Design, Fabrication, and Test of an HTS Magnetic Suspension Experimental System

Aiming at a number of disadvantages in the current normal-conductive electromagnetic suspension (EMS) system, particularly considerable energy consumption and high precision requirement for rail processing, this paper compared three types of suspension schemes, taking advantage of superconducting wire, i.e., electrodynamic suspension, hybrid suspension (HTS+EMS), and HTS EMS. An HTS magnetic suspension experimental system was designed and built on the basis of Bi-2223/Ag tape. A few of the concerns with respect to the HTS coils were discussed, including insulation, stabilization, current leads, fixation, and cooling condition. The 3-D simulation of electromagnetic field based on finite element analysis was executed to validate the theoretical design and parameter calculation of the HTS suspension electromagnet. In addition, some other major components of the experimental system were briefly introduced, i.e., sensors, digital signal processing control circuit, power amplifier, suspension program, and measuring instruments. In contrast to the previous preliminary test, a significant progress was that a superconducting and steady state of dynamic suspension had been successfully achieved when the experimental system was suffering from a larger alternating current in real-time control operation. The results of the suspension test would be of great reference value for the practical maglev train making use of the HTS EMS in the future.