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Andrea Tonoli
Politecnico di Torino
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Enrico Zenerino
Politecnico di Torino
Politecnico di Torino
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Sommario
I cuscinetti elettrodinamici (EDBs) costituiscono una nuova tipologia di supporti utilizzabili per la
sospensione in assenza di contatto di alberi rotanti. Rispetto ai cuscinetti attivi, la natura passiva dei
cuscinetti eletrodinamici consente la costruzione di sistemi pi semplici, affidabili ed economici,
aprendo cos il campo di applicazione ad apparecchi di largo consumo. In questo articolo sono
presentati gli strumenti necessari alla caratterizzazione meccanica dei cuscinetti elettrodinamici,
focalizzando lattenzione sulla relazione tra le caratteristiche in condizioni quasi stazionarie e la
simulazione ad elementi finiti di conduttori in moto, in modo da stabilire una metodologia per
determinare le caratteristiche meccaniche degli EDBs. Alcune analisi di sensitivit sono state condotte
per evidenziare linfluenza delle caratteristiche geometriche di un cuscinetto elettrodinamico rispetto
alle sue propriet meccaniche.
Abstract
Electrodynamic bearings (EDBs) are novel, promising systems that can be used to realize contactless
suspension of rotating shafts. Relative to active AMB the passive nature of the levitation achieved by
EDBs allows a simpler, more reliable and cheaper solution opening the field of application to medium
and large scale production. The working principle, based on the induction of eddy currents in a
rotating conductor, introduces destabilizing rotating damping, creating the necessity for a study of the
rotordynamics stability. In this paper the tools necessary to characterize EDBs are presented focusing
on the link between the quasi-static characteristic and the finite element modeling of moving
conductors to establish a way to determine the mechanical properties of EDBs. Several Sensitivity
analysis were carried out to evidence the influence of the EDBs geometric characteristics in its
overall performance, giving some insight on design choices to optimize their performance.
Parole chiave: Electrodynamic bearings, eddy current, sensitivity analysis.
1. INTRODUCTION
Electrodynamic bearings (EDBs) are a typology of magnetic bearings that can be used to realize the
contactless suspension with interesting and promising characteristic. The levitation is achieved by
passive means, which implies that no electronic equipment, such as power electronics or sensors, are
necessary for them to be functional. The working principle relies on the combination of a conductor in
motion and a constant magnetic field. The relative motion causes eddy currents within the conductor
that interact with the magnetic field to produce a force [1-3].
These characteristics make them an interesting alternative to classical AMBs in all kinds of machines
or applications where the contactless nature of the levitation allows to sacrifice the requirement of
high radial stiffness. This type of rotors can be found in flywheels, turbomolecular pumps, small
The two configurations of homopolar electrodynamic bearings studied so far in literature are the axial
flux and the radial flux configurations. Figure 1 shows a schematic model of axial and radial flux
EDBs. The name of each one relates to the direction of the magnetic flux lines applied to the
conductor responsible for the induction of eddy currents. In the axial flux configuration the magnetic
circuit is very efficient and almost all the magnetic flux is usable to generate the force. In the radial
flux configuration, the magnetic circuit is less efficient as the overall air gap is bigger and also due of
the inevitable leakage of magnetic flux to the outer side of the magnetic circuit.
Based on an axial flux configuration, a general model of a conducting disc rotating in a constant
magnetic field fixed to the stator is developed in reference [14].
Axial Flux
Permanent
magnets in
attraction
Radial Flux
Permanent
magnets in
repulsion
Conducting
disc
Conducting
cylinder
Figure 1: Typical configurations of axial and radial flux electrodynamic bearings.
a)
b)
A simplified scheme of a conductor rotating in a constant magnetic field is presented in fig. 2a. The
magnetic field is defined as going towards the reader. O and C are the geometrical centers of the
magnetic field and the rotating conductor, respectively. Axes (O, x, y) are an inertial reference frame
fixed to the magnetic field. Axes (O, , ) constitute a rotating reference frame fixed to the
conductor which rotates with angular speed equal to .
The pairs ( x c , yc ) and ( c , c ) are the coordinates of C in the inertial and the rotating frame
respectively (fig. 2b). The state and output equations of the conductor are then obtained in the rotating
frame in terms of the complex coordinate j [14]:
q RL q C
F kq
(1)
RL
R k
L c
(2)
The parameters k and c are the mechanical stiffness and viscous damping coefficients that are
equivalent to the electromechanical interaction between the conductor and the magnetic field (fig. 2b).
