Magnetic bearing
No friction, no limits: magnetic bearings not only increase service life, they also enable oil-free operation in a vacuum at maximum speeds. Our technology allows you to reach 500,000 rpm and more.
Every engineer knows this equation: those who operate at high speeds must expect high wear and a corresponding reduction in service life of the ball bearings – even more so in a vacuum, as the lubricant either evaporates or is not permitted at all. As a high-speed specialist, Celeroton is no stranger to this challenge. Celeroton magnetic bearing technology offers a solution to this problem.
Most magnetic bearings are based on reluctance forces. A magnetic flux in the air gap between the stator and the rotor generates these forces, while stator currents regulate the flux.
With this type of magnetic bearing, the speed is limited by increasing eddy-current losses in the rotor and stator iron, a limited actuator bandwidth and the high reactive power requirement. Therefore, such magnetic bearings have been limited to maximum speeds of around 120,000 rpm. To overcome this limitation, Celeroton has developed a new magnetic bearing concept. It enables speeds of 500,000 rpm and more – a world record for magnetic-bearing actuators. The bearing is based on Lorentz forces instead of reluctance forces. These Lorentz forces are generated by a winding in the air gap between the rotor magnets and the stator iron and controlled by currents in the winding. The magnetic field of the permanent magnet is also used to generate the torque. This enables a compact design as a so-called bearingless motor.
