Suppliers of brushless motors keep up product improvements

Widening adoption of brushless motors in key and emerging applications spurs companies to use better components and sustain continuous selection updates.

Makers of brushless motors capitalize on the product's key advantages over traditional brushed types to increase market penetration further. They continue to tailor development work to fill the requirement for smaller but more powerful and reliable units in consumer electronics and home appliances. These applications, formerly the brushed category's domain, now account for the bulk of the local line's shipments, with the automotive and medical industries making up the rest. In addition, companies target potentially high-growth sectors such as drones, robotics and electric vehicles or EVs.

Suppliers are adopting better materials and components, building on the inherent performance benefits of the brushless design. Such configuration enables high precision and speed, low noise, maintenance-free operation and long life span, and results in a more compact and lightweight structure.

Sinopro Electric Motion (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd has introduced a series with a speed of up to 100,000rpm. Mainly for vacuum cleaners, the 24VDC and 19A-rated units have 55 l/sec maximum air flow rate, 22kPa suction power and 80dB maximum noise. The dielectric voltage is 600VAC at 50Hz, leakage current 5mA and minimum insulation resistance 50Mohm at 500VDC.

The brushless category has been steadily growing in recent years and may replace its brushed counterpart in the future. In China, the market is increasing in size at about 10 percent. From $4 billion in 2018, it is forecast to reach $4.9 billion by end-2019 and $5.8 billion in 2020, according to the Qianzhan Research Institute. At this rate, the projected value will be nearly $10 billion in 2023.

Manufacturers that have focused on brushless units attest to this expansion. Sinopro, which is entirely dedicated to the production of such motors, said sales have tripled since the company's establishment in 2018. By the end of 2019, it is looking to achieve a sales value of $6 million. To capitalize on rising demand, the supplier will boost output by more than 50 percent in 2020 and set a similar target in exports.

Despite this, companies will continue to turn out brushed kinds, which because of their relatively low prices are expected to have a market in the machinery sector.

China is one of the world's major production bases for brushless motors, and allocates over half of shipments for overseas markets. The latter is seen to increase by about 10 percent in the years ahead.

There are at least 300 suppliers of brushless motors there, a slightly reduced number due to intense competition that resulted in the departure of small companies in the past year.

The majority of the makers are locally owned and half are small and midsize operations turning out entry-level and midrange products.

The line accounts for 30 to 80 percent of shipments. Most companies also offer brushed, stepper and other types of motors.

The key manufacturing locations are still Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Comprehensive supply chains and established economic infrastructures in these areas will continue to attract suppliers venturing into the brushless motor sector.

BLDC & synchronous types

China companies in the brushless motor manufacturing industry offer not only BLDC kinds but also permanent-magnet synchronous units. The main applications are home appliances and in the automotive sector, with the rest of their selections targeting medical equipment, drones, robotics and EVs.

BLDC motors lead shipments. These come in single- and three-phase variants with rated voltage and power ranging from 3 to 72VDC and 30 to 750W, and efficiency surpassing 70 percent.

Permanent-magnet synchronous motors have 12 to 310V rated voltage, up to 15kW rated power and maximum 90 percent efficiency.

Releases carry CE, RoHS, TÜV and UL approval.

Makers use stators, rotators, shafts, magnets, sensors and shells from local and foreign providers, depending on customers' specifications.

The cost of these materials and components has not changed much, keeping product prices steady. The same trend is projected in coming months.

The products in this gallery have been handpicked by our China-based market analyst for representing current trends in brushless motors from China makers.

3,000rpm brushless DC motor

For pumps, drones, home appliances, and large-printing and industrial equipment, the 42BLDC Motor model from Guangdong Ruibao Electrical Co. Ltd has 3,000rpm speed and 0.06N.m rated torque. The 30W unit with 24V input voltage and 1.2A rated current has 2.3ohm±10 percent resistance, 2mH±20 percent inductance and 100Mohm minimum insulation resistance at 500VDC. The dielectric strength is 600VAC/sec at 50Hz, 1mA. The maximum temperature rise is 80 C.

The negotiable minimum order has a 7-day delivery lead time.

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1.52W brushless DC motor with 2mN.m rated torque

This 1.52W brushless DC motor from Shenzhen Aok Motor Group Ltd, BL-2418-0598 model, has 9,800rpm with no load, 7,250rpm rated speed and 2mN.m rated torque. Its rated voltage and current are 5V and 0.56A, and the no-load current is 0.2A. The operating temperature is -20 to 50 C.

The 200-unit minimum order has a delivery lead time of 15 days.

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50W-rated brushless DC motor has built-in controller

Sinopro Electric Motion (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd offers the model SEM6025024HR brushless DC motor with 2,500rpm±10 percent no-load speed and 238mN.m rated torque. The 50W-rated unit with a built-in controller has 24VDC rated voltage, and 0.7A no-load and 3A operating current. It lasts 3,000 hours.

The maker requires a minimum order of 100 units for delivery within 15 days.

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Brushless DC motor with 4,300rpm rated speed

From Tianlong (Hong Kong) Industrial Co. Ltd, the model TLBL9260-24150 brushless DC motor has no- and full-load speeds of 1,750 and 4,300rpm. The rated voltage is 24VDC, no-load current 0.8A, rated current 8.5A and rated power 150W. The unit has an efficiency of 74 percent and a life span exceeding 5,000 hours at nominal operating conditions.

The minimum order is 100 units. Delivery lead time is 30 days.

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