The relation between rotating and inertial frames can be defined as:
G Gz e jt
(3)
where G represents a complex variable in the rotating frame and G z represents the same one in the
inertial frame. Other quantities can be derived using this form.
The force developed by the bearing because of the given displacement of point C can be expressed in
the inertial frame as:
Fz ( s ) k
s j
z C ( s)
s RL j
(4)
where s is the Laplace variable and the constant angular speed of the rotor.
Equation 4 involves some parameters evidenced in the model of fig. 2b: the bearings stiffness and
damping (or, alternatively the stiffness and the pole frequency).
2.2 Quasi static characteristic
Fz F e jt
k( j RL )
z0
2
RL
2
(5)
This corresponds to rotate the conducting disc with a constant speed and fixed eccentricity z0 .The
obtained force to speed function can be indicated as quasi-static characteristic. This characteristic can
be used to identify the equivalent stiffness and damping parameters of the bearing. For simplicity, eq.
5 can be expressed more conveniently as:
Fz
k
1 RL
z0 j
c
1
RL
z0
(6)
where the real and imaginary parts are the components of the force parallel and perpendicular to the
eccentricity z 0 , respectively. Figure 3 shows a plot of both the components of the force with respect
to the angular velocity. These curves represent the quasi-static performance curves of an
electrodynamic bearing.
3. SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
The properties of the EDB, by the nature of the phenomena involved in the creation of the magnetic
forces depend mainly of the relative speed between conductor and magnetic field, the magnetic flux
density applied to the conductor, the volume where the eddy currents interact with the magnetic flux
and the magnetic configuration (radial or axial flux). From this point of view, in the following sections
a sensitivity analysis is performed only for axial flux EDBs.
The objective of the following analysis is to obtain insight on the geometrical parameters having
influence on the electrical characteristics, and thus on the dynamic behavior of the rotating system
supported by EDBs. The electric pole frequency and mechanical stiffness of the bearing are studied in
detail to this end.
j0 j
k
j? j
j0 j
2
Figure 3: Quasi-static performance curve obtained from eq. 6. The solid line represents the component
of the force parallel to the eccentricity, responsible for the stiffness contribute. The dotted line shows
the component perpendicular to the eccentricity and responsible for the losses in the bearing.
3.1 Numerical modeling of electrodynamic bearings
In the previous sections the quasi-static analysis was described as consisting in positioning the axis of
rotation of the conductor at fixed eccentricity and imposing a constant angular velocity. This kind of
situation represents a typical moving conductor problem, and can be solved using a finite element
model.
The solution of time-varying electromagnetic problems in terms of finite elements require the
discretization of both the problems regions and the time domain, using moving mesh time-stepping
methods.
The absence of axial or cyclic symmetry due to the eccentricity creates difficulties to model the
phenomena using 2-dimensional approximations. It is possible to overcome this problem by using a
model of the unrolled geometry in a time-harmonic formulation, where a disturbance is introduced
on the magnetic field in such a way that the magnetic flux density seen by the conductor behaves as it
would for an off centered rotating conductor [9].
To obtain more accurate solutions a three dimensional approach is nevertheless necessary. Three
dimensional moving conductor eddy-current problems can be solved in steady state conditions using a
stationary mesh provided that the conductor has invariant cross-section at right angles to the direction
of motion (smooth conductor). A detailed discussion of the relevant electromagnetic field equations is
presented in reference [15]. In this case explicit time derivatives of the magnetic flux density aren't
necessary to obtain the electric field, eliminating the need for time-stepping and sliding surfaces in the
finite element model. To solve the EDB in quasi-static condition the COMSOL Multiphysics finite
element solver, which is capable of solving this formulation in three dimensions, was chosen.
The sensitivity analysis requires a very large number of finite element solutions, and in the particular
case studied, for every change in a geometric parameter a new performance curve must be obtained.
For doing so, an approach based on script modeling was used making all the parametric changes inside
a loop, and inside this loop the speed is increased with a fixed step to construct the performance curve,
automatizing the construction of the EDBs performance curves.
