Analytical Calculation and Experimental Verification of Superconducting Electrodynamic Suspension System Using Null-Flux Ground Coils

Abstract

Superconducting (SC) electrodynamic suspension (EDS) has a wide application prospect due to the advantages of no active control, self-stability and large gap, especially in the ultra-high speed maglev, rocket launching, Electromagnetic Aircraft Launching System and other high speed fields. SC coils and null-flux Ground Coils which are the primary and secondary windings respectively are applied in a typical EDS system, in that the null-flux ground coils provide levitation and guidance force. The calculation of electromagnetic forces that has been extensively studied by scholars all over the world is the basis of the design and optimization of the system. However, due to the limitation of complex structure, the calculation formula is often so complicated that the results have to be obtained by means of finite element method and numerical simulation. This paper aims to derive an analytical calculation of electromagnetic forces for SC EDS system based on some reasonable assumptions. The experimental data of MLX01 on the Japanese Yamanashi testline was used to verify the calculation model of this paper. In order to get a further validation, a small EDS rotary table was built based on null-flux ground coils and permanent magnets. The results of the experiment confirms the effectiveness of the proposed analytical calculation model.