Cascade Modeling and Intelligent Control Design for an Electromagnetic Guiding System

This study simulates lateral motion in magnetic levitation (maglev) transportation systems using a novel electromagnetic guiding device. First, current control modules, a pulse width modulation (PWM) controller, and a buck converter are used for driving electromagnets. The electromagnetic guiding system, which has two current control modules, a gap controller and a bipolar switching device, controls the gap between the moving platform and the rail. A cascade dynamic model, which has a current control module, electromagnet, and moving platform, is established. Based on the dynamic model, a novel cascade sliding mode controller is designed successfully. Finally, to eliminate the sensitivity of the proposed control scheme to system parameters, a cascade sliding-mode-based genetic algorithm control scheme is utilized.