High-Temperature Superconducting Magnetic Levitation Vehicles: Dynamic Characteristics While Running on a Ring Test Line

In the long-distance operation of the high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnetic levitation (maglev) systems, the dynamic characteristics of the vehicle are closely related to its security and stationarity, which require in-depth research to ensure its safe operation. Thus, we investigated the dynamic characteristics of the HTS maglev and assessed its safety and stationarity when running on a ring test line. In the experiments, the important parameters related to safety are lateral displacement (LD) and levitation height (LH). Results show that an appropriate low field-cooling height (FCH) is beneficial for its safe operation, and the maximum LD (MLD) should be considered in vehicle designs. Moreover, in other experiments, we tested the vibration acceleration of the HTS maglev vehicle using acceleration sensors and assessed its stationarity according to the Chinese National Standard GB5599-85, which is specifically published to assess the stationarity and security of railway vehicles by the China Ministry of Railways. The stationarity of the HTS maglev vehicle running on the ring test line is of good grade. When the secondary suspension and appropriate measures of vibration reduction are considered, the stationarity will be greatly improved.