Optimization of a New Radial Electrodynamic Damper

The study of electrodynamic dampers is an important point when working with electrodynamic bearings. These dampers may also be used in combination with reluctant passive magnetic bearings. This paper proposes a new design of a robust and inherently stable radial electrodynamic damper with a homopolar axial magnetic flux. An optimization, based on finite element models, of this new bearing topology is made. For this to be possible, a 2-D representation of the damper is developed equivalent to the 3-D damper. The results of the optimizations are presented and a discussion of the influence of some of the parameters is done.