Electronic braking for a power tool having a brushless motor

A power tool comprising:

• a housing;
• a brushless direct-current (BLDC) electric motor disposed inside the housing, the electric motor including a rotor having one or more magnets and a stator including a plurality of windings;
• a plurality of power switches disposed between a power supply and the electric motor, the plurality of power switches including a plurality of high-side switches and a plurality of low-side switches;
• and
• a control unit configured to control a switching operation of the plurality of power switches to operate the electric motor and electronically brake the motor by simultaneously activating the plurality of the high-side switches or the plurality of low-side switches to apply a back-EMF (electro-magnetic force) current of the motor to the plurality of windings and thereby stop the rotation of the motor upon detection of a condition prompting the braking of the motor,
• wherein the control unit is configured to:
• detect the condition that prompts the braking of the electric motor, set a braking profile for braking the electric motor based on the detected condition, and execute braking of the electric motor using the braking profile, and
• wherein the braking profile is executed over a plurality of braking cycles of the same time-length and comprises a first braking segment during which a first braking force is applied to brake the motor by supplying a first amount of motor back-EMF current to the plurality of stator windings, followed by a second braking segment during which a second braking force different from the first braking force is applied to brake the motor by supplying a second amount of motor back-EMF current to the plurality of stator windings, wherein the first amount of motor back-EMF current per braking cycle is different from the second amount of back-EMF current per braking cycle.