Levitation or suspension: Which one is better for the heavy-load HTS maglev transportation

Abstract

Because of the limitation of permanent magnet (PM), the efficient of bulk high-[Formula: see text] superconductor (HTSC) in a high-[Formula: see text] superconducting (HTS) maglev system is not very high. It is better to magnetize the bulk HTSC with a high trapped field to increase the force density. The different application type of magnetized bulk HTSC in a maglev system, namely, levitation or suspension type, will bring quite different operation performance. This paper discusses the influence of application type on operation performance of magnetized bulk HTSC by experiments and simulations. From the discussion, it can be found which application type is better for the heavy-load HTS maglev system.