2014 IEEE International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

24-25 November 2014, Bali, Indonesia

Comparation of the Slotless Brushless DC Motor

(BLDC) and Slotted BLDC Using 2D Modeling

Agus Mujianto Muh. Nizam Inayati

Department of Chemical
Molina program Department of Mechanical Engineering
Sebelas Maret University Engineering Sebelas Maret University
Indonesia Sebelas Maret University Indonesia
imudjdnk@gmail.com Indonesia inayati_stmt@gmail.com
nizam_kh@ieee.org

Abstract—The advantages and disadvantages of slotted

brushless DC motor (BLDC) and slotless BLDC make the user
confused when they want to choose BLDC motors. The objective
of this research was to describe the characteristic of slotted
BLDC and slotless BLDC using 2D finite element method. Result
of this research showed that slotted BLDC has higher torque
than slotless BLDC. The power produced by slotted and slotless
BLDC were almost the same, while the speed of the slotless
BLDC was 10 times higher than the speed of slotted BLDC.
Slotted BLDC produced more ripple torque than slotless BLDC,
thus it made slotted BLDC had higher vibration than slotless
BLDC. Fig. 1. Cross section of a BLDC motor

Keywords—BLDC; slotted; slotless; torque; power; ripple B. Mathematical Modeling of the BLDC motor
torque The nonlinear magneto-static field in an electric machine
can be defined by the following Maxwell’s equations [3] :
I. INTRODUCTION ×H=J (1)
In the past five years, BLDC motors are commonly used than
B = µH (2)
other motor because the efficiency of BLDC motors are higher
compared to brushed dc motors. In its development, BLDC The magnetic vector potential A is defined in equation 3.
motor have many configurations. Each configuration has its
B= ×A (3)
own advantages and disadvantages. One of the configurations
are slotted and slotless BLDC motor. A slotless BLDC is a where A is the axial component of the magnetic vector
BLDC without stator core. Slotless BLDC motor is used to potential, ν is the reluctivity of the material and J is the current
remove cogging torque of the BLDC motor. Cogging torque is density.
an unwanted phenomenon in electrical machines, as a product The mathematical model of a BLDC motor prototype can
of reluctance variations between stator tooth and rotor be represented as:[4]
magnetic poles [1]. As slotless BLDC motors also have many
disadvantages, thus the characteristic of slotted and slotless (4)
BLDC motors must be described to choose the best type of
BLDC motors for certain applications. This research was done where ν is the reluctivity of the material, J is the applied
to study the characteristics of slotted and slotless BLDC motor source current density, Jm is the equivalent current density of
by using 2D finite element simulation. the permanent magnet, ω is the angular frequency, and σ is the
conductivity of the material.
II. BRUSHLESS DC MOTOR
III. METHODOLOGY
A. Brushless DC motor
This research was done by using finite element model.
Brushless DC motor is a DC motor without brush Specifications of the brushless DC motor for this research are
component. The switching of polarization is done by using shown in the table 1. Slotless BLDC motors are BLDC motors
electrical switching. Fig 1 shows the cross section of a BLDC without steel materials or magnetic material as slots of BLDC
motor [2]. Permanent magnets are used as moving parts and stators. Slotted BLDC motor used steel materials as slots of
stator is the static parts. stators. Both BLDC motors are similar in geometry.

978-1-4799-8478-7/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE

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 Table 1. Specification of BLDC motors

Slotted Slotless
BLDC BLDC
Number of poles 4 4
Number of slots 24 24
Magnet type NdFe35 NdFe35
Fig. 4. Magnetic fields in slotted stator BLDC
Slot materials Steel Aluminum
Torque produced was also influenced by a magnetic flux
density of the slotted BLDC and slotless BLDC motors.
Slotted BLDC motor had higher magnetic flux density than
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION slotless BLDC motor. The higher magnetic flux density of
The discussions in this paper are focused on torque and slotted BLDC motors was caused by the type of its material.
speed, power, ripple torque, and losses. Slotted BLDC motors used steel material which can turn into a
magnet when the current passed the coils. Figure 5 and 6 show
A. Torque, Power, and Speed magnetic flux density of slotless BLDC motor and slotted
BLDC motor.
Torque produced by slotted BLDC and slotless BLDC
motors are be shown at figure 2. Shown in Fig.3 and Fig.4 are
the magnetic flux of the BLDC motors. It shows that slotted
BLDC motor produced higher torque than the slotless one, as
the magnetic fields produced in slotted BLDC motor was
higher than in slotless BLDC motor.
35
C o reles s BLDC
30 C o red BLDC

25
Fig. 5. Magnetic flux density of slotted BLDC motor
Torque (Nm)

20

15

10

0
0 2500 5000 7500 10000 12500 15000
Sp eed (R pm)

Fig. 2. Torque produced by slotted and slottless BLDC motors.

