matt1977

How do ESC's work?

How are brushless motor esc's different than bushed esc's?

I understand that the windings are on the stator of a brushless motor, and on the armature on a canned motor...

Does a canned esc simlply turn the voltage on and off really quickly to change speeds?

If so, how does a brusheless esc work in contrast?

Is there a good webpage that explains how each work?

Thanks!


Matt

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

Brushed ESCs use pulse width modulation to vary the power delivered to the motor. This is like turning a switch on/off very fast, and varying the on time. The longer the on time, the more power is delivered to the motor. Brushed motors have a built in mechanical commutator, so the motor itself takes care of activating the correct wire/coil winding(s) for proper rotation.

Brushless ESCs not only have to vary the power delivered to the motor, but they also have to activate the correct motor windings for rotation. This means the ESC must sense the rotor position to determine what voltages to apply to the three motor wires for proper rotation. There are sensor and sensorless brushless motors/ESCs. The ones we typically use for planes are sensorless. This means the ESC must not only power the motor through its three leads, but it must also sense the rotor's position through the same three leads. The sensor equipped brushless motors/ESCs actually have sensors that detect the rotor position, and feed that info back to the ESC via an additional three wire leads.

matt1977

Thanks for the reply!

Another dumb question...

Are all brushless esc's designed to work with either outrunner or inrunner brushless motors?

Thanks,

Matt

Red Scholefield

My Feedback: (9)

They seem to be as there is no differentiation in any of their technical information.