PWM control of a magnetic suspension system

Author

Hurley, William Gerard ; Hynes, Martin ; Wölfle, Werner Hugo

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. Eng., Nat. Univ. of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

Volume

47

Issue

2

fYear

2004

fDate

5/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

165

Lastpage

173

Abstract

Magnetic levitation of a metallic sphere motivates and inspires students to investigate and understand the fundamental principles of electrical engineering, such as magnetic design, circuit design, and control theory. This paper describes the operation of a pulse width modulation converter in a magnetic suspension system. The pulse width-modulated (PWM) converter illustrates modern principles of power electronics, such as PWM control, current-mode control, averaged and linearized models of switched-mode converters, and power supply design. The reduced size of the heat sink in the switched-mode converter compared with its linear amplifier counterpart clearly illustrates improved efficiency. The experimental system described levitates a 6-cm-diameter, 0.8-kg metallic sphere.

Keywords

PWM power convertors; control engineering education; electrical engineering computing; magnetic levitation; power electronics; student experiments; switched mode power supplies; 0.8 kg; 6 cm; PWM control; circuit design; control engineering education; control theory; current-mode control; electrical engineering; electromagnetics; heat sink; linear amplifier; magnetic design; magnetic levitation; magnetic suspension system; metallic sphere; power electronics; power supply design; pulsewidth modulation converter; switched-mode converter; switched-mode power supplies; Circuit synthesis; Control systems; Control theory; Electrical engineering; Magnetic levitation; Pulse amplifiers; Pulse width modulation; Pulse width modulation converters; Pulsed power supplies; Switching converters; Control engineering education; PWM; electromagnetics; magnetic levitation; pulsewidth modulation; switched-mode power supplies;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Education, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9359

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TE.2004.827831

Filename

1296775