Testing Performance and Reliability of Magnetic Suspension Controllers

The aim of this paper is to present an experiment realized with the support of magnetic levitation system equipped with additional electromagnet. This extra unit allows to realize more experiments including identification and control, diagnose the performance of the closed loop system and design controllers for single axis of the active magnetic bearing. The test rig consists of two electromagnets, distance and current sensors and ferromagnetic object. The system is controlled by the personal computer or embedded system. The MATLAB/Simulink software allows to perform identification, signal analysis, controller design and real-time code generation for the selected target. The experimental controllers reliability test under external pulse excitation is presented.