Zero-Power Control of Parallel Magnetic Suspension Systems

This paper discusses the feasibility of zero-power control in parallel magnetic suspension systems. In parallel magnetic suspension systems, multiple floators are suspend with a single power amplifier. The zero-power control has been used in magnetic suspension systems with permanent magnets providing bias flux. This control realizes the steady states where the attractive force produced by the permanent magnets balances the weight of the suspended object and the electromagnet coil current converges to zero. This paper shows that parallel magnetic suspension systems incorporating zero-power control can assign the poles arbitrary if the original parallel suspension systems are controllable. The feasibility of the zero-power control in a parallel magnetic suspension is demonstrated experimentally.