Experimental analysis demonstrates improved radial restoring and damping forces in hybrid superconducting magnetic bearings, suggesting cost-effective levitation system design.
Background Superconducting magnetic bearings (SMBs) using high-temperature superconductors (HTS) offer omnidirectional stability without control, but face issues with HTS bulk material and cooling costs. Objective This study investigates whether the restoring force can be enhanced using the same HTS by controlling the magnetic flux penetrating the HTS and hybridizing it with a passive magnetic bearing (PMB). Methods Permanent magnets (PM) were placed in the stator section of the SMB. The radial and axial characteristics were analyzed when forming a PMB with part of the levitated rotor. Changes in restoring force characteristics and vibration characteristics were investigated. Results An improvement in radial restoring force was confirmed. Although axial restoring force decreased, the HTS pinning characteristics were found to suppress this reduction. An increase in damping force was also observed in dynamic characteristics. Conclusions These results demonstrate the usefulness of hybrid magnetic bearings combining annular permanent magnets and superconductors. Note This study does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.
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Murakami et al. (2026) studied this question.
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