Semi-Active Control of Superconducting Electrodynamic Suspension Trains Based on Magnetorheological Dampers

The superconducting electrodynamic suspension (EDS) train, currently the fastest ground-based manned transit vehicle in the world, exhibits significant development potential and is being pursued for commercial deployment in Japan. However, intense vibrations under high-speed operations degrade riding comfort and even may pose risks to operational safety of EDS trains. Furthermore, passive suspension system cannot effectively improve the dynamic performance of EDS trains. Therefore, a semi-active control method based on magnetorheological (MR) damper is adopted in this paper. Firstly, a dynamic model of EDS trains is built and the state-space method is used to solve it. Secondly, a calculation model of MR dampers based on Bouc-Wen method is developed. Finally, the on-off skyhook damping control strategy based on the current of MR dampers is introduced. The results indicates that vertical acceleration of car bodies is suppressed significantly with the MR damper engaged and MR dampers not only reduce the vibration of the car bodies but also improve the dynamic characteristics of frames.