Controlled Magnetic Bearings for smart machines

Controlled or Active Magnetic Bearings (AMB) keep a rotor in a hovering position, without any contact, with no wear or lubrication. They are a typically mechatronic product, combining mechanical design, electronics, and information processing. The lecture gives a short survey on function and history, and then concentrates on industrial applications and actual research challenges. The main application area is turbo-machinery, with power ranges up to 20 MW and more. Recent examples are shown. The research topics include control aspects, reliability and safety issues, and demonstrate the ability of AMB as a component of smart machinery. A machine is being called smart if it makes best use of the internal informations about its state to improve its performance. The sensor data of the AMB are very useful as well for obtaining information about the machine process itself and they can be used for external data mining within the objectives of Industry 4.0 projects.