Electro-magnetic Analysis of Inductrack Magnetic Levitation

Abstract

A new type of magnetic levitation system called the Inductrack, has been proposed by R F. Post. This system is composed of a special arrangement of permanent magnets on board which is called the Halbach array, and a close-packed array of shorted coils in the longitudinal direction on the ground. This composition can obtain a large magnetic force, a very low take-off speed and a high lift-to-drag ratio. This paper describes numerical simulations of the Inductrack magnetic levitation by the Fourier series analysis which is utilized in the analysis of superconducting magnetic levitation. By using numerical examples considering a full-scale car model, we reveal the features of the Inductrack system in comparison with the superconducting magnetic levitation.