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Inside a brushless motor — how the field keeps the rotor turning

ブラシレスモーターの中身 — 磁界はどうやってローターを回し続けるのか

This is a cross-section of a brushless DC motor (BLDC). The three coils around the outside are the stator. The bar magnet in the middle is the rotor. When a coil pair is switched on, one stator tooth becomes N and another becomes S. Their combined field pushes and pulls the rotor until it lines up. Then the torque drops to zero.

To keep turning, the circuit must switch the current to the next phase pair at the right moment, so the magnetic field always stays ahead of the rotor. This switching is called commutation.

Try this ▸ Start in Step mode. Press Commutate a few times — the rotor follows the field 60° at a time, then stalls. That stall is exactly why a motor needs a switch. Now press Run: the Hall sensors do the switching for you and the rotor spins on its own. This electronic switch replaces the brushes of a brushed motor.
Mode / モード:
3-phase BLDC · 6-step commutation0.00 rev/s

Hall sensors — rotor position ホールセンサ

0
H1
0
H2
0
H3
state 1·0·1 → commutation step 1

Coil drive — active 通電中のコイル

A
off
B
off
C
off

Readouts

Rotor angle
Field angle
Lead (field − rotor)
+0°
Torque ∝ sin(lead)
+0.00

■ aligned · stalled

Commutation = keep the field ahead

The energized stator N/S pair creates a resultant field. The rotor feels torque only while its magnet is not aligned with that field. Turning means the field must jump to the next field position just before the rotor catches up. In this 3-phase motor, each switch moves the field 60°, so six switches make one full turn.

The Hall sensor is the switch

A brushed motor switches the current by mechanical contact — the brush and commutator. A brushless motor has no brushes. Instead, small magnetic Hall sensors report the rotor angle, and a simple circuit decides which phase pair to energise next. No part rubs, so nothing wears out.

Why 90° of lead?

Turning force is strongest when the field points about 90° ahead of the rotor — that is where sin(lead) is largest. Watch the Torque readout: in Run mode the sensor keeps the lead near 90°, so the torque never drops to zero.

Brushed DC ブラシ付き
Brushless DC ブラシレス
  • + Simple and low cost
  • + Easy control — the commutator switches by itself
  • + High starting torque
  • - Brushes wear out → need maintenance
  • - Sparks create electrical noise
  • + Long life — nothing rubs
  • + Efficient, runs cool
  • + Quiet, no sparks
  • - Needs an electronic control circuit
  • - More complex, higher initial cost