Accelerated life test of the USDOE OC-OTEC experimental system refurbished with magnetic bearings for the 3rd stage vacuum compressor. Final report

摘要

This report documents the accelerated life test (time-to-failure) performed, at the request of DOE, to evaluate the viability of the magnetic bearing system installed in the stage 3 vacuum pump. To this effect the plant was successfully operated for over 500 hours during the period September-November 1996. The first part of this report discusses system performance by deriving subsystem and system performance parameters from a typical record. This is followed by the discussion of the life tests. The instrumentation used to estimate the performance parameters given here is depicted. The third stage pump was operated for 535 hours without incident. It is concluded that magnetic bearings are the preferable choice for the OC-OTEC centrifugal vacuum pumps.