Technical design and engineering prototype experiment of active magnetic bearing for helium blower of HTR-PM

• High-temperature gas-cooled reactor-pebble bed module (HTR-PM) is in design.
• Active magnetic bearing (AMB) will be used to support the circulator rotor of HTR-PM.
• Technical design of AMB for helium circulator will be introduced in this paper.
• Engineering prototype experiment with AMB in 3000 r/min has been finished.
• The dropping experiment of circulator rotor in 3000 r/min has been finished.

High-temperature gas-cooled reactor-pebble bed module (HTR-PM) of China, based on the technology and experience of the 10 MW high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTR-10), is currently in the construction phase. The helium blower is the key equipment in the primary loop of the HTR-PM. It drives the helium to flow in the primary loop for energy exchange. Active magnetic bearing (AMB) is replacing ordinary mechanical bearings as the perfect sustaining assembly for the helium blower because they have several advantages: they are free of contact, do not require lubrication, are not subject to the contamination of wear, have endurance, and control performance very well. The AMB is the important technology for the helium blower. The axial and radial AMB must have enough lifting capacity and reliability to support the rotor. In this paper, the structure and system characteristics of the helium blower will be discussed. The electromagnetic field analysis and the structure design of AMB will be described in detail. And the engineering prototype of helium blower with the AMB has been produced. Many experiments based on the engineering prototype with the AMB are being carried out, and the experiment’s scheme and plan will also be explained in this paper. These results will offer the important theoretical base and experience in the engineering application for the AMB design of the helium blower of HTR-PM.