Tribology and Lubrication Course

November 21, 2014,

Arica, Chile

MAGNETIC BEARINGS

Marius Steinfeld,
Escuela Universitaria de Ingeniera Mecnica
Universidad de Tarapac

ABSTRACT
This paper presents a general view of
magnetic bearings and some information about
current and future challenges. Starting with a
description of the function of Active and Passive
Magnetic Bearings, their properties, including
their advantages/disadvantages and application
with a focus on process technology.
INTRODUCTION
In the last decades there were many efforts to
develop magnetic bearing systems for applications
with special requirements. Reasons for that are
economical and technical advantages over
conventional fluid film bearings. The progress in
microelectronic research in the last years made
them favorable for a high spectrum use. Magnetic
bearings are regarded as the future of bearing
technology.
NOMENCLATURE
F: Magnetic force
i: Current intensity
x: Clearance; distance between electromagnet
and rotor
ACTIVE MAGNETIC BEARING (AMB)
Active magnetic bearings support the bearing
load with a magnetic force that is created by
electromagnets. They can be arranged as radial or

thrust

bearing.

The power amplifier supplies current to the

electromagnets which are embedded in the stator.
Under a steady supply of current they create a
magnetic force field that attracts the rotor (shaft).
The magnet attraction from various sides holds the
rotor in a levitating central position. The magnetic
force that is created can be described by:

This relation between the distance and the force is

not linear. With increasing distance between
electromagnet and rotor, the magnetic force
decreases exponentially, which leads to instability.
A control system is needed, regulating the
magnetic force by adjusting current supply. It
consists of position sensors, a controller and a
power amplifier. The sensors measure the current
clearance with electromagnetic induction,
meaning that they use a magnetic field. The sensor
signals are sent to the controller, which compares
them to reference signals. A controller is usually a
microprocessor or a digital signal processor
(DSP). It calculates an input signal with
algorithms that is sent to the power amplifier,
where it leads to an adjustment of current, which

is supplied to each electromagnet. This control

system ensures that the rotor maintains its
concentric levitating position. Active magnetic
bearings need auxiliary bearings on the same shaft
to support the load in case of power loss, overload
or shutdown. They are conventional fluid film
bearings with an extra clearance so that they do
not work until the shaft leaves its center position.

PASSIVE MAGNETIC BEARINGS (PMB)

Passive magnetic bearings use permanent
magnets to keep the rotor levitating. There is
neither a need for a control system nor for a
current supply.
PROPERTIES
Magnetic bearings have many advantages
over conventional bearings. They work without
any contact of the surfaces and without lubricant,
which avoids wear and provides zero friction.
Very high rotating velocities are possible,
theoretically without limitation. No cooling
system is needed. Zero wear and no contamination
of lubricants allow a low maintenance rate.
Because of no friction, machines that use
magnetic bearings have a lower energy
consumption and a longer life expectancy, which
contributes to economic advantages. Another
property of AMBs is the possibility to receive
measurement data directly. The processor can
calculate directly from the sensor signals data
such as rotational speed, carried load and the
concentricity
of
the
rotor.
Automatic
accommodation is the process of compensating
unbalance or vibrations of the shaft automatically
with algorithms. The active creation of vibrations
is also possible. There are some disadvantages as
well. The bearing stiffness is poor and the bearing
itself does not support a high load. Generally it is
a complex system with high acquisition costs.

APPLICATION
Magnetic bearings have many convincing
technological and economical advantages, which
make them favorable for a wide field of
application. Nevertheless, until today they were
only used in special devices because of their costs.
Aerospace, process technology, machine tools and
clean room technology are some examples for
applications wherever high velocity, high
precision or high purity is required. Other similar
areas are transport systems like the maglev train
TRANSRAPID or tool slides, which use linear
magnetic bearings.
CHALLENGES
The introduction of magnetic bearings to a
wide field of application dominates the current
research and development. Regardless there is a
focus on electric control, like the design of better
algorithms. Another big issue is passive magnetic
bearings (PMB). They are much simpler than
AMBs and could replace many conventional
bearings if stability problems were solved. Normal
iron magnets are not sufficient and therefore
momentarily there is an investigation into special
materials like superconductors. Hybrid systems
with active and passive magnetic bearings do
already exist.
REFERENCES
[1]

http://ipm.hszg.de/institut/publikationen/publikati
onen-ipm/article/aktive-magnetlager-und-ihreanwendungen.html, Publication: 'Aktive
Magnetlager und ihre Anwendungen', Frank
Worlitz, Zittau/Grlitz University of Applied
Sciences

[2]

http://www.synchrony.com/knowledge/howmagnetic-bearings-work.php

[3]

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetlager

PICTURES
Page 1: Radial AMB profile,
http://www.synchrony.com/knowledge/howmagnetic-bearings-work.php
Page 2: Thrust bearing with ring magnets,
http://ipm.hszg.de/institut/publikationen/publikati
onen-ipm/article/aktive-magnetlager-und-ihreanwendungen.html