Apparatus and method for detecting BLDC motor overload

1. An apparatus for detecting overload of a brushless direct current (BLDC) motor, comprising:

a measurer for measuring an electrical angle of the BLDC motor;

a determiner for determining whether a difference between the electrical angle measured by the measurer and a mechanical angle of the BLDC motor, estimated through current supplied to the BLDC motor, is within a predetermined range; and

a driving controller for control of driving of the BLDC motor according to whether the BLDC motor stalls, determined by the determiner;

wherein the predetermined range is set based on 90 degrees;

when the BLDC motor is in a normal condition, the difference between the electrical angle and the mechanical angle is maintained within the predetermined range; and

when the BLDC motor is in a stall condition, the difference between the electrical angle and the mechanical angle is out of the predetermined range.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the determiner determines that an error occurs in the BLDC motor when the difference between the electrical angle and the mechanical angle is out of the predetermined range.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the determiner determines that the BLDC motor stalls when a value obtained by adding a number of times the error occurs to an initialization value is greater than a predetermined threshold value.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein:

when the error occurs in the BLDC motor, the determiner counts a number of times the error occurs; and

when a value obtained by adding the number of times the error occurs to an initialization value is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, the determiner repeatedly determines whether the difference between the electrical angle and the mechanical angle is out of the predetermined range.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the determiner determines that the number of times the error occurs by subtracting a predetermined number from the initialization value when error does not occur in the BLDC motor.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, when the determiner determines that the BLDC motor stalls, the driving controller controls a velocity value of the BLDC motor to 0.

7. A method of detecting stall of a brushless direct current (BLDC) motor, the method comprising:

deriving a mechanical angle of the BLDC motor from a current value supplied to the BLDC motor;

measuring an electrical angle of the BLDC motor;

determining whether a difference between the mechanical angle and the electrical angle is within a predetermined range;

counting a number of times an error, in which the difference between the mechanical angle and the electrical angle is out of the predetermined range, occurs; and

determining whether the BLDC motor stalls based on the number of times the error occurs.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the determining whether the BLDC motor stalls based on the number of times the error occurs includes determining that the BLDC motor stalls when the number of times the error occurs is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the determining whether the difference between the mechanical angle and the electrical angle is within the predetermined range includes:

determining that the BLDC motor is in a normal condition when the difference between the mechanical angle and the electrical angle is within the predetermined range, and determining that the BLDC motor is in a stall condition when the difference between the mechanical angle and the electrical angle is out of the predetermined range.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the counting of the number of times error, in which the difference between the mechanical angle and the electrical angle is out of the predetermined range, occurs includes:

subtracting a predetermined number from a previous error value when the BLDC motor is in the normal condition; and

adding the predetermined number to the previous error value when the BLDC motor is in the stall condition.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the determining whether the BLDC motor stalls based on the number of times the error occurs includes determining whether a current error value obtained by adding or subtracting the number of times the error occurs corresponding to a predetermined number to or from the previous error value is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold value.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising repeatedly measuring whether the difference between the electrical angle and the mechanical angle is out of the predetermined range when the current error value is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold value.

13. The method of claim 7 , further comprising controlling a velocity of the BLDC motor to 0 upon determining that the BLDC motor stalls based on the number of times the error occurs.