Structure and characteristic analysis of a novel magnetic bearing without thrust disk

Abstract

Conventional thrust magnetic bearing (TMB) uses large thrust disk to generate axial levitation force. However, due to the existence of thrust disk, it will lead to many problems in assembling and dynamic balance. Moreover, it will even limit rotational speed. In order to solve these shortcomings, a novel TMB with uniform teeth on the stator and rotor is proposed. It replaces the conventional thrust disk with staggered teeth structure between the stator and rotor. This paper obtains analytical expressions of levitation force, current stiffness and displacement stiffness of the novel TMB by equivalent magnetic circuit method and method of air–gap ratio permeance. Considering slot effect between the teeth of stator and rotor, its influence is analyzed by finite-element analysis (FEA) and the expression of displacement stiffness has been modified. The simulation and experiment results show that the proposed TMB can ensure enough bearing capacity by reasonably designing the staggered distance between the teeth of stator and rotor. In addition, under the reasonable tooth structure, TMB can achieve self-recovery ability by utilizing the influence of slot effect on levitation force. Compared with conventional TMB, the proposed TMB has greater advantages in assembly, dynamic balance and high speed. It will be conducive to its application in medical, aerospace and other fields.