Dynamic Analysis and Control of a Repulsive Force Maglev Vehicle's Translational Motions

The translational dynamic characteristics and optimal control of a repulsive force Maglev system are presented. The three degree of freedom (DOF) dynamics of the vehicle's translational motions and the effective control scheme were studied including the mass center offset effects. The analysis and simulation results showed that the system dynamics are intrinsically unstable (marginally stable), particularly the vehicle is oscillated at the take off stage due to the mass center offset. An optimal, multi-input multi-output, linear quadratic regulator (LQR) control was designed and validated for the instable dynamics' compensation and ride quality improvement.