Fig. 6. Magnetic flux density of slotless BLDC motor

Although had smaller torque, slotless BLDC motor had

significant higher speed than slotted BLDC motor. It caused
the peak power of slotless BLDC almost same with slotted
BLDC. Figure 7 shows the power of slotless BLDC and
slotted BLDC motors.

Fig. 3. Magnetic fields of slotless stator BLDC motor

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 XYPlot 1 ws-1
300.00 CurveInfo
2000 CoggingTorque
cored BLDC Setup1: Performance

coreless BLDC 200.00

CoggingTorque [mNewtonMeter]
1600
100.00

0.00
Power (watt)

1200

-100.00

800
-200.00

-300.00
400 0.00 125.00 250.00 375.00
ElectricalDegree[deg]

Fig. 10. Cogging torque of slotted BLDC motor

0
0 5000 10000 15000
Speed (RPM)
V. CONCLUSION
Fig. 7. Power of slotless BLDC and slotted BLDC motors
Based on this research, slotless BLDC motors and slotted
B. Ripple Torque BLDC motors had different characters. Slotted BLDC motor
had higher torque and power than slotless BLDC motor, but
Slotless BLDC motors had smaller ripple torque than slotted BLDC motor had smaller speed than slotless BLDC
slotted BLDC motors. Ripple torque caused vibration of motor. Ripple torque of slotless BLDC motor were smoother
motor. Figure 8 and 9 show the ripple torque produced by than slotted BLDC motor.
slotless BLDC and slotted BLDC motors.
Name X Y Torque 1000rpmalumunium
7.00
m1 4.6040 5.7784 CurveInfo
m3
m2 13.1038 4.2432 Moving1.Torque
m3
6.00 11.1040 6m
.21769 Setup1:Transient

5.00
Acknowledgment
Moving1.Torque [NewtonMeter]

m2

4.00
Thanks to “Molina research program affirmation with
3.00 LPDP; contact number: PRJ – 933/LPDP/2014, date 17th r
2.00
august 2014”.
1.00

0.00
References
-1.00
0.00 20.00 40.00 60.00 80.00 100.00
Time[ms] [1] I. Reza, A. B. Yousef, Y. Hamid, A.A. Houssein. “Design of Slotless
Fig. 8. Torque of slotless BLDC at 1000 rpm BLDC Motor for Eliminating Cogging Torque” . World. Elect. Eng.
Tech. 3(2): 67-73, 2014
Name X Y Torque core1000rpm
2m
51.00 16.0654 20.5833 CurveInfo [2] L.X. Chang, Permanent Magnet DC Motor Drives and Controls. John
m2 18.6572 17.1815
m1
Moving1.Torque
Setup1:Transient
Wiley & Sons Singapore Pte. Ltd, 2012.
20.00 [3] N.H. Phyu. Numerical Analysis of Brushless Permanent Magnet Motor
m2 using Coupled Systems. National University of singapore, 2004.
Moving1.Torque [NewtonMeter]

15.00
[4] T. H. Kim, S. H. Lee, and W. M. Kim. "Design and characteristic
analysis of high speed slotless permanent magnet sychoronous motor for
surgical hand-piece." Industrial Technology (ICIT), 2014 IEEE
10.00
International Conference on. IEEE, 2014.

5.00

0.00
0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00 40.00
Time[ms]

Fig. 9. Torque of slotted BLDC at 1000rpm

Figure 8 and 8 show that torque produced by slotless

BLDC motor was smoother than torque produced by slotted
BLDC motor as slotted BLDC motor generated the cogging
torque. Slotless BLDC motor did not generate cogging torques
because of its material. In other words, slotless BLDC motor
removed cogging torque from the motor. Cogging torque of
slotted BLDC motor is shown in figure 10.

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