Weight reduction of EMS-type MAGLEV vehicle with a novel hybrid control scheme for magnets

The reduction of the total weight of a vehicle is key issue for realization of high-speed magnetic levitation (MAGLEV) system. Because the weight of magnets, including supporting structures and current controllers, occupies considerable part of the total weight, its reduction with introduction of a new control scheme is studied. In order to solve this problem keeping its control performance to cope with high-speed operation, a new control scheme is proposed on the basis of hybrid control as a combination of some original controllers. With simulation results of the MAGLEV operational performances, it is shown that this new control scheme enables to reduce the weight of both magnets and current controllers.