Design, Construction and Testing of a Five Active Axes Magnetic Bearing System

A high speed electric spindle based on active electromagnetic suspension technology has been designed, built and tested. The main goal of the research work was the construction of a highly modular unit which can be used both for teaching and research purposes. The design of the electromechanical components and of the control unit is described in detail, together with the characterization tests performed on the various subsystems. A description of the preliminary tests on the unit, conducted at speeds not in excess of the first defonnation critical speed of the rotor, concludes the work.