Nonlinear Feedback Control of a Bearingless Brushless DC Motor

The demands on bearingless drive configurations concerning performance as well as costs are high. The proposed bearingless brushless DC motor consists of five concentrated coils in a symmetrical arrangement, which generate radial forces and motor torque simultaneously in interaction with a permanent-magnet-excited disk-shaped rotor. Additionally, tilting deflection and the axial position of the rotor are stabilized passively by means of magnetic reluctance forces. Thus, system costs can be reduced significantly compared to a conventional bearingless motor setup, which actively stabilizes all 6 DOF. Due to the nonlinearity of the plant, the use of linear control design methods alone is not suitable for achieving a high operation performance. This paper introduces a novel radial position and motor torque control algorithm for a bearingless brushless DC motor based on the theory of feedback linearization. Thereby, the combined model of translatory and rotatory dynamics can be split into independent linear systems by means of a nonlinear change of system coordinates and a static-state feedback. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.