The Influence of Thermal Deformation on the Dynamic Characteristics of AMB Rotor of HTR-PM Helium Blower

Helium blower is the core component of high temperature gas cooled reactor, which rotor is supported by active magnetic bearings (AMBs). The special advantage of AMB is that there is no contact between bearing and rotor, and this permits operation with small friction, long service life, no lubrication system, and no pollution to the helium environment. [1–3] Helium blower rotor is mainly composed of rotating shaft, impeller, motor, cooling blower and so on, which runs in an uneven temperature field that the impeller runs in a helium chamber of 250 degrees centigrade, and the motor housing’s outer surface temperature is 65 degrees centigrade. The temperature rises from standstill to stable operation will cause the thermal deformation of rotor and bearing, leading to the change of gap between rotor and bearing, which will lead to the change of electromagnetic force of AMB. The electromagnetic force determines the bearing stiffness and bearing damping of the AMB, so the change of temperature is the most important to the stiffness and damping of the AMB, which can affect the dynamic characteristics of the rotor. Through finite element method (FEM) to calculate the temperature field and displacement field of helium blower, the change of the gap of AMB and rotor is calculated. The rotor radial displacement orbits are obtained through numerical simulation, which are affected by thermal deformation. Finally, the results of numerical simulation are verified by experiments. The simulation and experiments both show that temperature rise can increase the vibration amplitude of rotor, so the influence of thermal deformation should be considered when designing the active magnetic bearings.