Lateral Vibration Attenuation of Shafts Supported by Tilting-Pad Journal Bearing With Embedded Electromagnetic Actuators

Hydrodynamic tilting-pad bearings with electromagnetic actuators are designed to take advantage of the load-carrying capacity of the hydrodynamic bearing together with the actuation capacity of the electromagnets. Hence, actuators can be downsized because they do not work as bearings as it is the case of magnetic bearings. In this work, one presents the numerical and experimental analysis of rotor vibration attenuation using a tilting-pad journal bearing with embedded electromagnetic actuators when proportional-derivative (PD) control is implemented. Experimental results in the frequency domain show reductions in shaft-vibration amplitude of 11% for the rotating speed of 600 rpm and 18% for the rotating speed of 1100 rpm, with good agreement of the mathematical model. The actuation capacity of the bearing in study is compared to the capacity of other active bearings in literature, showing that the present bearing is competitive in terms of specific control capacity.