Grasping and conveying an object, by utilizing the frictional force generated by contact is performed in various processes in the manufacturing line for an industrial product. The deterioration of the surface quality due to these contacts is a problem. As a solution to this problem, a noncontact transport of steel plates, using electro-magnetic force, has been proposed. However, in these systems, electromagnets are installed vertically. In this method, if the steel plate is thin and does not have sufficient flexural rigidity, it is difficult to add a suspension force for levitation over the entire steel plate. In order to solve this problem, we proposed an edge supported electromagnetic levitation system for flexible steel plates using electromagnets installed horizontally. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed system we constructed a prototype of an edge-supported type magnetic levitation system, which applied electromagnetic force only from the horizontal direction of the steel plate. Consequently, we carried out levitation experiment and discussed characteristics of horizontal positioning and levitation suspension.
