Design and development of Halbach electromagnet for active magnetic bearing

Abstract

Active Magnetic Bearings (AMBs) are advantageous due to their active control on rotor position, but are disadvantageous due to their high initial as well running costs. The running cost of AMB can be reduced by improving design of electromagnet so that the same magnetic field can be generated with reduced supply of electric current. In the present paper, analyses of various arrangements of electromagnets using 2D finite element (FE) have been presented. To validate the results of magnetic flux density obtained from theoretical study, experiments were performed, and comparisons have been presented. The electromagnet using Halbach winding arrangement provides the best results.