Thesis (M. Eng.)--Victoria University (Melbourne, Vic.), 2007.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 231-233). Also available in an electronic version.

Methods are presented for parameter identification of an annular gas seal on a flexiblerotor test rig. Dynamic loads are applied by magnetic bearings (MBs) that support the rotor. MB forces are measured using fiber-optic strain gauges that are bonded to the poles of the MBs. In addition to force and position measurements, a finite element (FE) rotor model is required for the identification algorithms. The FE rotor model matches free-free characteristics of the test rotor. The addition of smooth air seals to the system introduces stiffness and damping terms for identification that are representative of reaction forces in turbomachines. Tests are performed to experimentally determine seal stiffness and damping coefficients for different running speeds and preswirl conditions. Stiffness and damping coefficients are determined using a frequency domain identification method. This method uses an iterative approach to minimize error between theoretical and experimental transfer functions. Several time domain approaches are also considered; however, these approaches do not produce valid identification results. Stiffness coefficients are measured using static test results and an MB current and position based model. Test results produce seal coefficients with low uncertainties for the frequency domain identification method. Static test uncertainties are an order of magnitude larger, and time domain attempts fail to produce sealIn addition to the primary identification research, an investigation of the relationships between MB force, strain, and magnetic field is conducted. The magnetic field of an MB is modeled using commercial FE software. The magnetic field model is used to predict strain measurements for quasi-static test conditions. The strain predictions are compared with experimental strain measurements. Strain predictions agree with experimental measurements, although strain is typically over-predicted. coefficient measurements.

Many processes involving rotating machinery could benefit from the continuous feedback of force applied to the bearings that support the machinery. Such a system could be used to provide diagnostics for process monitoring in a manufacturing application or to provide information for machine health monitoring. Active Magnetic Bearings (AMBs) have the capability to act concurrently as a shaft force sensor and support bearing. This capability stems from the AMB's control system, which is designed to maintain a specific rotor position, regardless of forces acting on the rotor. Researchers have demonstrated the force sensing ability of AMBs; current state of the art methods typically rely on a direct measurement of magnetic flux density as provided by a Hall probe inserted in the magnetic field. In this work, a system identification approach to force measurement is proposed; the proposed approach is applicable to all active magnetic bearings and does not require Hall probes. Recent developments in system identification of bearing forces (Kasarda et al., 2000) indicate that a different approach is feasible. In the work of Marshall (Marshall et al., 2001), a variety of perturbations are applied to an AMB while the AMB controller signals are interrogated, no outside instrumentation such as force transducers or Hall probes are required. The work of Kasarda and Marshall is the starting point for the work presented here. The initial work was expanded to include a general characterization of air gap for any rotor position. Although this characterization relies on static testing to identify system parameters, the identified parameters can then be used in the measurement of dynamic forces. The identification procedure provides a measurement of effective air gap length. Effective gap length is used to infer the effective position of the rotor with respect to the stator. This measurement is made for several specific rotor locations. The relationship between the effective rotor positions provided by the identification and the rotor positions reported by the AMB system sensors establishes a coordinate transformation. The procedure is also applied at different shaft rotation angles. In this way rotor runout can be identified. / Ph. D.

Flywheel energy storage units have become a viable alternative to electrochemical batteries in applications such as satellites, uninterrupted power supplies, and hybrid vehicles. However, this performance is contingent upon safe operation since these flywheels can release their stored energy almost instantaneously upon failure. The research presented here investigates a health monitoring technology that may give an early indication of degraded material properties in a concentric ring composite flywheel. The existence of degraded material properties is manifested as a change in mass eccentricity due to asymmetric growth of the outermost flywheel ring. A test rig concept to investigate the technology is developed in detail using a systems engineering design process. Successful detection of the change in mass eccentricity was verified analytically through dynamic modeling of the flywheel rotor and magnetic suspension system. During steady state operation detection was determined to be feasible via measurements of the magnetic bearing currents and shaft position provided by the magnetic suspension feedback sensors. A rotordynamic analysis was also conducted and predicts successful operation to the maximum operating speed of 50,000 Rpm.

