Synchrony Technology Blog

Clean, Efficient, and Reliable. These attributes describe how magnetic bearings are used to improve rotating machinery that conventionally use oil-lubricated bearings. However, it is possible to take things one step further by making a rotating machine ULTRA-reliable. This is done by incorporating redundant elements in the magnetic bearings such that the bearing continues to operate even if one or more elements in the bearings were to fail (fault). A bearing with that level of protection is referred to as "fault tolerant."

Elements of a magnetic bearing system include electromagnets, sensors, digital processors, power amplifiers, and cabling. Synchrony's approach to fault tolerance is to design highly integrated systems that have multiple processors, redundant sensors, and extra electromagnets connected by cables to matching power amplifiers. Upon a failure of a component, the fault tolerant magnetic bearing automatically re-configures itself and continues to operate. Using an innovative architecture, fault tolerance is achieved with only a modest increase in size and cost of the overall magnetic bearing system.

Where would this level of protection be necessary?

Originally, this architecture was developed for the US Air Force for next generation aero-engine applications. Industrial applications can also now benefit from this technology, including large turbomachines found in the Oil & Gas and Power Generation sectors. Some examples include applications where downtime is extremely expensive (such as compressors used in petrochemical plants) and applications where a machine is difficult or impossible to service in the event of a failure (such as subsea compressors). Fault tolerance allows the rotating machine to continue to operate until maintenance can be scheduled. Magnetic bearings can help achieve a level of reliability never before possible.