MagneticBearing.docVIP

Magnetic Bearing Magnetic bearings support moving machinery without physical contact, for example, they can levitate a rotating shaft and permit relative motion without friction or wear. Long considered a promising advancement, they are now moving beyond promise into actual service in such industrial applications as electric power generation, petroleum refining, machine tool operation and natural gas pipelines. The AVCON magnetic bearing permits motion without friction or wear. Among companies producing advanced magnetic bearing systems for industrial use is AVCON, Inc., Agoura Hills, California. AVCON offers a unique technological approach that evolved from the companys work on contracts with Lewis Research Center, and Marshall Space Flight Center. The technology developed in the NASA programs contributed to AVCONs ability to overcome the limitations of early magnetic bearing systems, namely large size and weight, high power consumption and cost. The companys product line embraces a family of very compact, lightweight, power efficient, low cost bearing systems. Beginning in 1989, AVCON worked with Lewis to explore the possibilities of a magnetic bearing system for the turbopump of the Space Shuttle Main Engine. NASA decided to investigate magnetic bearings, which in theory-at that time-offered multiple advantages over conventional rolling element bearings. AVCON worked initially with Lewis on development of a magnetic bearing system for a Cryogenic Magnetic Bearing Test Facility. The resulting AVCON development was extensively tested over a two year span and these tests provided a wealth of data on the performance of magnetic bearings under severe conditions. In this program, AVCON developed the basic hybrid magnetic bearing approach that characterizes its commercial products, an approach in which both permanent magnets and electromagnets are employed to suspend a shaft; the permanent magnets provide suspension, the electromagnets provide control. Analyses of AVCO