Flywheel energy storage units have become a viable alternative to electrochemical batteries in applications such as satellites, uninterrupted power supplies, and hybrid vehicles. However, this performance is contingent upon safe operation since these flywheels can release their stored energy almost instantaneously upon failure. The research presented here investigates a health monitoring technology that may give an early indication of degraded material properties in a concentric ring composite flywheel. The existence of degraded material properties is manifested as a change in mass eccentricity due to asymmetric growth of the outermost flywheel ring. A test rig concept to investigate the technology is developed in detail using a systems engineering design process. Successful detection of the change in mass eccentricity was verified analytically through dynamic modeling of the flywheel rotor and magnetic suspension system. During steady state operation detection was determined to be feasible via measurements of the magnetic bearing currents and shaft position provided by the magnetic suspension feedback sensors. A rotordynamic analysis was also conducted and predicts successful operation to the maximum operating speed of 50,000 Rpm.

Active magnetic bearings (AMBs) have the ability to act concurrently as support bearings and as load sensing measurement tools. Previous work in the area of AMB force measurement has relied upon basic magnetic equations requiring knowledge of coil currents and air gap lengths. Some researchers have utilized magnetic flux probes to eliminate the need for air gap measurements, but these are limited by physical size constraints and require complex hardware. This thesis presents a new method for measuring forces with AMBs that utilizes multiple current pairs with no gap measurement to provide accurate and precise force predictions. Previous methods for force measurement with AMBs rely on the controlled environment of a laboratory setting for accurate measurements. The goal of this work is to develop a robust force measurement procedure for use in industrial and field applications, as well as the laboratory. The harsh environment of a factory floor makes air gap measurements difficult, which limits the use of current-based force equations. Additionally, the flexibility of AMB-equipped thrust measurement systems (TMSs) to measure many types of forces with little to no reconfiguration or calibration makes them appealing. The multi-point method provides predictions of both shaft force and rotor position using only current pairs without air gap measurements. Static and dynamic load scenarios were investigated to determine the feasibility of this new approach to force measurement. For both, the effects of bearing load and rotor position within the bearing were analyzed. Under dynamic loading, different amounts of unbalance as well as various rotor speeds were used to provide multiple test cases. The multi-point predictions of rotor position were analyzed and compared with the measured rotor positions. It was shown that this new multiple-point method for measuring bearing loads with AMBs provides equivalent or better force predictions to analogous single-point methods for static loads while eliminating the need for measuring rotor position. / Master of Science

The active magnetic bearing (AMB) is a relatively new technology which has many advantages compared with conventional bearing design. In an AMB system, the rolling-element back-up bearings are indispensable to protect the magnetic bearing rotor and stator, and other stationary seals along the rotor shaft. In this paper, a theoretical formulation is proposed and solved numerically to examine the transient response of the flexible rotor, from the time just previous to the AMB shuts down and including the rotor drop onto the back-up bearing. The backward whirl of the rotor, which may lead to the destructive damage of the machinery, has been analytically predicted at very light support damping and very high support damping. Also, the vibration due to the non-linearity of the contact point geometry has been included in the analysis. The influence of the support damping on the displacement of the disk and also the contact force between the journal and the inner-race of the back-up bearing have been computed for various rotor system parameters. By comparing these results with the optimum support damping for the simple flexible rotor model, it is shown that this support damping optimization can be applicable for specifying the required optimum range of support damping for the back-up bearings of AMB systems. / Master of Science

The current development in the field of electric machinery is focusing on high-speed electric machines. This opens also other fields related to high-speed machines. One of them are magnetic bearing systems. Tradition approach of using ball bearing brings a few problems in design dealing with friction at high speeds. Together with magnetic bearings, development is their control. Faster chips opened a new way of thinking of control and helped to evolve robust control loops. The biggest advantage of magnetic bearing is non-friction run and almost no maintenance. Compare to traditional ball bearing, a magnetic bearing system needs more space and in some applications could happen that the shaft will be twice as long. This problem can be solved designing complex system with motor and integrated magnetic bearing what leads to downsizing. In this master thesis, the design of magnetic bearing for 12kw, 45000rpm is discussed. It focuses on practical design and correlations between parameter selection. The analytical approach is used to sketch the design and optimization is done afterwards. Problem with an analytical design is that it doesn't cover all parasitic phenomenae and thus numerical modelling snd optimization are demanded. Also, the critical speed analyze is included in this thesis. The results of the work will be used for manufacturing prototype as an extension to the existing high-speed machine.