Fault tolerant homopolar magnetic bearings
Abstract
A magnetic bearing for supporting a spinning shaft in the radial direction and/or the axial direction includes a rotor formed on the shaft and a stator positioned around the rotor. Poles in the stator creates a magnetic field that supports the rotor. The number of poles is at least sufficient to produce a selected control force if there is an at least partial loss of current to one or more of the poles. The bearing also includes a set of permanent magnetic elements associated with the poles that create a homopolar, bias magnetic field. A controller connected to the poles is programmed with instructions to change the current to each pole in response to at least a partial loss of current to one or more of the poles and can include a current distribution matrix for determining a current value for each pole in such instances.
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Citation
Provenza, Andrew; Beach, Raymond; Kascak, Albert; Palazzolo, Alan; Li, Ming-hsiu; Kenny, Andrew; Pruess, Jason; Tucker, Randall P.; Provenza, Andrew; Beach, Raymond; Kascak, Albert (2008). Fault tolerant homopolar magnetic bearings. United States. Patent and Trademark Office; Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /176885.