Improved apparatus is disclosed for use in a magnetic suspension system for developing signals representative of the rate of displacement of a magnetically suspended body along one or more axes thereof for use in applying forces to the body to restore it to a desired stable position. Specifically there are provided a plurality of thin, closely-spaced discs of permanent magnet material affixed to the body and a plurality of conductive windings respectively cooperating with the magnetic fields produced by said magnets, pairs of said windings being interconnected so that currents induced therein by the fields of the magnets tend to reinforce each other and so that currents induced therein by stray fields tend to cancel. The resultant currents induced in the windings are representative of rate of displacement of the suspended body and may be combined with separately derived signals representative of displacement of the body for use in applying forces to the body to restore it to its desired stable position. By suitably arranging the permanent magnets and their cooperating windings, signals may be developed representative of rates of displacement along several different axes so as to permit complete control over all possible displacements of the suspended body. In addition, in certain embodiments of the invention, there may be provided means for deriving from the rate-representative signals, signals representative of acceleration of the suspended body which also may be used to control the application to the body of forces to restore it to its desired stable position.
Separating apparatus comprises a rotor having a plurality of impeller blades rotatably mounted in a support housing. In the normal course of apparatus use, fluid flow occurs through opposed rotor open ends. Drive motor elements for rotating the rotor are mounted partly in the rotor and partly in the surrounding casing whereby the rotor may be driven without the necessity of a drive shaft attached to the rotor, and the opposed rotor ends remain unobstructed. In one rotor embodiment, fluid enters the opposed rotor ends and is discharged radially by the rotor blades. In a second embodiment the fluid enters one rotor end and is discharged along an axial path from the opposite end.
Apparatus for simulating varying levels of friction in the bearings 13 of a free rolling tail afterbody 11 on a canard-controlled missile 12 to determine friction effects on aerodynamic control characteristics. A ring 16 located between the missile body and the afterbody is utilized in a servo system to create varying levels of friction between the missile body and the afterbody to simulate bearing friction.
A magnetic suspension system including a first control coil for establishing circumferential current flow, and second and third control coils for establishing axial current flow. A support member of magnetic material has a gap for receiving the coils and there is a magnet for producing a magnetic field in the support member through the gap in the coils for generating Lorentz forces to support the coils in the axial and two mutually perpendicular radial directions.
A polyphase cylindrical electrical machine including a non-salient stator, a rotor and an air-gap therebetween, together with a winding energisable to apply alternating current to exert two magnetic fields to rotate about the machine axis to produce a non-rotating force in a selected direction radially of the machine axis, the fields rotating in the same direction and having pole numbers differing by two, the fields being exerted by said current at one frequency to act on the machine rotor with said non-rotating force.
An optical deflector for deflecting a laser beam from a laser by rotating a polygon mirror uses a dynamic pressure pneumatic bearing as a radial bearing and a magnetic bearing as a thrust bearing. The deflector includes a hollow rotor rotatable integrally with the mirror, a stationary shaft received in said hollow rotor, a casing member accommodating the rotor and stationary shaft, and an annular rotor magnet assembly mounted on the outer periphery of the rotor. A first rotary magnet is mounted in an upper end portion of a rotary shaft and a first stationary magnet in an upper end portion of the stationary shaft in such a manner as to face each other with the same polarity, a repulsive force acting between the two magnets serving as a thrust magnetic bearing. A second stationary magnet is arranged to face the first rotary magnet with the same polarity. Further, a second rotary magnet is mounted in a lower end portion of the rotary shaft and a third stationary magnet in a lower end portion of the stationary shaft in such a manner as to face each other with the same polarity.
