Improvement and evaluation of bearing stiffness in high T/sub c/ superconducting magnetic bearing

This paper describes a new method of dynamics of passive type superconducting magnetic bearings (SMBs). In order to clarify the method, a simple experimental setup was constructed that consists of a superconductor attached to a mechanical x-stage and a permanent magnet attached to a z-stage. In the experiments, the stages were forced to move in the x and z directions to improve bearing stiffness and repulsive forces. Moreover, a simple theoretical model to explain the results is applied to the experimental setup. As a result, it is found that the improved method for SMBs is effective experimentally and theoretically.