Design and Performance Improvements of the Prototype Open Core Flywheel Energy Storage System

A prototype magnetically suspended composite flywheel energy storage (FES) system is operating at the University of Maryland. This system, designed for spacecraft applications, incorporates recent advances in the technologies of composite materials, magnetic suspension, and permanent magnet brushless motor/generator. The current system is referred to as an Open Core Composite Flywheel (OCCF) energy storage system. This paper will present design improvements for enhanced and robust performance. Initially, when the OCCF prototype was spun above its first critical frequency of 4,500 RPM, the rotor movement would exceed the space available in the magnetic suspension gap and touchdown on the backup mechanical bearings would occur. On some occasions it was observed that, after touchdown, the rotor was unable to re-suspend as the speed decreased. Additionally, it was observed that the rotor would exhibit unstable oscillations when the control system was initially turned on. Our analysis suggested that the following problems existed: (1) The linear operating range of the magnetic bearings was limited due to electrical and magnetic saturation; (2) The inductance of the magnetic bearings was affecting the transient response of the system; (3) The flywheel was confined to a small movement because mechanical components could not be held to a tight tolerance; and (4) The location of the touchdown bearing magnifies the motion at the pole faces of the magnetic bearings when the linear range is crucial. In order to correct these problems an improved design of the flywheel energy storage system was undertaken. The magnetic bearings were re-designed to achieve a large linear operating range and to withstand load disturbances of at least 1 g. The external position transducers were replaced by a unique design which were resistant to magnetic field noise and allowed cancellation of the radial growth of the flywheel at high speeds. A central rod was utilized to ensure the concentricity of the magnetic bearings, the motor/generator, and the mechanical touchdown bearings. In addition, the mechanical touchdown bearings were placed at two ends of the magnetic bearing stack to restrict the motion at pole faces. A composite flywheel was made using a multi-ring interference assembled design for a high specific energy density. To achieve a higher speed and better efficiency, a permanent magnet DC brushless motor was specially designed and fabricated. A vacuum enclosure was constructed to eliminate windage losses for testing at high speeds. With the new improvements the OCCF system was tested to 20,000 RPM with a total stored energy of 15.9 WH and an angular momentum of 54.8 N-m-s (40.4 lb-ft-s). Motor current limitation, caused by power loss in the magnetic bearings, was identified as causing the limit in upper operating speed

Study on stability and rotating speed stable region of magnetically suspended rigid rotors using extended Nyquist criterion and gain-stable region theory

This paper presents a novel and simple method to analyze the absolute stability and the rotor speed stable region of a magnetically suspended rotor (MSR). At the beginning of the paper, a complex variable is introduced to describe the movement of the MSR and a complex coefficient transfer function is obtained accordingly. The equivalent stability relationship between this new variable and the two traditional deflection angles is also demonstrated in a simple way. The detailed characteristics of the open-loop MSR system with time delay are studied carefully based on the characteristics of its Nyquist curve. A sufficient and necessary condition of absolute stability is then deduced by using an extended complex Nyquist stability criterion for MSRs. Based on the relationship between the rotor speed and gain-stable region proposed in this paper, the rotor speed stable region can be solved simply and directly. The usefulness and effectiveness of the proposed approaches are validated by examples and simulations

Third International Symposium on Magnetic Suspension Technology

In order to examine the state of technology of all areas of magnetic suspension and to review recent developments in sensors, controls, superconducting magnet technology, and design/implementation practices, the Third International Symposium on Magnetic Suspension Technology was held at the Holiday Inn Capital Plaza in Tallahassee, Florida on 13-15 Dec. 1995. The symposium included 19 sessions in which a total of 55 papers were presented. The technical sessions covered the areas of bearings, superconductivity, vibration isolation, maglev, controls, space applications, general applications, bearing/actuator design, modeling, precision applications, electromagnetic launch and hypersonic maglev, applications of superconductivity, and sensors

An active control scheme for rotor vibration based on predictive variable learning gain

