Low eddy loss axial hybrid magnetic bearing with gimballing control ability for momentum flywheel

For a magnetically suspended momentum flywheel (MSMF), the spinning rotor can be tilted by a pair of the presented axial hybrid magnetic bearing (AHMB) with eight poles and rotates around the radial axes to generate a large torque to maneuver the spacecraft. To improve the control performance and gimballing control ability of the AHMB, characteristics such as magnetic suspension force, angular stiffness and tilting momentum are researched. These segmented stator poles cause the magnetic density in the thrust rotor plate to be uneven unavoidably and the rotational loss is large at high speed, but we optimized the stator poles configuration and caused the thrust rotor plate formed by bulk DT4C and laminated material to make the magnetic density in the thrust rotor plate change less and be smoother. Laminated material such as 1J50 film with a thickness of 0.1 mm can make the variation of the magnetic density in DT4C become very small and the eddy loss of it be negligible, but the stress produced in the "O" shape stacks by reeling has a bad effect on its power loss. Nanocrystalline can reduce eddy losses and is not affected by the reeling process. Based on the AHBM consisting of the stator with eight improved poles and the presented thrust rotor plate with DT4 and nanocrystalline, the rotational loss of 5-DOF magnetically suspended momentum flywheel with angular momentum of 15 N m s at 5000 rpm has reduced from 23.4 W to 3.2 W, which proved that this AHMB has low eddy loss for the gimballing control ability. - Highlights: ► Control methods of rotor driven by AHMBs and their characteristics are researched. ► Optimized stator and rotor of AHMB reduce its eddy losses greatly. ► Presented the factors affecting the eddy losses of AHMBs. ► The good performances of AHMB with low eddy loss are proved by experiments.