3-D Analysis of Radial Type Electromagnetic Bearing Using the Finite Element Method

In recent years, the subject of electromagnetic levitation has attracted considerable attention as a means of eliminating friction. Several studies concerning the feasibility of electromagnetic levitation in various applications like magnetic bearings, high speed ground transportation, electromagnetic dampers for vibration control, etc. have been reported. In the present work, the characteristics of a commonly used configuration of a radial type electromagnetic bearing are studied. To obtain magnetic vector potential field, the three dimensional Maxwell equation along with the appropriate boundary conditions is solved by using the powerful numerical technique “Finite Element Method”. The field is discretized into 4 noded tetrahedral elements. The effects of the control current, bias current, air gap and the different materials on the performance of electromagnetic bearings are studied, taking into account the non linearity of the B-H curve and the leakage flux.