The Comparison of excitation source for sensors of the AMB system in HTGR

Nowadays the High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) is developed widely over the world. A helium turbine of a 10 MW HTGR test module reactor with the core made of spherical fuel elements is under research at the Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology of Tsinghua University in China. In HTGR, the magnetic bearings are widely applied, where the rotating machineries are running under highly pure helium environment. Compared with conventional bearings, Active Magnetic Bearings (AMBs) possess several attractive advantages, such as contact-free, no-lubricating and active damping vibration. The sensors are the key components of the AMBs system and are responsible for measuring the position and movement of the rotor, the operating temperature and so on. In order to operate the sensors successfully, a stable and efficient excitation source is needed. The paper will present the design, simulation and test of Class AB and Class D type power amplifier excitation sources for the sensors of the AMBs system.