A control device for electric power steering apparatus, in which when torque ripples at the time of the rotation of a motor is reduced by simple arithmetic, smooth and safe assist limitation is performed without deteriorating steering feeling, is provided. For this reason, in the control device for electric power steering apparatus adopting a vector control system for applying an assist force of a motor to a steering system, a phase delay according to an angular velocity is obtained, a corrected electric angle is calculated by adding the phase delay to an electric angle, and generation of a current command value in the vector control is compensated based on the corrected electric angle.

Distortions of motor voltage and current and a torque ripple of the motor are generated by dead band compensation for preventing an arm short circuit of an inverter, and a feeling of physical disorder is given in a handle operation. Therefore, the distortions of the motor voltage and current and the torque ripple of the motor are improved by using the dead band compensation for estimating the voltage distortion on the basis of a model current generated from a current command value such that no feeling of physical disorder is given in the handle operation of an electric power steering apparatus.

The invention provides a motor for a brushless DC motor, which has small torque ripple even if a trapezoidal wave current is supplied and has a small size and reduced motor noise, and a drive control device for the motor as well as an electric power steering apparatus using the motor and the drive control device. Respective phase current command values are calculated on the basis of vector control. Pseudo-vector control for controlling respective phases separately is used as current feedback control.

The present invention provides a motor drive apparatus capable of calculating an angular velocity and a rotation angle accurately in the entire rotation velocity range of a motor using a cheap Hall sensor having an inferior accuracy without using an expensive resolver having a high accuracy. The present invention includes a first angular velocity calculating means for calculating the angular velocity based on the back-EMF of the motor when it rotates at low speeds and a second angular velocity calculating means for calculating the angular velocity based on a signal from the Hall sensor when it rotates at high speeds. According to the present invention, the angular velocity and rotation angle can be calculated accurately in the entire rotation speed range using the Hall sensor under hybrid usage.