Control and Design Aspects of Magnetically Suspended Vehicles

Abstract

Some of the recent developments in guided land transport vehicles using controlled d.c. electromagnets have been aimed at long distance high speed transportation systems. The passenger ride criteria in this case are peak acceleration spectra. The track disturbance rejection requirements and gradient following characteristics impose conflicting requirements and hence a secondary suspension is necessary. The paper sets out to examine the three control strategies known to have been employed in the United Kingdom in the light of requirements of urban networks which are of short time duration and hence different.