Publications

This report summarizes experimental and test results from a two year LDRD project entitled Real Time Error Correction Using Electromagnetic Bearing Spindles. This project was designed to explore various control schemes for levitating magnetic bearings with the goal of obtaining high precision location of the spindle and exceptionally high rotational speeds. As part of this work, several adaptive control schemes were devised, analyzed, and implemented on an experimental magnetic bearing system. Measured results, which indicated precision positional control of the spindle was possible, agreed reasonably well with simulations. Testing also indicated that the magnetic bearing systems were capable of very high rotational speeds but were still not immune to traditional structural dynamic limitations caused by spindle flexibility effects.

A technological break through for supporting rotating shafts is the active magnetic bearing (AMB). Active magnetic bearings offer some important advantages over conventional ball, roller or journal bearings such as reduced frictional drag, no physical contact in the bearing, no need for lubricants, compatibility with high vacuum and ultra-clean environments, and ability to control shaft position within the bearing. The disadvantages of the AMB system are the increased cost and complexity, reduced bearing stiffness and the need for a controller. Still, there are certain applications, such as high speed machining, biomedical devices, and gyroscopes, where the additional cost of an AMB system can be justified. The inherent actuator capabilities of the AMB offer the potential for active balancing of spindles and micro-shaping capabilities for machine tools, The work presented in this paper concentrates on an AMB test program that utilizes the actuator capability to dynamically balance a spindle. In this study, an unbalanced AMB spindle system was enhanced with an LMS (Least Mean Squares) algorithm combined with an existing PID (proportional, integral, differential) control. This enhanced controller significantly improved the concentricity of an intentionally unbalanced shaft. The study included dynamic system analysis, test validation, control design and simulation, as well as experimental implementation using a digital LMS controller.

The benefits of a collocated sensor actuator pair are well known within the controls community. Generally speaking, collocation offers the use of simple control algorithms with reduced instabilities due to spillover. One method for achieving collocation is the implementation of a `sentuator' in which a piezoelectric element functions simultaneously as both a sensor and an actuator. Past work in utilizing a sentuator has primarily been limited to piezoelectric films and patches mounted to flexible structures. Additional papers have provided information and methodology for dealing with the non-linear aspects of a piezoceramic sentuator. The need arises for methods of self-sensing when performing active vibration control of very stiff structures. A method for understanding and using self-sensing lead zirconate titanate stacks for active vibration control is presented. This paper specifically provides a basic understanding of self-sensing methods as applied to stiff structures for the purposes of control. The discussion of the methodology is followed by a simple example in which active vibration control is applied to a model of a boring bar with embedded PZT stacks.