| This work presents a design procedure for radial magnetic bearings. The focus is on the development of an algorithm to design an actuator that provides the desired design characteristics. The equations relevant to the design of the actuator are developed. The design algorithm is then developed and incorporated into a computer aided design package. This package is used in the design of two radial magnetic bearings for a canned motor pump.; The resulting bearings were manufactured and installed in a retrofit of the pump and successfully tested in a laboratory environment. The flow testing on the magnetic bearing equipped pump showed virtually no change in pump head, efficiency, or vibrational characteristics.; Additional testing on the bearings was performed to validate the stiffness and force equations used in the design method. Agreement between measurement and theory for these values was within 10 percent.; Comparison of the thermal model developed in this work to measurements reported earlier yielded very poor correlations, with errors of 100% or more not uncommon. An alternate method of accounting for thermal effects in the design procedure is suggested. |
