed
2370 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 54, NO. 5, OCTOBER 2007

Fig. 9. Simulation results for a 0.3-N · m load (current-mode control). (a) Speed and current results for ω ∗ = 900 rpm with a 0.3 N · m load. (b) Speed and
current results for ω ∗ = 1000 rpm with a 0.3 N · m load. (c) Speed and current results for ω ∗ = 1100 rpm with a 0.3 N · m load.

TABLE II description of the requirements and final designs for the exper-
SUMMARY OF SIMULATION RESULTS FOR 0.3-N · m LOAD
(CONDUCTION-ANGLE CONTROL) imental setup components.

A. BLDC Motor and Mechanical Load

The BLDC motor used for experimental testing was acquired
from Poly-Scientific (model: BN42-53EU-02LH). The three-
phase wye connected motor has a trapezoidal back EMF. The
ratings and all other motor information were taken from the
manufacturer’s data sheet. For the mechanical load, constant
TABLE III torque capability was required. Also, it was necessary for the
SUMMARY OF SIMULATION RESULTS FOR 0.3-N · m LOAD load’s moment of inertia to be much smaller than the motor’s
(CURRENT-MODE CONTROL)
moment of inertia, since it was ignored during the controller
design. Those requirements were met by the characteristics
of magnetic brake. Finally, an adjustable motor mount was
machined for motor-load coupling.

B. Three-Phase Inverter and Gate Driver

A standard three-phase dc to ac inverter was used. The
switches were conservatively chosen MOSFETs rated for
a slightly higher speed ripple compared to current-mode control 600 V and 30 A, well over the power rating of the BLDC
in simulations, therefore it was chosen as the method to be motor. To drive the switches, a high-speed power MOSFET and
confirmed experimentally. All the components of conventional insulated gate bipolar transistor driver IC was used (IR2130).
motor drive and the digital controller were individually de- The recommended connections given by the IC’s data sheet
signed and constructed. The following sections give a brief were used to interface the inverter to the driver [12].
RODRIGUEZ AND EMADI: NOVEL DIGITAL CONTROL TECHNIQUE FOR BRUSHLESS DC MOTOR DRIVES 2371

Fig. 10. Digital control Simulink model.

C. Current Control and Sensing Hardware is shown in Fig. 10. Once all the individual components were
designed and assembled, they were interfaced to form the final
The digital control requires hysteresis current control for
experimental setup (see Fig. 11).
the phase currents during conduction. Hysteresis hardware was
The experimental setup was used to verify the simulation
constructed with comparators (MC3302) and edge-triggered
results from Section VI. Testing was done for a constant load of
set reset flip-flops. Dual-input NAND-gates (SN7400) were
0.3 N · m. Presentation of the experimental results follows the
used to construct the flip-flops. To make use of the hysteresis
same format as the simulation results. The operation conditions
hardware, monitoring of the instantaneous current is required.
and designed parameters used were the same as those used
For each phase, closed loop current transducers (LA55-b) from
for the PSIM simulations, see Table I. Fig. 12(a)–(c) display
LEM Group were used. The transducers produce a signal
the motor speed and current waveforms for the commanded
proportional to the current flowing through a wire. A second-
speeds of 900, 1000, and 1100 r/min, respectively. Table IV
order low-pass filter was applied to the signal to reduce noise
summarizes the experimental results, specifying the speed rip-
generated by the motor currents.
ple associated with each commanded speed.

