Rotor Bearing Solutions International

• Date: September 20, 2017
• Author: Tim Dimond
• Tags: active magnetic bearings, auxiliary bearing systems, experimental valdiation, non-linear dynamics, rolling element bearings, rotor drop
• 0 Comments

In our previous post, we discussed the importance of proper auxiliary bearing design for active magnetic bearing supported rotors.  The auxiliary bearing system protects vital machine components from damage in case of loss of power in the active magnetic bearings.

The previous post provided some insights into the detailed analysis required to properly model the rotor drop.  With a complex non-linear model such as this, it is important to experimentally validate it to ensure that the analysis is accurate.  To perform this validation, RBSI cooperated with Professor Janse van Rensburg at the University of Potchefstroom, South Africa, to analyze results from his experimental drop test apparatus.

Comparison of the RBSI analysis to the experimental results showed strong agreement, indicating that the drop analysis was accurate as a predictive tool for designing auxiliary bearing systems.

RBSI has leveraged these results to develop rotor drop analysis tools and auxiliary bearing system designs for auxiliary bearing systems.  These powerful predictive tools allow for estimation of rotor response, and allows for analysis of the number of drops that an auxiliary bearing system can take before the rolling element bearings require replacement.

For more information on the validation study, see our paper presented at ISMB 15.