Turbo Machine Magnetic Bearing Copper Layer Sensor
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Solution Overview
Problem
The production of turbomachines with magnetic bearings is costly due to the high expenditure required for manufacturing and assembling disk packs used as targets for gap sensors, which also increase the rotor shaft's outer diameter.
Innovation Solution
A copper layer is applied directly to the rotor shaft's surface, allowing for reliable position determination by gap sensors without the need for disk units, reducing production costs and space requirements, and enabling improved rotor dynamics with a smaller diameter.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If disk packs are used as targets for gap sensors, then reliable position determination is achieved, but production costs increase and the rotor shaft outer diameter increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential function of the disk pack target (providing a conductive surface for gap sensor measurement) and applies it directly to the rotor shaft surface through a copper layer. This eliminates the separate disk pack component while maintaining the position determination function, thereby reducing production complexity and costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the target function with the rotor shaft by applying a copper layer directly to the shaft surface. This integration combines the structural function of the rotor shaft with the measurement target function, eliminating the need for separate disk pack assemblies and reducing overall complexity.
2Measurement precision
If disk packs are used as targets for gap sensors, then position determination is enabled, but the rotor shaft outer diameter increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the external disk pack target and extracts only the essential measurement function, applying it directly to the rotor shaft surface. This eliminates the additional diameter increase that would result from mounting separate disk packs on the shaft.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies a localized copper layer only where needed for gap sensor interaction, rather than increasing the overall shaft diameter. This local application of conductive material provides the necessary measurement surface without globally increasing the rotor shaft dimensions.
3Manufacturing precision
If fine disk packs are preassembled and shrunk onto the rotor shaft, then position determination accuracy is improved, but production expenditure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the target function from the complex preassembled disk pack and implements it through a simple copper layer applied directly to the rotor shaft. This eliminates the need for preassembly, shrinking, and fine machining operations, significantly reducing production expenditure while maintaining measurement accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the expensive, labor-intensive disk pack assembly with a simpler, more cost-effective copper layer application. This substitution uses a cheaper manufacturing process that achieves the same functional result without the high production expenditure associated with fine disk pack assembly.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach simplifies production, reduces costs, and enhances rotor dynamics by eliminating the need for disk units, while maintaining precise position determination and redundancy for fault compensation.
Implementation Method 1
The layer of copper is characterized by good conductivity, so that without the use of disks a measuring signal can be reliably generated with the gap sensor
Implementation Method 2
restoring forces are then supplied by a corresponding actuation of the magnetic bearing to force the rotor, that is the rotor shaft, back into a desired position
Data Source
AI summary
A turbomachine has a housing, a rotor shaft centered on an axis, and a plurality of bearings supporting the shaft in the housing for rotation about the axis. At least one of the bearings is an active magnetic bearing. An impeller is fixed on the rotor shaft. A copper layer is fixed to a surface of the rotor shaft and rotatable therewith. A sensor fixed in the housing adjacent the shaft surface can detect the copper layer and generate an output corresponding to a position of the layer from the sensor fixed in the housing. A controller connected between the sensor means and the active magnetic bearing shifts the rotor in the housing in accordance with the output.