Rotor vibration with auxiliary bearing contact in magnetic bearing systems part 1: synchronous dynamics

Magnetic bearing systems incorporate auxiliary bearings to prevent physical interaction between rotor and stator laminations. Rotor/auxiliary bearing contacts may occur when a magnetic bearing still retains a full control capability. To actively return the rotor to a non-contacting state it is essential to determine the manner in which contact events affect the rotor vibration signals used for position control. An analytical procedure is used to assess the nature of rotor contact modes under idealized contacts. Non-linearities arising from contact and magnetic bearing forces are then included in simulation studies involving rigid and flexible rotors to predict rotor response and evaluate rotor synchronous vibration components. An experimental flexible rotor/magnetic bearing facility is also used to validate the predictions. It is shown that changes in synchronous vibration amplitude and phase induced by contact events causes existing controllers to be ineffective in attenuating rotor displacements. These findings are used in Part 2 of the paper as a foundation for the design of new controllers that are able to recover rotor position control under a range of contact cases.