Thermal Effect on Electromagnetic Suspension for Air Gap Performance in Magnetic Levitation System

Maglev (magnetic levitation) technology becomes a basis for the development of new generation of rail-based transportation system. Maglev vehicle can be classified according to their suspension mechanism, there are Electromagnetic Suspension and Electrodynamics Suspension Electromagnetic suspension as one of the three air gap forming methods in designing magnetic levitation system because of some advantages such as suitability for either low or high speed vehicle, cheap fabrication, commercially available component, and ease to control than other forming method. However, this method still has weakness characteristic wherein the magnetic flux generated by coil in the u-shaped iron core causes excessive heat generation due to the power loss and eddy current effect. The heat accumulated in iron core results in higher temperature that further increase the resistance of coil and reluctance of iron core, so the magnetic flux production decrease. This problem was investigated to determine the appropriate current flow in the coil, therefore the thermal effect can be reduced in order to maintain the air gap forming performance of the EMS-based magnetic levitation system. (paper)