I recently got myself 4 A2212 BLDC 1000kV motors. As far as I know these motors require an ESC to operate.
I do not have an ESC currently, I was wondering whether I can control these motors without using ESC.
For e.g. Using some motor driver ICs like L293D, L298N or some stepper motor driver like A4988, DRV8825 etc....
I saw a lot of tutorials on the web on how to build an ESC but then I wonder that both Stepper and BLDC motors consists of coils and permanent magnets. So I thought there should be some way to control an BLDC motor with an Stepper motor driver.
So how can we "hack" any regular/stepper motor driver to control a BLDC motor.
A BLDC can be driven like a 3 phase stepper motor. You need 3 half bridges and the proper timing for the desired speed. Have powerful (12A) supply and drivers with current limit.
I don't think that your electronic skills are sufficient for such a DIY project.
BLDC design is somewhat complex. The issue is, the controller needs to know where in the rotation the rotor is. Many Servo BLCD motors have encoders to provide this function. With a sensorless motor one must drive two pins while measuring the third. Then advance to powering what was the third and looking at the voltage on the first.
I suspect you will be much better off purchasing an ESC, unless you want to make this a college project.
Thank you everyone for your answers. I actually thought there might be some simpler (and cost-effective) alternative than ESC... I am trying to make a drone with Arduino Nano as the flight controller.
I know about H-bridges but not about how to control Half H-bridges. Maybe I'll learn it today.
I saw some of the video for making own ESC and they are not that easy to make as I thought. Surely costlier than pre-made ones.
Is there any specific IC made that can handle controlling BLDC motors?
There are some Pic processors that are designed with BLDC control in mind. I know Toshiba has a all in one BLDC controller. I don't know if it is still on the market.
The issue is reading the position of the rotor.
Lets say you have a motor with wires 1, 2 & 3
Its already rotating (to make the explanation easier)
You are powering pins 1 and 2
At the same time you are measuring pin 3 to determine where the rotor is with relation to the magnets.
But you can only measure pin 3 during the off time of the PWM powering 1 & 2.
Then depending on the signal from pin 3 you advance so you are powering pins 2 and 3 and measuring pin 1
Continue to rotate around the pins
The result is that it gets messy with delays, filtering, noise, layout etc.
Now in addition, to get the motor started, you have to start off blind. Because there is no feedback on the nonpowered pin until the rotor is moving.
One needs:
Experience with power and noisy circuits
Understanding of the characteristics of a BLDC motor
Understanding of the sensorless concept
Test equipment to measure what is going right and what is going wrong with your design.
Fine, I'll go with the pre-made ESCs... Anyways I don't have an Oscilloscope,Logic analyzer, LCR meter or any such testing equipment. Only the basic ones like multimeter and soldering iron. So it will be tough for me to make one (I'm still in school). I'll still try to make one in my free time.
Thanks for giving me the concept on how to make one .
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