Comparison of the dynamic response of radial and tangential magnetic flux thrust bearings

Theoretical predictions were made for the dynamic performance of a tangential flux magnetic thrust bearing. A prototype bearing was built with the stators and rotors made from tape wound strip. The performance of this bearing was measured and compared to the theoretical predictions and also to the performance of a radial flux thrust bearing. Tangential flux bearings are intrinsically amenable to construction from tape wound cores. Tape wound cores come in high saturation alloys like supermenduer which can give the bearing a high force to size ratio. The thin tape laminates give the bearing a broad frequency bandwidth. By comparison the paper shows that it is difficult to make a laminated rotor magnetically efficient for radial flux bearings. A test rig is described that was built to measure the performance of the tangential flux bearing. A power amplifier with current feedback provides DC and harmonic currents to the coils. A load cell was built into the test rig to measure the axial thrust, an inductive/Hall sensor was included to measure the coil current, and a Hall probe was used to measure the gap flux.