Magnetic bearings offer high speed and low power losses as compared to film riding and rolling element bearings. Significant efforts are underway to apply magnetic bearings to gas turbines and jet aircraft engines. Negative stiffness coefficients for magnetic actuators can have a significant impact on shaft rotordynamics. These coefficients are typically computed as the sensitivity of a magnetic force expression derived from a lumped parameter reluctance network. However, as the complexity of magnetic actuator designs increases, the reluctance network method may become impractical for, or even incapable of, coefficient determination. In this paper, an alternative method is presented for determination of negative stiffness coefficients for a large class of magnetic actuators. The method solves the Dirichlet boundary value problem for the magnetomotive force in the actuator air gap, subject to periodic boundary conditions that can be represented by Fourier series. A conformal transformation to bipolar coordinates is used that results in a boundary value problem that is solvable using separation of variables. Negative stiffness coefficients are presented and the method is benchmarked against well-known solutions using the reluctance network method.
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July 2001
Technical Papers
Negative Stiffness Coefficients for Magnetic Actuators Using Laplace’s Equation
L. S. Stephens, Assistant Professor,,
L. S. Stephens, Assistant Professor,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0108
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M. A. Casemore, Research Assistant,
M. A. Casemore, Research Assistant,
Mechanical Engineering Department Louisiana State University, 2508 CEBA Baton Rouge, LA 70803
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L. S. Stephens, Assistant Professor,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0108
M. A. Casemore, Research Assistant,
Mechanical Engineering Department Louisiana State University, 2508 CEBA Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Contributed by the International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI) of THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS for publication in the ASME JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING FOR GAS TURBINES AND POWER. Paper presented at the International Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and Exhibition, Munich, Germany, May 8–11, 2000; Paper 99-GT-179. Manuscript received by IGTI Oct. 1999; final revision received by ASME Headquarters Oct. 2000. Associate Editor: D. Wisler.
J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power. Jul 2001, 123(3): 612-618 (7 pages)
Published Online: October 1, 2000
Article history
Received:
October 1, 1999
Revised:
October 1, 2000
Citation
Stephens, L. S., and Casemore, M. A. (October 1, 2000). "Negative Stiffness Coefficients for Magnetic Actuators Using Laplace’s Equation ." ASME. J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power. July 2001; 123(3): 612–618. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1377874
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