Characteristics and control of a bidirectional axial gap combined motor-bearing

This paper introduces the design characteristics of a bidirectional axial gap combined motor-bearing where the flat disc motor has both rotation and axial position control capability. This motor consists of a disc rotor with a stator on each side of the rotor. The axial motion of the rotor is actively controlled while the other axes are constrained by additional passive or active radial magnetic bearings. Each stator produces a rotating magnetic flux in the air gap, to generate the motoring torque. The axial force is controlled by changing the amplitude of the rotating flux. Both permanent-magnet motor and induction motor versions were analyzed theoretically and tested experimentally. The results demonstrated the capability of providing both the functions of a motor and a magnetic hearing.