Enhancing performance of BLDC: An improved fast terminal slide mode control for BLDC motor speed control

• An Improved Fast Terminal Sliding Mode Control (IFTSMC) strategy is proposed for high-precision BLDC motor speed control. • The method enhances speed regulation under varying load and reference speed conditions. • IFTSMC outperforms traditional PI and conventional SMC in terms of overshoot and steady-state error. • Simulation results show overshoot reduced to 0.008% (vs. 13.136% for PI and 1.3% for SMC). • Steady-State Error (SSE) is significantly improved to 0.116 RPM (0.01%), outperforming both PI and SMC controllers. • The proposed approach demonstrates robustness and high accuracy, making it suitable for industrial motor control applications. The brushless DC (BLDC) motor offers higher efficiency, reliability, and dynamic performance compared to conventional brushed DC motors, making it suitable for a wide range of industrial and automation applications. However, achieving precise and robust speed control under varying loads and reference speeds remains a significant challenge. This work aims to enhance BLDC motor speed regulation by developing an improved fast terminal slide mode control (IFTSMC) strategy. The proposed controller is designed to ensure fast convergence, reduced chattering, and improved tracking accuracy. The performance of the IFTSMC is evaluated in MATLAB/Simulink and benchmarked against proportional–integral (PI), conventional sliding mode control (SMC), terminal SMC (TSMC), and fast terminal SMC (FTSMC) under four different operating cases involving changes in load and reference speed. Quantitative results show that in case 1, IFTSMC achieves a fast rise time of 0.032 s and a settling time of 0.040 s, while limiting overshoot to only 0.08%, compared to 47.39% for PI and 8.76% for SMC. In case 2, IFTSMC produces an extremely small overshoot of 0.006% and a low steady-state error (SSE) of 0.520, outclassing the PI controller (SSE = 3.609) and SMC (SSE = 5.31). For case 3, IFTSMC limits SSE to 0.0095, significantly lower than PI (3.755) and SMC (6.415). In case 4, it maintains strong robustness with a settling time of 0.090 s and SSE of 0.130, while PI and SMC suffer from high SSE values of 6.795 and 6.881, respectively. Overall, the simulation results confirm that the proposed IFTSMC method provides superior dynamic response, minimal overshoot, and high accuracy across all test scenarios. Its robustness and precision make it a highly effective solution for BLDC motor speed control in modern industrial applications requiring optimal performance under variable operating conditions.