Pseudospectral method-based optimal control for a nonlinear five degree of freedom active magnetic bearing system

Active magnetic bearings (AMB) are used to suspend the rotor freely inside the stator to avoid any physical contact between them. Thus, it helps in significantly reducing the wear and tear that may cause a system breakdown. With the advancement of power electronics and the implementation of advanced control techniques, the use of AMB in industrial applications has increased. This paper proposes an optimal control strategy for the five degree of freedom (DOF) AMB system. The time-energy consumption of input is minimized by the application of a relatively new optimal control method called the pseudospectral method (PSM). Since the AMB is a nonlinear system, therefore the implementation of classical optimal control strategies becomes challenging. Thus, the PSM first transforms the optimal control problem at non-uniform nodes and converts it into a nonlinear programming problem, which is relatively easier to tackle. The PSM, as demonstrated in this paper, is able to find optimal solutions using relatively fewer grid points which in turn reduces the computational time and converges to the solution faster. The simulation analysis for the AMB system using two different types of PSM, that is, Legendre PSM and the Chebyshev PSM illustrates the optimal performance of the proposed strategy.