Development And Testing Of A Passive Magnetic Support And Damping (PMSD) System

This paper details the development and preliminary testing of a new type of passive magnetic bearing with integrated damping elements. The development of a “base excitation/resonant mass” test rig, which was developed to measure the stiffness and damping characteristics of the passive bearings, is also discussed. The results of parametric testing, which is being conducted to determine the effects of using different configurations of magnets and damping materials, is ongoing.