D. dSPACE and Simulink Model

VIII. C ONCLUSION
The digital controller (conduction-angle control) was im-
plemented with the rapid prototyping and real-time interface A new concept for digital control of BLDC motor has been
system dSPACE. The dSPACE system assists research and introduced. The idea behind the new concept is to exploit the
development by interfacing powerful engineering software, known fact of electromechanical systems. That fact is that the
MATLAB/SIMULINK, to external hardware such as electric electrical time constants, in general, are at least an order of
motors or power electronic converters [13]. Therefore, the magnitude faster than those time constants associated with the
controller was created in the SIMULINK platform. dSPACE mechanical parts. By quickly alternating the produced torque
was then used to control the operation of the electric drive (which is proportional to the current) an average torque is pro-
system via its ControlDesk [14]. The Simulink model that was duced resulting in an average speed. The digital controller was
created to implement the controller, as described in Section III, implemented via computer simulations in two ways, namely
2372 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 54, NO. 5, OCTOBER 2007

Fig. 11. Final experimental setup.

Fig. 12. Experimental results for a 0.3-N · m load. (a) Speed and current versus time results for ω ∗ = 900 rpm. (b) Speed and current versus time results for
ω ∗ = 1000 rpm. (c) Speed and current versus time results for ω ∗ = 1100 rpm.

TABLE IV back EMF, which does not have perfectly flat plateaus as
SUMMARY OF EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS FOR 0.3-N · m LOAD
assumed in the PSIM simulations.
The proposed digital control was able to achieve reasonable
speed regulation within ωH and ωL . However, a general trend
was observed while carrying out the PSIM simulations. At
higher loads, the envelope speeds, ωH and ωL , were much
more sensitive to the CB-gap values. Despite the problem
of accurately attaining the desired envelope speeds at high
loads, speed regulation was always achieved within ωH and ωL .
current-mode control and conduction-angle control. The latter Therefore, the proposed digital controller, as presented, is well
was also verified experimentally. suited for applications where speed ripple is not of significant
The conduction angel control simulations and experimental importance. Such applications include air conditioning units
results were in accordance with one another. Speed regulation whether they are ac units or heat blowers to smaller units like
for all the commanded speeds were well within acceptable ceiling fans. In conclusion, this paper has presented the initial
limits. The highest speed ripple was recorded at 3.4% of the investigation and proof-of-concept for a new way of looking
commanded speed in the experimental results. It is important to at digital control for BLDC motors. Further development and
note that all the measured speed ripples included the inherent modification of the state definitions will allow for additional
speed ripple associated with trapezoidal BLDC motors. The speed ripple reduction, making it suitable for high-performance
inherent speed ripple is largely due to the nonideal trapezoidal motor drive applications.
RODRIGUEZ AND EMADI: NOVEL DIGITAL CONTROL TECHNIQUE FOR BRUSHLESS DC MOTOR DRIVES 2373

R EFERENCES Ali Emadi (S’98–M’00–SM’03) received the B.S.

