Experimental Assessment of a New Fuzzy Controller Applied to a Flexible Rotor Supported by Active Magnetic Bearings

The aim of this study was to develop and implement a new control approach dedicated to turbomachinery. The new, fuzzy based controller utilizes inputs expressed in polar coordinates. Its originality is that it manages two significant physical quantities, namely, tangential and radial velocities, associated with steady-state and transient behaviors, respectively. Three controllers are compared for the control of a flexible rotor supported by active magnetic bearings (AMBs): proportional-integral-derivative (PID), single-input and single-output (SISO) fuzzy and the new controller. The assessment was performed using an academic test rig and the results obtained with the new controller show that performances were enhanced with equivalent levels of stability and robustness.