At present, most of the magnetic bearing system adopts the classical proportional–integral–derivative (PID) control strategy. However, the external disturbances, system parameter perturbations, and many other uncertain disturbances result in PID controller difficult to achieve high performance. To solve this problem, a linear active disturbance rejection controller (LADRC) based on active disturbance rejection controller (ADRC) theory was designed for magnetic bearing. According to the actual prototype parameters, the simulation model was built in matlab/simulink. The step and sinusoidal disturbances with PID and LADRC control strategies were simulated and compared. Then, the experiments of step and sinusoidal disturbances were performed. When control parameters are consistent, the experiment showed that the rotor displacement fluctuation decreased by 28.6% using the LADRC than PID control under step disturbances and decreased by around 25.8% under sinusoidal disturbances. When the rotor is running at 24,000 r/min and 27,000 r/min, the displacement of rotor is reduced by around 15% and 13.7%, respectively. Rotate the rotor with step disturbances and sinusoidal disturbances. It can also be seen that LADRC has the advantages of fast response time and good anti-interference. The experiments indicate that the LADRC has better anti-interference performance compared with PID controller.

In an active magnetic bearing (AMB) system, the catcher bearings (CBs) are indispensable to protect the rotor and stator in case the magnetic bearings fail. Most of the former researches associated with CBs are mainly focused on the dynamic responses of the rotor drops onto traditional single-decker catcher bearings (SDCBs). But because of the lower limited speed of SDCB, it cannot withstand the ultra high speed rotation after rotor drop. In this paper, based on the analysis of the disadvantages of SDCBs, a new type of double-decker catcher bearings (DDCBs) is proposed to enhance the CB work performance in AMB system. In order to obtain the accurate rotor movements before AMB failure, the dynamic characteristics of AMB are theoretically derived. Detailed simulation models containing rigid rotor model, contact model between rotor and inner race, DDCB force model as well as heating model after rotor drop are established. Then, using those established models the dynamic responses of rotor drops onto DDCBs and SDCBs are respectively simulated. The rotor orbits, contact forces, spin speeds of various parts and heat energies after AMB failure are mainly analyzed. The simulation results show that DDCBs can effectively improve the CBs limit rotational speed and reduce the following vibrations, impacts and heating. Finally, rotor drop experiments choosing different types of CBs are carried out on the established AMB test bench. Rotor orbits, inner race temperatures as well as the rotating speeds of both inner race and intermediate races after rotor drop are synchronously measured. The experiment results verify the advantages of DDCB and the correctness of theoretical analysis. The studies provide certain theoretical and experimental references for the application of DDCBs in AMB system.

In this article, a magnetic suspension technique was introduced into the field of vibration absorption. Using the advantage of adjustable control parameters of a magnetic suspension system, a type of a magnetic suspension dynamic vibration absorber that can achieve broadband vibration suppression was designed. First, the theoretical model of a magnetic suspension dynamic vibration absorber was established. Then, the cantilever beam with sinusoidal excitation is seen as the main system of vibration suppression; combined with the fixed point theory (Seto K (2013) Dynamic Vibration Absorber and its Application. Mechanic Industry Press), the specific structure of the magnetic suspension dynamic vibration absorber was designed. Based on that, the simulation study of vibration suppression performance of the magnetic suspension dynamic vibration absorber was carried out. The results indicated that the vibration of the main system at the 1st modal frequency was reduced by 65.38% under the action of the magnetic suspension dynamic vibration absorber, compared with that without the action of the magnetic suspension dynamic vibration absorber. Furthermore, the vibration of the main system can be suppressed in the frequency band of [16 Hz, 32 Hz]. Finally, a vibration test rig of the magnetic suspension dynamic vibration absorber was built up for experimental study. And the results showed that the absorber can decrease the vibration of the main system by 43.03% at the 1st modal frequency compared with that without the action of magnetic suspension dynamic vibration absorber and had a certain suppression effect (decrease varies from 0 to 43.03%) on the vibration of the main system in the frequency band of [20 Hz, 32 Hz].

Auto-eliminating clearance auxiliary bearing devices (ACABD) can automatically eliminate the protective clearance between the ball bearing's outer race and the ACABD's supports, thus recenter the rotor when active magnetic bearing (AMB) system fails. This paper introduces the mechanical structure and working principles of the ACABD. When the rotor drops, numerical and experimental studies on the transient responses of the rotor and the ACABD's supports are also conducted as follows. First, we propose an equivalent clearance circle method to establish dynamic models of rotor dropping on the ACABD. Based on these models, the rotor dropping simulations are carried out to investigate the modes of lubrication and the ACABD's support shape's influences on the performance and execution time of clearance elimination. Second, various AMB rotor dropping tests are performed on our experimental setup with different ACABD supporting conditions. Indicated from the basically consistent simulation and experimental results, the correctness of the theoretical analysis and the successful operation of ACABD have been verified. Moreover, with the grease lubrication in the ball bearing and convex shape supports, the ACABD can eliminate the protective clearance within approximately 0.5 s upon the rotor drops and then sustain the rotor to operate stably around its original rotation center. Because of clearance elimination, the dramatic impact between the ball bearing and the supports is avoided and the impact forces among each part are effectively reduced. Meanwhile, the possibility of incurring full-clearance backward whirling motion is eliminated.