To our knowledge, iterative learning control (ILC) is an effective method for active vibration control of mechanical systems with periodically varying parameters, merits of ILC mainly include simplicity and completely compensating for nonlinear. However, during application of ILC, transient growth or instability for system is sometimes dramatic large which is in fact detrimental to system, we attribute such phenomena to non-periodic factors, so, an improvement to iterative learning control (ILC), predictive gain iterative learning control (PILC) is put forward to suppress the rotor displacement and the amplifier current mainly resulted from the unbalance forces. Discretization is applied to get the system model including the parameters analysis, and then, the obtained model is transformed into a new style where the learning gain is input, next, based on the new model, a feedback predictive control algorithm is carried out to obtain the learning gain at present time, then, at the next time, the gain is updated by the same mean. The improved method achieves arbitrary damping and gets a high speed and accuracy output tracking for mechanical system. The simulation results show that the control technique can reduce transient growth and can significantly increase the stability of the rotor system

Second International Symposium on Magnetic Suspension Technology, part 2

In order to examine the state of technology of all areas of magnetic suspension and to review related recent developments in sensors and controls approaches, superconducting magnet technology, and design/implementation practices, the 2nd International Symposium on Magnetic Suspension Technology was held at the Westin Hotel in Seattle, WA, on 11-13 Aug. 1993. The symposium included 18 technical sessions in which 44 papers were presented. The technical sessions covered the areas of bearings, bearing modelling, controls, vibration isolation, micromachines, superconductivity, wind tunnel magnetic suspension systems, magnetically levitated trains (MAGLEV), rotating machinery and energy storage, and applications. A list of attendees appears at the end of the document

Third International Symposium on Magnetic Suspension Technology

In order to examine the state of technology of all areas of magnetic suspension and to review recent developments in sensors, controls, superconducting magnet technology, and design/implementation practices, the Third International Symposium on Magnetic Suspension Technology was held at the Holiday Inn Capital Plaza in Tallahassee, Florida on 13-15 Dec. 1995. The symposium included 19 sessions in which a total of 55 papers were presented. The technical sessions covered the areas of bearings, superconductivity, vibration isolation, maglev, controls, space applications, general applications, bearing/actuator design, modeling, precision applications, electromagnetic launch and hypersonic maglev, applications of superconductivity, and sensors

Analysis and feedback control of magnetic bearings with reference to flywheel energy storage.

Bibliography: leaves 132-136.In high speed applications magnetic bearings offer many potential advantages over mechanical bearings. The type of magnetic bearing most suitable for energy storage flywheels is selected and analysed for the purpose of designing feedback control loops. A nonlinear as well as a small signal linear model of the "current driven" magnetic bearing with unlaminated magnetic components is derived. Subsequently describing functions characterising the small- as well as large signal behaviour of the same bearing in the "voltage driven" mode, are obtained. It is shown that workable results are obtained for most practical situations by using linear systems theory, although the magnetic bearing is a nonlinear device. The describing function model enables the designer to identify the mechanisms leading to limit cycles under adverse operating conditions. Feedback control loops designed around the small signal characteristics produce practical results in the case of the "voltage driven" mode which are superior to that of the "current driven" case. An essential refinement, where energy losses and vibrations arising from rotor imbalance are eliminated, is described. A discrete time filtering technique is used. Two experimental models were built and fully tested in order to verify the above theoretical approaches

Fourth International Symposium on Magnetic Suspension Technology

In order to examine the state of technology of all areas of magnetic suspension and to review recent developments in sensors, controls, superconducting magnet technology, and design/implementation practices, the Fourth International Symposium on Magnetic Suspension Technology was held at The Nagaragawa Convention Center in Gifu, Japan, on October 30 - November 1, 1997. The symposium included 13 sessions in which a total of 35 papers were presented. The technical sessions covered the areas of maglev, controls, high critical temperature (T(sub c)) superconductivity, bearings, magnetic suspension and balance systems (MSBS), levitation, modeling, and applications. A list of attendees is included in the document

ROBUST CONTROL FOR A SUSPENDED ROTATING SHAFT BY RADIAL ACTIVE MAGNETIC BEARINGS

This paper shows a comparison based on dynamic behaviour of a rotating shaft when it is suspended by 4-axis active magnetic bearings under several control systems. The control systems used are μ-synthesis, loop shaping design procedure and Sub(H∞) robust control with the introduction of uncertainties on position and current gains of the actuators. Each of these controllers is characterized by four input signals and four output signals and the introduction of uncertainties on displacement gain and current gain is due to torn and worn of the components during the time, which can lead the entire system to instability phenomena. The comparison of the performances is obtained through the introduction of same weighting function for all three control systems. All simulations and results are performed by MATLab