Emulation of Energy Storage Flywheels on a Rotor-AMB Test Rig

Because of their many appealing features, such as high specific energy, high specific power, ultra-compactness, short charging time (in minutes), long life span and no pollution, energy storage flywheels suspended on active magnetic bearings (AMBs) have drawn worldwide attention. In this paper, we use an existing rotor-AMB test rig to emulate the operation of energy storage flywheels suspended on AMBs. The test rig contains four active magnetic bearings, two located at the two ends of the rotor, one located at the rotor mid-span and the last located at the rotor quarter span. We will use the two magnetic bearings in the mid and quarter spans to emulate the negative stiffness of the generator and the gyroscopic effect of the flywheel disk. Simulation and experimental results are presented.