Torque and Back EMF Waveforms of Brushless Motors

brushless-dc-motoremfmotortorque

For simplicity, I'm going to be talking about a single stator phase.

I understand that torque is proportional to current, and that back EMF is proportional to angular velocity. However, after watching this video on brushless motors (only the first minute is relevant), it seems that the graph of torque as a function of rotor position is identical to the graph of back EMF as a function of rotor position. How is this so?

Best Answer

Both torque and back-emf are produced by the magnetic field acting on the windings, so they are in phase because they are both proportional to magnetic field strength.

Current in magnetic field creates force at right angle Production of torque and back-emf in DC motor

However that does not mean that they must be identical. Increased back-emf tends to reduce current flow due to the lower effective voltage across the windings, so unless phase current is held constant at every instant in time the torque waveform will not match the back-emf waveform. And since back-emf is produced by velocity, any change in rotor speed will affect it. In the extreme case of a stalled rotor, maximum torque is produced at the same time as zero back-emf!

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