Magnetic Levitation Control Based on Flux Density and Current Measurement

Abstract

This paper presents an active magnetic levitation application that exploits the measurement of coil current and flux density to determine the displacement of the mover. To this end, the nonlinear behavior of the plant and the physical sensing principle are modeled with a finite element approach at different air gap lengths and coil currents. A linear dynamic model is then obtained at the operating point as well as a linear relation for the displacement estimates. The effectiveness of the modeling approach and the performance of the sensing and control techniques are validated experimentally on an active magnetic levitation system. The results demonstrate that the solution is able to estimate the displacement of the mover with a relative error below 3% with respect to the nominal air gap. Additionally, this approach can be exploited for academic purposes and may serve as a reference to implement simple but accurate active magnetic levitation control using low-cost, off-the-shelf sensors.