Design and Adaptive Sliding-Mode Control of Hybrid Magnetic Bearings

In this paper, a hybrid magnetic bearing (HMB) prototype system is designed and analyzed. Two compact bearings are used to suspend the rotor in five degrees of freedom. Electromagnets are used for axial suspension of the rotor, while permanent magnets are used for the passive radial stability. A brushless DC motor is designed in order to rotate the shaft around its axis. The 3-D finite-element model of the HMB system is established and distribution of magnetic fields in the air gaps and magnetic forces on the rotor under various control currents and displacements is calculated. A nonlinear adaptive sliding-mode controller is designed for the position control of the rotor in axial direction. Since the control characteristics of the active magnetic bearing system are highly nonlinear and time varying with external interference, a radial basis function compensator is designed first, and then, a sliding-mode control law is used to generate the control input. The stability analysis for the designed controller is given based on the Lyapunov theorem. Experimental setup is built to guide the design process. The performance of the HMB system based on the designed control algorithm is evaluated under different operating conditions.