and M.S. degrees (with highest distinction) from
[1] C. W. Lu, “Torque controller for brushless DC motors,” IEEE Trans. Ind.
Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, and
Electron., vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 471–473, Apr. 1999.
the Ph.D. degree from Texas A&M University,
[2] P. Pillay and R. Krishnan, “Application characteristics of permanent mag-
College Station, all in electrical engineering.
net synchronous and brushless DC motors for servo drives,” IEEE Trans.
He is a Professor of electrical engineering and the
Ind. Appl., vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 986–996, Sep./Oct. 1991.
Director of the Electric Power and Power Electronics
[3] P. Pillay and R. Krishnan, “Modeling of permanent magnet motor drives,” Center, Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), where
IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 537–541, Nov. 1988.
he has established research and teaching facilities, as
[4] J. U. Lee, J. Y. Yoo, and G. T. Park, “Current control of a PWM inverter
well as courses in power electronics, motor drives,
using sliding mode control and adaptive parameter estimation,” in Proc.
and vehicular power systems. He is also the Founder,
IECON 20th Int. Conf., Sep. 1994, vol. 1, pp. 372–377. Director, and Chairman of the board of the Industry/Multi-university Consor-
[5] V. I. Utkin, “Sliding mode control design principles and applications to
tium on Advanced Automotive Systems. He is the author/coauthor of over
electric drives,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 23–36,
180 journal and conference papers, as well as several books, including Vehicu-
Feb. 1993.
lar Electric Power Systems (Marcel Dekker, 2003), Energy Efficient Electric
[6] M. A. El-Sharkawi, Fundamentals of Electric Drives. Pacific Grove, Motors (Marcel Dekker, 2004), Uninterruptible Power Supplies and Active
CA: Brooks/Cole, 2000, pp. 5–10.
Filters (CRC Press, 2004), and Modern Electric, Hybrid Electric, and Fuel
[7] J. Chen and P.-C. Tang, “A sliding mode current control scheme for PWM
Cell Vehicles (CRC Press, 2004). He is also the Editor of the Handbook of
brushless DC motor drives,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 14, no. 3,
Automotive Power Electronics and Motor Drives (Marcel Dekker, 2005).
pp. 541–551, May 1999.
Dr. Emadi is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions. He has
[8] H. C. Chen, M. S. Huang, C. M. Liaw, Y. C. Chang, P. Y. Yu, and
been named the Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Young Electrical Engineer of the
J. M. Huang, “Robust current control for brushless DC motors,” Proc.
Year 2003 by virtue of his outstanding contributions to hybrid electric vehicle
Inst. Electr. Eng.—Electric Power Applications, vol. 147, no. 6, pp. 503– conversion. He also received the 2005 Richard M. Bass Outstanding Young
512, Nov. 2000.
Power Electronics Engineer Award from the IEEE Power Electronics Society.
[9] F. Rodriguez and A. Emadi, “A novel digital control technique for brush-
In 2005, he was selected as the Best Professor of the Year by the students
less DC motor drives: Conduction-angle control,” in Proc. IEEE Int. Elect.
at IIT. He is the recipient of the 2002 University Excellence in Teaching
Mach. Drives Conf., May 2005, pp. 308–314. Award from IIT, as well as the 2004 Sigma Xi/IIT Award for Excellence
[10] F. Rodriguez, P. Desai, and A. Emadi, “A novel digital control technique
in University Research. He directed a team of students to design and build
for trapezoidal brush-less DC motor drives,” in Proc. Power Electron.
a novel motor drive, which won the First Place Overall Award of the 2003
Technol. Conf., Chicago, IL, Nov. 2004.
IEEE/DOE/DOD International Future Energy Challenge for Motor Competi-
[11] A. A. Aboulnaga, P. C. Desai, F. Rodriguez, T. R. Cooke, and A. Emadi, tion. He is an Associate Editor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL
“A novel, low-cost, high-performance single-phase adjustable-speed mo-
ELECTRONICS, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, and
tor drive using PM brush-less DC machine: IIT’s design for 2003 Future
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS. He was the General Chair
Energy Challenge,” in Proc. 19th Annu. IEEE Appl. Power Electron.
of the 2005 IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion and Society of Automotive
Conf., Anaheim, CA, Feb. 2004, pp. 1595–1603. Engineers Future Transportation Technology Joint Conference.
[12] International Rectifier, IR2130/IR2132(J)(S) & (PbF) 3-phase bridge
driver. Data Sheet No. PD60019 Rev.P.
[13] dSPACE, Implementation Guide For Release 4.0: Real-Time Interface
(RTI and RTI-MP). Documentation Guide, Aug. 2003.
[14] dSPACE, Experiment Guide For Release 4.0: Control-Desk. Documenta-
tion Guide, Aug. 2003.

Fernando Rodriguez (S’03) received the B.S. and

M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Illinois
Institute of Technology (IIT), Chicago, where he is
currently working toward the Ph.D. degree.
He is the Laboratory Manager of the Grainger
Power Electronics and Motor Drives Laboratory at
IIT. His research interests include controller design
of high-performance servosystems, modeling and
design of power electronic converters, and analysis
of hybrid electric vehicles.
Mr. Rodriguez was the recipient of the Diversi-
fying Higher Education Faculty in Illinois (DFI) fellowship. He is a student
Society of Automotive Engineers member.