Control System Commissioning of Fully Levitated Bearingless Machine

The bearingless permanent magnet synchronous motor (BPMSM) is a compact motor structure that combines the motoring and bearing functions based on well-designed integrated windings for generating both torque and magnetic suspension force. In order to achieve a successful high-performance control design for the BPMSM, an adequate model of the rotor dynamics is essential. This paper proposes simplified multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) control approaches, namely the pole placement and the linear-quadratic regulator (LQR), that allow to carry out identification experiments in full levitation. Additionally, the stability of the MIMO levitation controller is verified with the rotation tests. Compared with other recently published works, the novelty of this paper is to experimentally demonstrate that a stable fully levitated five-degrees-of-freedom (5-DOF) operation of a bearingless machine can be achieved by the proposed approach, and thereby, options for commissioning of such a system are obtained.