Development of Noncontact Active Magnetic Levitation System Without Magnetic Guidance on Guideway

In this study, we proposed a novel active magnetic levitation (maglev) system to realize next-generation maglev transportation. The main feature of the proposed maglev system does not require magnetic guidance on guideway. The system can realize noncontact levitation without any counterforce from the guideway. The electromagnetic actuator attached to the system generates a magnetic force to maintain a constant distance between the system and the guideway (steel rail). Servo system employs position feedback controllers based on the distance. The feedback controllers are designed frequency responses from the magnetic force to the distance, and these can compensate for dependency of the operating point due to the nonlinear characteristics. Compared with previous systems that required counterforces, the servo system for the actuator can stabilize levitation in five directions. The proposed system was developed and demonstrated, showing stable movement along the guideway without counterforces. This eliminates the need for expensive permanent magnets or superconductors on the guideway. This offers significant practical benefits in terms of cost reduction and introduces a novel servo system.