Magnetic Levitation: Transportation
substation to the ground coils for propulsion, adjust-
The superconducting Maglev system was originally
proposed in 1966 by Powell and Danby in the USA.
Developments of this system were tried in the USA,
Japan, Germany, and Canada until the end of
the 1970s. This development has been continued
subsequently in Japan.
The aim of this development in Japan is a new
ground mass transport system connecting large cities
with a service speed of 500 km h−". The feature of this
system is that the vehicles are magnetically levitated
and propelled using on-board superconducting mag-
nets without any contact with the ground facilities.
The levitation height is as much as 10 cm.
After several years of basic investigation, a 7 km test
track was constructed in 1977. The first test vehicle,
ML-500, attained a speed of 517 km h−" in 1979, which
was the world record until 1997. Running tests on this
7 km track were continued until 1996 using three
generations of test vehicles.
In 1997 the Yamanashi Maglev test line was
constructed to evaluate the various functions required
for general service. Figure 1 shows the Maglev train
being tested on the Yamanashi test line and Fig. 2
shows the MLX01 test train.
As shown in Fig. 1, the superconducting magnets
are set on both sides of the bogies that are installed
under the articulated vehicle. In the U-shaped guide-
way, two kinds of ground coils are set on both side
walls. They are the ground coils for propulsion, and
the ground coils for both levitation and guidance.
Figure 1
Schematic of the Maglev train.
Three-phase electric currents are supplied from a
ing the frequency according to the train speed. These
three-phase currents generate moving waves of mag-
netic fields along the ground coils. The superconduct-
ing magnets on board are accelerated or decelerated,
synchronized with these moving magnetic fields. By
controlling the frequency and phase angle of the three-
phase electric currents, the speed of the vehicle can be
controlled.
When the vehicle runs along the guideway, strong
magnetic fields from the superconducting magnets
induce electric currents in the ground coils for levi-
tation. Electromagnetic forces between these induced
currents and the superconducting magnets act as
levitating forces on the superconducting magnets. If
the running train deviates from the center of the
guideway, electric current is also induced in the circuit
connecting the two ground coils for levitation set in
both side walls. This induced current works as a lateral
force to return the vehicle to the center of the
guideway. In this way, the Maglev vehicle can run
without any contact with the ground facilities even at
very high speeds.
However, the levitation and guidance forces are not
strong enough at low speeds. Therefore, the vehicle is
supported by pneumatic wheels at low speeds, with
levitation occurring after the vehicle accelerates to a
sufficient speed (about 150 km h−" in the case of the
Yamanashi test line), similar to an aircraft taking off.
Figure 3 shows the superconducting magnet used
for the Yamanashi test vehicle and Table 1 lists the
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Magnetic Levitation: Transportation

Figure 2
MLX01 test train.

Figure 3
Schematic of the superconducting magnet.

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Table 1
Main specifications of the superconducting magnet.
Dimensions
Weight
Magnetomotive force
Pole pitch
Static heat invasion (at liquid helium temperature)
Overall heat load (under simulated running conditions)
Levitation force (per magnet)
Capacity of on-board refrigeration
main specifications. One set of the superconducting
magnets has four superconducting coils in it. Each
superconducting coil consists of NbTi superconduct-
ing wire wound more than 1000 turns and impregnated
with epoxy resin. The center dimensions of a super-
conducting coil are 1050 mm in length and 500 mm in
height, with a racetrack shape. The electromotive
force of the superconducting coil is 700 kA and the
maximum magnetic field in the corner is about 4 T.
A persistent current switch is attached to each
superconducting coil to maintain the persistent current
mode while the train is under operation. The super-
conducting coil is installed inside the inner vessel,
made of stainless steel. The superconducting coils are
cooled by liquid helium to maintain a temperature of
about 4.2 K. The liquid helium is supplied to the
narrow space between the superconducting coil and
the inner vessel. A liquid helium tank is positioned at
the top of the superconducting magnet to supply
liquid helium to the superconducting coils. A small on-
board refrigerator is installed in the liquid helium tank
to reliquefy the evaporated helium gas in the inner
vessel. As long as the on-board refrigerator works, the
liquid helium in the superconducting magnet is main-
tained without any loss.
Two sets of superconducting magnets on both sides
of the bogie can sustain a vehicle weight of more than
20 tons (2i10% kg).
Features of the superconducting magnet are that it
should be designed as lightweight as possible, it has to
endure a large force to propel and levitate the vehicle,
and it receives magnetic field fluctuation from the
ground coils. Especially, the magnetic field fluctuation
causes mechanical vibration to the superconducting
magnet. Much effort has been directed at decreasing
the heat generation in the liquid helium temperature
region especially when resonance occurs around the
superconducting coils.
The length of the test line is 18.4 km, about 90% of
which is tunnels because it is constructed in a moun-
tainous area. The test line is designed to have many
kinds of sections, such as open-area sections, tunnel
sections, straight sections, and a curved section, so
that almost all kinds of running conditions can be
created.
The vehicle running tests on the Yamanashi Maglev
test line started on April 3, 1997. Speed-increasing
Magnetic Levitation: Transportation
5.5 m longi1.17 m high
1400 kg
700 kA
1.35 m
5W
8W
115.5 kN

8W
tests started in June 1997. The designed maximum
speed of 550 km h−" was attained at the end of the same
year, and the speed record of 552 km h−" for a crewed
run was achieved in 1999. These records were regis-
tered in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Efforts are continuing to confirm the reliability of
the system and to decrease construction costs.
See also: Magnetic Levitation : Materials and
Processes; Superconducting Permanent Magnets :
Principles and Results; Superconducting Permanent
Magnets : Potential Applications
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Magnetic Levitation: Transportation

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Encyclopedia of Materials : Science and Technology
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