The configurations studied present an anti-symmetry plane, perpendicular to the axis of rotation and
located in the middle of the conducting disc. This plane was modeled using an electric insulation
boundary condition, reducing the total size of the problem by approximately half. Figure 4 shows a
sketch of the finite element model adopted for the analysis, evidencing the main characteristics and
boundary conditions of the models.
From each finite element model both the components of the force produced by the electrodynamic
bearing (fig. 3) are calculated for several different values of angular velocity of the conductor. In this
way a set of points of the performance curves is obtained. To identify the mechanical stiffness and
damping of the bearing a nonlinear curve fitting tool is used to do the best fit of eq. 6 to the points
obtained from the finite element model. The result of this procedure is evidenced in fig. 5. The figure
shows the points obtained from numerical simulation and the curve from eq. 6 that best fits it.
External
boundaries
(magnetic
insulation
electric
n A 0 and
insulation
nJ 0
boundary conditions).
Anti-symmetry plane
( n H 0 electric
insulation boundary
condition).
Figure 4: Scheme of the finite element models used for the sensitivity analysis.
45
40
35
Force [N]
30
Numerical results
Analitic curve
25
20
15
RL = 5870.87 rpm
10
k = 53261.5 N/m
5
0
0
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 11000
Figure 5: Curve fitting of equation 6 with results from the numerical model.
This curve in particular was obtained from the MFA sensitivity analysis with an internal radius of the
magnet equal to 32 mm.
3.2 Results and discussion
The studies were carried on by changing only one geometric parameter at a time and identifying the
equivalent stiffness and damping coefficient from the quasi-static curves as described in section 3.1.
The two axial flux configurations studied are shown in fig. 6. The geometrical parameters are
evidenced in the figure by the quotations.
a)
b)
Figure 6: Geometrical characteristics of the finite element models for the sensitivity analysis. a)
Parameters of the normal configuration. b) Parameters of the double flux configuration.
Electric conductivity of
AV-1
5.998e7
copper
Remanent magnetic
T
1.22
BR
flux density
Magnetic permeability
H/m
4 10-7
0
of vacuum
Relative magnetic
4000
r
permeability of iron
Geometrical
parameter
g
Air gap
mm
1
Eccentricity
mm
1
ERS
External radius of the
mm
variable
83
83
55
stator
IRS
Internal radius of stator
mm
variable
67
67
variable
ERM
External radius of the
mm
variable
60
60
magnet
IRM
Internal radius of the
mm
variable
variable
32
magnet
RCOND Radius of the
mm
variable
50
50
50
conductor
H
Total height of the
mm
66
66
variable
66
magnetic circuit
CTH
Conducting disc
mm
3
3
variable
3
thickness
MTH
Magnet thickness
mm
5.5
5.5
5.5
5.5
MC
Clearance between
mm
7.5
magnets
The values of the geometrical and physical characteristics of the models used for the sensitivity
analysis are reported in table 1 and make reference to the quotations presented in fig. 6. The four
columns of values refer to the four different types of sensitivity analysis developed which results are
presented in diagrams of fig. 8. Each column refer to one diagram, where SC, MFA, CT and DF stand
for scaling, magnetic field area, conductor thickness and double flux respectively.
The distribution of the most important quantities obtained as results for the two configurations studied
are reported in fig. 7 as qualitative results.
In fig. 8a shows the influence of scaling. This analysis was done by increasing the radius of the
conductor (RCOND in fig. 6) and maintaining constant the scale ratio between all the radial dimensions
without changing any axial dimension. This causes all radial dimensions to vary as can be seen in table
1. The scale between the dimension was obtained from an initial model with the same characteristics
of the MFA case where the parameter IRM is equal to 32 mm. The scale has the effect of increasing the
value of achievable stiffness while decreasing the electric pole frequency. This is a beneficial effect as
allows to improve the overall performance of the bearing, increasing load capacity and useful
frequency range.
The problems with scaling are related to the increase of size of the magnetic circuit and rotor, creating
difficulties for stabilization and mechanical failure of the conducting disc due to centrifugal forces.
In fig. 8b the result of the sensitivity study made to optimize the use of magnetic material are shown.
