Levitation Characteristics of High-Temperature Superconducting Bulks of Different Orientations and Arrays

High-temperature superconducting (HTS) maglev has good application prospects due to its passive stability. There are a lot of researches on the levitation characteristics of a single HTS bulk in the applied magnetic field. However, the bulks are usually arranged in an array in practical applications. In addition, experiments proved that the levitation force and guidance force of the system with multiple bulks are not equal to their linear superposition. Therefore, it is interesting to further study the law of interaction between bulks quantitatively. In this paper, firstly, the method of how the bulk's inhomogeneities are described in the electromagnetic model is introduced. Secondly, the levitation and guidance force of bulks of different orientations and combinations are calculated using a three-dimensional (3D) simulation model considering the inhomogeneities. A Qualitative Rapid Analysis Method (QRAM) to predict the effect of the combinations is proposed. The accuracy of the prediction method has been verified for different working conditions. Finally, the effect of the shape of bulks on the levitation characteristics is investigated. The result shows a weak “aggregation advantage”. This paper provides some reference for the design and prediction of the levitation and guidance performance of the HTS maglev system with a combination of multiple HTS bulks.