Analysis and Design of a 300-W 500 000-r/min Slotless Self-Bearing Permanent-Magnet Motor

Active magnetic bearings enable contactless operation and can therefore be used for supporting rotors spinning at high speeds. However, the rotational speed in conventional reluctance-force-based magnetic bearing topologies is limited, which is mainly due to high rotor losses and limited force control bandwidths. In this paper, a prototype of a self-bearing motor is presented, which overcomes several limitations of state-of-the-art high-speed magnetically levitated electric drive systems. Due to the employed magnetic bearing, the motor can be operated in high-purity or vacuum environments. An analytical mechanical and electrical bearing model is introduced and verified by measurements. Furthermore, a bearing inverter system is designed, and its controller performance is shown. Measurements of spinning levitated rotors up to speeds of 505 000 r/min verify the functionality of the overall system. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the highest speed achieved by magnetically levitated electrical drive systems so far.