Coupled Electromechanical Analysis of a Permanent-Magnet Bearing

In this paper we present a new Permanent Magnets (PMs) bearing, which is composed of a rotor capable to levitate at a short distance from a dedicated stator. Proper configurations of PMs arranged on both the stator and the rotor allows having the magnetic suspension. Intrinsic mechanical instability characterizes the device; a passive stabilization is attempted exploiting eddy currents on a conducting sheet that surrounds the magnets on the stator. The system has been simulated by means of a dedicated numerical code that takes into account the effects of magneto-mechanical coupling. The coupled problem has been integrated by means of a prediction-correction nested scheme. Some interesting results, extensively discussed here, has been produced by simulation activity. In particular the stability of to the center of mass with respect to the translations has been passively obtained, if the rotations are actively prevented.