This paper addresses self-diagnostic properties of active magnetic bearing (AMB) supported rotors for online detection of the transverse crack on a rotating shaft. In addition to pure levitation, the rotor supporting bearing also serves as an actuator that transforms current signals additionally injected into the control loop into the superimposed specially selected excitation forces into the suspended rotor. These additional excitations induce combination frequencies in the rotor response, providing unique signatures for the presence of crack. The background of theoretical modeling, experimental, and computer simulation results for the AMB supported cracked rotor with self-diagnostic excitation forces are presented and discussed.

We examine the dynamics of a healthy rotor and a rotor with a transverse crack, which opens and closes due to its self weight. Using discrete wavelet transform, we perform a multiresolution analysis of the measured vibration signal from each of these rotors. In particular, the measured vibration signal is decomposed into eight frequency bands, and the rms amplitude values of the healthy and cracked rotors are compared in the three lowest‐frequency bands. The results indicate that the rms vibration amplitudes for the cracked rotor are larger than those of the healthy rotor in each of these three frequency bands. In the case of externally applied harmonic force excitation to the rotor, the rms values of the vibration amplitude of the cracked rotor are also found to be larger than those of a healthy rotor in the three lowest‐frequency bands. Furthermore, the difference in the rms values between the healthy and cracked rotors in each of the three lowest‐frequency bands is more pronounced in the presence of external excitation than that with no excitation. The obtained results suggest that the present multiresolution approach can be used effectively to detect the presence of a crack in a rotor.

Lower-limb exoskeletons have undergone significant developments for aiding in the ambulation of adults with gait impairment. However, advancements in exoskeletons for the pediatric population have comparatively been lacking. This paper presents a newly developed joint actuator designed to drive the hip and knee joints of a pediatric lower-limb exoskeleton. The performance requirements associated with the actuators were determined based on a target audience of children ages 6–11 years old. The developed actuators incorporate a hybrid belt-chain transmission driven by a frameless brushless DC motor. One actuator underwent benchtop testing to evaluate its performance with respect to their torque production, bandwidth properties, backdrivability in terms of inertia and friction characteristics, speed capabilities, and operational noise levels. As a preliminary validation, a set of actuators were placed in a prototype orthosis to move a pediatric test dummy in gait tracking via state-feedback control. The results showed that the newly developed actuators meet the design specifications and are suitable for use in the pediatric exoskeleton being developed.

A rotor supported on active magnetic bearings (AMBs) is levitated inside an air gap by electromagnets controlled in feedback. In the event of momentary loss of levitation due to an acute exogenous disturbance or external fault, reestablishing levitation may be prevented by unbalanced forces, contact forces, and the rotor’s dynamics. A novel robust control strategy is proposed for ensuring levitation recovery. The proposed strategy utilizes model-based μ-synthesis to find the requisite AMB control law with unique provisions to account for the contact forces and to prevent control effort saturation at the large deflections that occur during levitation failure. The proposed strategy is demonstrated experimentally with an AMB test rig. First, rotor drop tests are performed to tune a simple touchdown-bearing model. That model is then used to identify a performance weight, which bounds the contact forces during controller synthesis. Then, levitation recovery trials are conducted at 1000 and 2000 RPM, in which current to the AMB coils is momentarily stopped, representing an external fault. The motor is allowed to drive the rotor on the touchdown bearings until coil current is restored. For both cases, the proposed control strategy shows a marked improvement in relevitation transients.