Since the permanent magnets are the most expensive part of the electrodynamic bearing, it's important
to minimize their weight. The analysis is performed by fixing all the dimensions an varying the
internal radius of the ring magnet (IRM in fig. 6). Its possible to evidence a maximum for the stiffness
and a minimum for the electric pole frequency. These two extremes are consequences of that in both
a)
c)
b)
d)
Figure 7: a) Direction of the magnetic flux density distribution on a slice of the normal configuration.
b) Direction of the magnetic flux density distribution on a slice of the double flux configuration. c)
Path of the eddy currents inside the conductor for the normal configuration. d) Path of the eddy
currents inside the conductor for the double flux configuration.
limit situations (internal radius of the ring magnet bigger than conductor radius, or equal to zero) the
magnetic force is zero and the electric pole frequency tends to infinity. The stiffness increases with
increasing the inner radius of the magnet almost linearly.
The influence of the thickness of the conductor was investigated in fig. 8c. The reduction in the
resistance and the increase of reluctance of the magnetic path, result in a reduction of both electric
pole frequency and achievable stiffness with an increase in the thickness.
A maximum point for the force is expected because in one extreme, for a conductor with thickness
equal to zero also the force must be zero. On the other extreme, for a very thick conductor the force
will tend to a constant value small in magnitude because of the increase of reluctance in the magnetic
circuit. For constructive and simulation reasons discs with these characteristics are not of interest.
In fig. 8d the stiffness and electric pole frequency of configuration that optimizes the magnetic circuit
were investigated. This configuration was referred to as double flux configuration. For this case only
the sensitivity to the internal radius of the stator IRS was studied. The width of the magnets (MW in fig.
6b) is the same for the two magnets, and is varied in function of the internal radius of the stator. A
great increase in the stiffness can be noted without such a great penalty for the electric pole frequency.
Using this kind of configuration its possible to reduce the total mass of the magnetic circuit obtaining
not only a more performative system in terms of stiffness but also in terms of total size.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The performance of axial flux electrodynamic bearings was studied focusing on the link between the
quasi static characteristics that can be found from the FE simulation of the electromagnetic field and
the equivalent mechanical stiffness and damping coefficient that characterize its behavior. This study
led to the establishment of a method to identify the mechanical stiffness and damping based on an
hybrid approach using analytic and numerical models.
a)
b)
Magnetic field area
Scaling
25000
60
Electric pole frequency
36000
45
30000
37.5
24000
30
18000
22.5
12000
15
7.5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
20000
60
17500
50
15000
40
12500
30
10000
20
7500
10
5000
5
10
16000
61.25
14000
9000
52.50
7500
43.75
6000
35.00
4500
26.25
3000
17.5
1500
8.75
0
1
25
30
35
40
0
45
Double Flux
70.00
0
9
Stiffness
Electric pole frequency
10500
20
d)
Conductor thickness
12000
Stiffn ess [N /m m ]
c)
15
240
Stiffness
Electric pole frequency
210
12000
180
10000
150
8000
120
6000
90
4000
60
2000
30
0
0
12
16
20
24
28
Stiffn ess [N /m m ]
6000
70
Stiffn es s [N /m m ]
22500
52.5
Stiffness
42000
80
Stiffness
Stiffn ess [N /m m ]
48000
0
32
Figure 8: Results obtained from the analysis of sensitivity of EDBs mechanical properties to its
geometrical characteristics. a) Sensitivity to the scale. b) Sensitivity to the magnetic field area. c)
Sensitivity to the thickness of the conductor. d) Sensitivity to the magnetic field area in the double flux
configuration.
The mechanical properties of EDBs were investigated with the help of sensitivity analysis. Several
analysis of the sensitivity of EDBs mechanical properties to its geometrical characteristics were
carried out to give an objective view and understanding of the phenomena. The analysis evidenced the
mechanical characteristics that can be obtained from this kind of component and that some
optimization issues are still open. From the analysis some design guidelines to realize the optimization
of the capabilities of the EDB arise. The graphical results show that these mechanical components can
produce interesting radial stiffness at high speed with rather compact and simple layouts. The analysis
realized to reduce the use of permanent magnets, that constitute the most expensive part of the bearing,
show that its not necessary to have a big volume of magnetic material to obtain more performative
systems resulting in more economic bearings.
In synthesis, it was evidenced that electrodynamic bearings have capabilities suitable to commercial
applications once the component is optimized and may turn out to be a solution for medium and large
scale production of high speed machines.
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Massachussets Institute of Technology (USA), 1980.
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Institute of Technology (USA), 1982.
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Design Equations, In Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Magnetic Bearings,
December 1998
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Bearings, March 2000
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