Influence of Guideway Surface Roughness on a Magnetically Levitated Vehicle with Mechanical Levitation Control : 3rd Report, The Influence of Guide Wheel Stiffness and Dead Zone Element of the Controller

Abstract

A theoretical analysis and a simulation study on the dynamic characteristics of a Maglev transport vehicle with a mechanical levitation control system are performed. In this paper, the effect of the guide wheel stiffness and the dead zone element of the controller, which are expected to exert a large influence on vehicle levitation performance and ride quality, is described. After the construction of the vehicle dynamic model with the guide wheel stiffness, the stability criteria for the levitation are derived. The relationship between the dynamic characteristics of the vehicle and control lever ratio is analyzed. The simulation is carried out to confirm the obtained results by using the 17 DOF full model that includes pitching and rolling motion of the vehicle. The simulation results show that a low control lever ratio causes a sudden deterioration of levitation performance if there is a dead zone in the controller, and that a suitable control lever ratio which is unaffected by the dead zone is proposed.