What is the Future of Magnetic Bearings for Turbomachinery?

Magnetic bearings offer many technical advantages for turbomachines such as oil-free operation, adjustable bearing parameters and the potential of high operating speeds. Although magnetic bearings have been tried for almost all kind of turbomachines, today this technology is mainly used for special applications and, thus, the real commercial breakthrough is still missing. This paper describes how two large global players in the compressor drive market envision the future of magnetic bearings for the turbomachinery business. Based on their past experience with magnetic bearings, end-customer feedback and market surveys, the technical and business challenges that need to be solved, in order to satisfy the needs of turbomachinery manufacturers and end-customers, are described.