Some aspects of rail and actuator used in electromagnetic lévitation systems — An Ansys based simulation study

In this work FEM based analysis and design of different structure of rail (guide-way) and electromagnetic lévitation system (EMLS) has been performed utilizing ANSYS software. Actuator and guide-way are the most important part for magnetic lévitation system. Input power to lift power ratio and lift power magnet weight ratio are two major factors for designing actuator and rail in EMLS. These factors are dependent on the magnet dimensions, required gap flux and hence the required current density in the winding The magnet configurations chosen on the basis of required pole-face area and necessary window area to house the excitation coils. There are various magnet and rail geometries; i.e. magnet with I, U and E profiles and various winding arrangements with flat and U-profile rail. A FEM analysis utilizing ANSYS software has done to find out the flux pattern, working flux density, field intensity, force etc. for different single actuator based lévitation system at different operating conditions. Different aspects of rail and actuator have been described based on the ANSYS simulation results. The main objective is to propose a suitable configuration of actuator and guide-rail for a specific DC electromagnetic lévitation system. The effect of different lévitation parameters like size of actuator and rail, current density, no of turns of coil, permeability of magnetic material, winding dimension etc. has been studied and will be included in the final version of the manuscript.