Design of a Radial Electromagnetic Bearing for the Vibration Control of a Supercritical Shaft

Abstract

Recently magnetic bearings have been proposed by several researchers and shown to be viable on a variety of rotor assemblies. This paper describes the design of such a bearing and elucidates features hitherto not employed by other workers. These include an original approach to the design of the electromagnets and their amplifiers, and to software in a digital control system, to condition the control signals so as to make the magnets appear to be linear and uncoupled. The resulting system has features which make it suitable for the control of rotor bearing assemblies.