Low-stiction magnetic bearing for satellite application

In this article, the design and development of a low-stiction two-axis-active magnetic bearing used in the reaction wheel of a remote sensing satellite is presented. Conventional design of the magnetic circuit and improvements in the design using finite element (FE) analysis were carried out. The results of investigations carried out to bring down the stiction torque of the magnetic bearing to a very low value of less than 1×10^-4 Nm are also presented. Ideally for zero stiction, the cogging between the moving and stationary parts must be zero. In a reaction wheel of the satellite, there will be a permanent magnet brushless dc motor as the drive motor. Magnetic or eddy current sensors present in the motor commutation circuit will induce cogging between the moving and stationary parts. In this work, by properly designing all subsystems, the stiction has been brought down to as low as 0.75×10^-4 Nm. Test results of the developed magnetic bearing match fairly with the computed values by FE analysis. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.