Modelling and system identification of active magnetic bearing systems

Active magnetic bearing (AMB) systems have recently attracted much attention in the rotating machinery industry due to their advantages over traditional bearings such as fluid film and rolling element bearings. The AMB control system must provide robust performance over a wide range of machine operating conditions and over the machine lifetime in order to make this technology commercially viable. An accurate plant model for AMB systems is essential for the aggressive design of control systems. In this paper, we propose two approaches to obtain accurate AMB plant models for the purpose of control design: physical modelling and system identification. The former derives a model based upon the underlying physical principles. The latter uses input -- output data without explicitly resorting to physical principles. For each problem, a brief summary of the theoretical derivation and assumptions is given. Experimental results based on data collected from an AMB test facility at the United Technologies Research Center provide a vehicle for a comparison of the two approaches.