The FEM Calculation of Iron Loss in the Active Magnetic Bearing

The active magnetic bearing (AMB) is a new kind of high-performance bearing which suspends the rotor with controlled electromagnetic force. It was chosen to support the rotor of the helium blower in HTR-PM instead of conventional bearings. The power losses in the active magnetic bearings compose of three components: copper loss, iron loss and windage loss. In this paper, the iron loss, which composes of the eddy current loss and the hysteresis loss, is researched. The power loss of silicon steel lamination (35H300) was measured. Experimental data was taken over a range of 50Hz to 25,000Hz (sinusoidal current) for several magnetic field intensities. According to the experimental data, the eddy current loss and hysteresis loss increase with the frequency. And the hysteresis loss in the silicon steel lamination occupies the major part when the frequency of current is low, however the growth rate of eddy current is much faster than that of the hysteresis loss. And the FEM calculation of power loss in the magnetic bearing, which rotor and stator are made from silicon steel lamination (35H300), is also presented. The result shows the core loss of magnetic bearing also follow the separation theory. We can separate the core loss of magnetic bearing into two parts: hysteresis loss and eddy current loss. It will be very useful to calculate the power loss in the magnetic bearing.