Hybrid Magnetic/Gas/REB Rotor Support System

Active magnetic bearings make potentially revolutionary engine designs possible. However, their ability to sustain and continue to operate through transient vibration events or loss of magnetic bearing capability must be addressed. This program will develop the analysis tool needed to design rotor systems using a variety of magnetic, hybrid and backup bearing configurations, including a unique Miti zero clearance auxiliary bearing. A software design for an integrated rotordynamic-bearing design analysis tool will be prepared and implemented. The developed tool will be capable of predicting rotor and bearing system critical speeds, stability, response and time transient behavior. A standard interface will be used for magnetic (i.e., heteropole, and homopolar designs), gas (i.e., rigid pad, and bending dominated foil), rolling element (ceramic and steel) and novel backup bearing analysis modules. Each module will provide bearing dynamic properties for rotordynamic evaluation and subsequent bearing load prediction. The developed tool, which will aid in both the design of new hybrid magnetic bearing supported rotor systems and evaluation of existing designs, will be exercised to assess loads and response of potential rotor-bearing configurations. The integrated design analysis tool will be used to establish, with gas turbine manufacturer support, a rotor simulator preliminary design for use in Phase II. The rotor simulator size and speed will be representative of the gas turbine manufacturer's engine rotor and will have provision for both steady state and transient loading.