M.Ing.

Permanent magnet brushless DC motors that have found wide application in high performance servo drives need absolute rotor position sensors. However, the cost of the position sensor limits the use of brush less DC motors for low performance applications such as automotive and home appliances. A sensorless starting scheme for brushless DC motors is studied in this thesis. A hardware implementation of the starting scheme has been instrumented. The modeling and simulation of the sensorless starting performance of brushless DC motors have been accomplished to gain the insight into the process. The experimental results confirm the theoretical prediction that the permanent magnet brush less DC motor can be started without a position sensor. The experimental setup with individual subsystems are described in detail. / Master of Science