Experimental study on servo linear quadratic Gaussian and observer-based sliding mode control for active magnetic bearing system

One of the main challenges in the control of active magnetic bearing systems (AMBs) is their continuous power consumption. While the AMBs are ideal for applications where extremely high rotational speed is required, it is crucial for the AMBs to keep the rotary shaft on the geometrical center at high speed, where the effects caused by the centrifugal forces and the rotor mass-imbalance become significant. In this paper, a servo linear quadratic Gaussian controller and a sliding mode controller are designed to control an open-loop unstable active magnetic bearing system. The designed controllers are coded in C and implemented in real-time via a digital signal processing DS1104 card. The performance of the designed controllers in terms of transient- and steady-state responses and the power consumption used by these controllers are compared in real-time.