Analysis of factors influencing the performance of radial electrodynamic bearing with radial air gap between permanent magnets using response surface methodology

To evaluate the important characteristics of electrodynamic bearings (EDB) finalizing electric pole frequency ((Formula presented.)) is essential. This research article explores the evaluation of (Formula presented.) and factors influencing the performance of radial EDB. Initially, response surface methodology (RSM) was employed, using central composite designs (CCD) for designing finite element (FE) simulations. Subsequently, FE analysis was used to ascertain (Formula presented.) for numerous simulations. Then, key bearing characteristics, such as stiffness (k) and damping (c) of EDB were calculated with curve-fitting MATLAB codes along with FE results. Furthermore, the impact of conductor thickness, width of a magnet, thickness of magnet and eccentricity on k, c and (Formula presented.) are determined using response surface analysis. On top of that, the interaction effects were also studied. The result obtained from the analysis showed that magnet thickness and conductor thickness played a significant role in k, c and (Formula presented.) Next, based on the agreement of predicted and simulated values of k, c and (Formula presented.) optimal dimensions of conductor thickness, the width of the magnet, thickness of the magnet and eccentricity were calculated within a specific range of design variables. Finally, optimized results from RSM were compared with analytical with curve-fitting and the deviation of 3.1% for (Formula presented.) 5.03% for (Formula presented.) 0.4% for (Formula presented.) and 5.9% for (Formula presented.) was observed.