Integration of an axial flux brushless motor for home automation

This paper outlines the steps in designing an electrical drive with a brushless motor for home automation. Two purposes have been taken into account. First is the need of effective integration among the involved fields, i.e. motor design, control algorithm evaluation,. data transfer requirements, component integration in a domestic network. Second is the accurate choice of solutions compatible with low-cost technologies. The drive here considered is based on an axial flux brushless motor and emphasis is put on position and speed transducers, which constitute elements of weakness into the drive and contribute significantly to the total cost of low power applications. The key section in the control algorithm is the angular position detection and angular speed estimation. This is based on a set of three Hall effect sensors which seems to be a very low cost solution, offering, a good start point for more precise position reconstruction. The drive connection to a commercial communication network is finally discussed and proposed.