Design of a combined self-stabilizing electrodynamic passive magnetic bearing support for the automotive turbocharger rotor

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to create a concept for what would be a structurally simple and operationally robust support for the automotive turbocharger rotor in electrodynamic passive magnetic bearings. Because this kind of magnetic suspension—in its fundamental version—is dynamically unstable, to avoid the disadvantages contained therein, what is being proposed is the addition of external damping through the employment of the newly designed combined self-stabilizing electrodynamic passive magnetic bearing. The electromagnetic stiffness and damping characteristics of combined electrodynamic passive magnetic bearings have been determined for various shaft rotational speeds by means of the advanced 3D finite element method. In this study, a dynamic interaction between the turbocharger rotor shaft and the passive magnetic suspension is proposed as a support for both the fundamental electrodynamic passive magnetic bearings and the suggested combined self-stabilizing passive magnetic bearings. Here, the main attention is focused on the asymptotic stability of both the rotor shaft suspension variants. The additional damping magnitudes required to stabilize the most sensitive lateral eigenmodes of the object under consideration have been determined by means of the Routh–Hurwitz stability criterion.