Characteristics of Dynamic Response of Balanced and Unbalanced High-Tc Superconducting Maglev System

Understanding the characteristics of dynamic response of a high-T_c superconducting (HTS) maglev vehicle subject to different operating conditions is of utmost importance for advancing its application in the further transportation system. Based on a reduced HTS maglev model, this paper experimentally reproduced the balanced and unbalanced conditions of on-board passengers/freight by loading and unloading the weight to the model at different locations, namely, at the central location of the model for balanced condition and at the front of the model for unbalanced condition. Making recourse to the B&K vibration analyzer (3560C) and laser displacement acquisition equipment, the dynamic signals, i.e., acceleration, displacement, and resonant frequency of the model subject to respective balanced and unbalanced condition were sampled and analyzed. It was found that, the distribution of on-board weight affects the dynamic response of the model significantly and as expected, the unbalanced distribution does harm to the stability and thus the carrying capability of the maglev vehicle.