Structure Design and Optimization of the Radial Magnetic Bearing

Abstract

According to different working environments and functional requirements, radial magnetic bearings (RMBs) have various design methods. Some methods’ lack of effectiveness or accuracy is likely to cause significant differences in the structural performance of magnetic bearings, which will cause serious problems such as limited bearing capacity and complex control. This paper analyzes the structure topology of a magnetic bearing according to the application scenario of RMBs, then proposes a general design example of an 8-pole magnetic bearing based on magnetic circuit analysis and reveals the linearity between electromagnetic force and current as well as air gap through finite element analysis and the influence of magnetic saturation on the load capacity of the magnetic bearing structure. After completing the preliminary design, we further optimize the structure, take the genetic algorithm as an example to iterate the influence coefficient, and summarize and prospect. The design scheme and optimization method proposed in this paper only provide a valuable reference for researchers and factories when devising RMB devices.

Keywords

• radial magnetic bearing
• structure topology
• finite element analysis
• design scheme