Calculation and Characterization of Braking Performance for Rail Eddy Current Brake With AC Excited Ring-Winding Armature

With the continuous increases of the train speed, the braking device that relies on the wheel-rail adhesion has approached its acceptable speed limit. Compared with traditional friction brakes, eddy current brakes (ECBs) have the advantages of non-wheel-rail contact, fast response, low noise, wide application range, and no pollution. This study describes an ECB with AC excitation based on Faraday's law. The two-dimensional analytical model of ECB is established by the sub-domain method. Then, the experiment system of rail ECB is designed and built to test the braking characteristics. The authenticity of mathematical model is verified by experimental results. The research indicated that braking force increased at first and reached a maximum value, then slowly decreased with the increase of speed, while normal attractive force was always reduced. This characteristic matches the requirements of high-speed trains with large braking force and low normal force, which makes it a great option for auxiliary braking mechanism in the high-speed trains.