Apparatus and method for detecting overload of BLDC motor

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

a measurer for measuring a 3-phase current value applied to the BLDC motor to derive a sector value matched with the 3-phase current value;

a determiner for determining whether the sector value is normal by comparing the sector value derived by the measurer with a previous sector value that is previously measured; and

a driving controller for controlling driving of the BLDC motor according to whether the BLDC motor has a fault, determined by the determiner,

wherein, when the sector value and the previous sector value are different by a predetermined number, the determiner determines that the BLDC motor is normal, and when the sector value and the previous sector value are not different by the predetermined number, the determiner determines that the BLDC motor is abnormal.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the sector value is increased stepwise within one period of the 3-phase current value when the BLDC motor is in a normal condition.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:

upon determining that the BLDC motor is abnormal, the determiner determines that an error occurs in the BLDC motor; and

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

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the determiner applies a weight to the number of times an error occurs and determines whether a current error value, which is a value obtained by adding the number of times an error occurs to the initialization value, is greater than the predetermined threshold value.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:

upon determining that the BLDC motor is normal, the determiner determines that an error does not occur in the BLDC motor; and

when a value obtained by adding the number of times an error occurs to an initialization value is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, the determiner repeatedly determines whether the sector value is normal.

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

measuring a 3-phase current value applied to the BLDC motor to derive a sector value matched with the 3-phase current value;

determining whether the sector value is normal or abnormal by comparing the derived sector value and a previous sector value that is previously measured;

when the sector value is abnormal, determining that an error occurs and counting the number of times an error occurs; and

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

wherein the determining whether the sector value is normal or abnormal includes, when the sector value and the previous sector value are different by a predetermined number, determining that the BLDC motor is normal, and when the sector value and the previous sector value are not different by the predetermined number, determining that the BLDC motor is abnormal.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the determining whether the BLDC motor stalls based on the number of times an error occurs includes determining that the BLDC motor stalls when the number of times an error occurs is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the determining that an error occurs and counting of the number of times an error occurs when the sector value is abnormal includes:

subtracting the number of times an error occurs corresponding to a predetermined number from a previous error value when the BLDC motor is normal; and

adding the number of times an error occurs corresponding to a predetermined number to the previous error value when the BLDC motor is abnormal.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the determining whether the BLDC motor stalls based on the number of times an error occurs includes determining whether a current error value obtained by adding or subtracting the number of times an error occurs corresponding to a predetermined number, to or from the previous error value, is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value.

10. The method of claim 6 , further comprising re-comparing the current error value and the previous error value when the current error value is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value.

11. The method of claim 6 , further comprising controlling velocity of the BLDC motor to 0 upon determining that the BLDC motor stalls based on the number of times an error occurs.