Pitching Stability Analysis and Control for Underwater Maglev Linear Motor Vehicle ME02

Marine express (ME) is amphibious superconducting magnetic levitation train that can run both underwater and on-land using the same guideway. The underwater experimental Maglev model vehicle ME02 in our laboratory is driven by the long-stator permanent magnet linear synchronous motor (PM LSM). Having the two motions freedom establishes the possibility for the undesired rotational pitching motion in the plan of these two motions. As a direct result of the different forces affecting the ME02, several torques are developed around the vehicle center of gravity. In the current paper, two air-cored electromagnets (AEM) are implemented to maintain the pitching stability or in other words to damp the pitching motion. The coils current controller gains are optimally tuned using the genetic algorithm (GA). The pitching motion and its control are simulated for the ME02 while performing a trip between four stations with different loading conditions. Through the study, electromagnetic forces produced by the PM LSM and AEM are found from the analytical solution of the multilayer boundary field problem. Hydrodynamic forces are estimated from the finite surface element method. Furthermore, the mass proprieties of the vehicle are estimated from 3D finite volume element method. The results show clearly the effectiveness of controller gains optimization using GA. In addition, the estimation of vehicle's mass properties is a valuable guide for the future ME design