DEVELOPMENT OF A MAGNETICALLY BORNE ELECTRICAL MOTOR PROTOTYPE (original) (raw)

The magnetic bearing is an electro-mechanical device that maintains the rotor of an equipment magnetically levitated. Besides allowing for a contact less working condition, resulting in a system without mechanical wear, this device presents other advantages, such as self-balancing, vibration control, self-monitoring, possibility of equipment encapsulation and high operation speed, with high reliability and reduced maintenance. Taking these advantages into account, magnetic bearings are becoming technologically competitive in many applications such as turbo-generators, pumps, compressors, fabrication machines, gyroscopes, centrifuges etc. It should be realized that since the absence of friction eliminates the need of lubrication, the magnetic bearings are ideal for airspace applications and for radioactive environments. Moreover, due to this same characteristic, it is an energy-saving device, which is, perhaps, the main reason for its utilization in new equipments. In order to gain a better understanding of this technology, a prototype of an integrally levitated electrical motor has been developed. The mechanical, magnetic and electric conceptions of the bearings have been already described in previous works, including the mechanical engineering considerations related to the design, fabrication and mounting of the magnetic bearings on the equipment. In this work, the successfully design and implementation of the displacement controllers are described. Simulations and experimental results show the static and dynamic performance of the bearings.