The effect of additional permanent magnet magnetizing methods on magnetic field distribution and the levitation force of single domain GdBCO bulk superconductor

Abstract

It has been investigated that the interaction force between a cubic permanent magnet PM1 and a GdBCO bulk (HTSC) superconducting permanent magnet (SCPM) magnetized by a cubic permanent magnet PM2 under different configurations at 77 K. Two configurations were used for the magnetization of the GdBCO bulk, one is that the North pole of the PM2 is in upward direction, the other is in downward direction, so that the North pole of the SCPM is in two states SCPM↑ and SCPM↓; the vertical distance between the bottom surface of PM1 and the top surface of SCPM is kept as a constant value, but the PM2 can be fixed at any positions (x) along a diameter of the GdBCO bulk during the magnetization process. It is found that: for the PM1↓-SCPM↑ configuration, the maximum levitation force is increasing from 16.7 N to 23.1 N when x increases from –15 mm to 0, and then decreases to 16.6 N when x further increases to 15 mm; but for the PM1↓-SCPM↓ configuration, the maximum levitation force is decreasing from 17.7 N to 7 N when x increases from –15 mm to 0, and then increases to 17.6 N when x further increases to 15 mm. These results are not only much different in the two configurations, but also much different from the maximum levitation force 17.1 N of the sample under zero field cooled condition, which is closely related with the trapped field distribution of the SCPM at different x values. These results indicate that the levitation force of high temperature bulk superconductors can be effectively improved by introducing additional permanent magnet based on scientific and reasonable designing of the system configurations, which is very important during the practical design and applications of superconducting magnetic levitation systems.