Thermal-electromechanical Modeling of Magnetically Levitated Rotors under Vacuum Conditions

This paper introduces a possibility to couple the thermal analyses of a magnetically levitated rotor, which is driven under vacuum condition, with models of its electromechanical loop. By means of this coupling, effects can be represented that are not visible when considering the ther-mal behavior and the electromechanical loop separately. The models have been parameterized for a huge number of geometrical and physical properties. The derived algorithms are implemented in MATLAB and accessible via the graphical user interface “MagBeS – Magnetic Bearing Sim-ulator�. This makes the algorithm applicable for different users and varying systems. Analyses are presented that demonstrate the interaction of the thermal and electromechanical behavior and it is shown that additional potentially critical operating modes can be identified. Furthermore, a novel approach for the experimental determination of the occurring rotor losses by means of temperature measurements and thermal analyses is presented.