A low-cost four-switch BLDC motor drive with active power factor correction

This paper presents a high-performance low-cost brushless DC (BLDC) motor drive for commercial and residential applications. The proposed drive employs fewer number of switches than the conventional converter and incorporates an active power factor correction feature which results in sinusoidal input current at close to unity power factor. The proposed converter has bidirectional capability, which improves speed control features of the drive. Moreover, a new PWM current control system, with regenerative braking capability is proposed. Finally, simulation and experimental results are given to verify the proposed developed methods.