1830 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 44, NO.

7, JULY 2008

Design and Analysis of a Maglev Planar Transportation Vehicle

Joon-Hyuk Park1 and Yoon Su Baek2
Railway System Research Department, Korea Railroad Research Institute, Uiwang 437-757, Korea
School of Mechanical Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, Korea

We describe the driving mechanism of a maglev planar transportation vehicle (MPTV). The levitation mechanism consists of four
magnetic wheels and four rotary machines. The combination of the linear induction motor mechanisms enables the vehicle to travel
with planar motion. The wheels provide stability without disturbing the planar motion. Because all the mechanisms use electrodynamic
forces, the working range of the MPTV can be expanded simply by paving the workspace with a conductor. The feasibility of the MPTV
has been verified in several experiments.
Index Terms—Linear induction motor, magnetic levitation, magnetic wheel, planar motion.

I. INTRODUCTION of the conventional electrodynamic suspension (EDS) vehicle

T HE applications of magnetic levitation systems have been
researched widely because of their own advantages in var-
ious fields. These applications can be classified into two areas:
precision devices and maglev trains. Precision devices utilize
the ability to achieve high accuracy due to noncontact between
parts, and the maglev trains take advantage of high speeds pos-
sible because of noncontact. However, these systems have limi-
tations that make it difficult to expand their applications to other
areas. For example, the precision stages can have high accuracy
and multiaxis motion but their working range is too small for
other applications. The maglev trains can achieve high power
and high speed, but they are required to move along a guide track
or sidewall. Therefore, for further applications of the magnetic
levitation systems, we proposed a maglev planar transportation
vehicle (MPTV) [1]. In this earlier work, the levitation mech-
anism of the MPTV was described and parametric design to
obtain the required performance of the levitation mechanism
was carried out. The most important goals of the MPTV are to
achieve planar motion with high levitation and propulsion power
and to acquire a wide working range. To reach these goals, the
MPTV was designed to be a moving primary type with an elec-
trodynamic system.
In this paper, the overall mechanisms of the MPTV are
described, including levitation and propulsion. The feasibility
of the MPTV is estimated through analytical and experimental
works.
II. LEVITATION MECHANISM OF MPTV
A. Magnetic Wheel
The levitation mechanism for the MPTV is composed of four
magnetic wheels and four rotary machines to rotate them. A lev-
itation method using a magnetic wheel is a classical method,
but little research concerning their use has been conducted be-
cause of its low efficiency. However, due to the advance of a
high-strength permanent magnet, this method has become more
practical. The applications of the magnetic wheel for levitation
systems have been concentrated on improving the efficiency
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMAG.2008.921953
0018-9464/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE
by simultaneously producing levitation and propulsion. Fujii et
al. proposed a method to produce levitation concurrently with
propulsion using a magnet wheel [2]–[4] and proved their tech-
nique through various experiments [5]. Fujii et al. also proposed
a simple end effect compensator for a linear induction motor
using a magnet rotator [6]. Bird and Lipo introduced an elec-
trodynamic wheel using a Halbach array of permanent magnets
[7]. However, these suggestions cannot satisfy the goals of the
MPTV introduced in the introduction because the planar motion
cannot be achieved smoothly due to the coupling of the levita-
tion and propulsion. Thus, in our work, magnetic wheels are
designed only to generate levitation.
In most cases, the magnetic wheel guarantees self-stability
in the levitation direction. Also, it does not disturb any trans-
lational motion of the MPTV since the traveling direction of
the time-varying magnetic flux density induced by the magnetic
wheel is orthogonal to the translational direction.
The magnetic wheel is composed of an even number of per-
manent magnets. When the radius of the magnetic wheel is con-
stant, a two-pole (permanent magnet) magnetic wheel has the
largest levitation force since it has a longer wavelength than
any other magnetic wheel. The design of the magnetic wheel
achieving a high levitation force was carried out using a para-
metric design method in the previous study [1]. However, the
magnetic wheel was redesigned to increase the damping perfor-
mance and to decrease the energy loss caused by the drag torque
[8]. The radius of the magnetic wheel, the depth of the perma-
nent magnets, the nominal air gap, and the rotational speed were
modified [8]. Fig. 1 and Table I show the designed magnetic
wheel for the MPTV.
The levitation force of the designed magnetic wheel is shown
in Fig. 2. The wheel has about 620 N at 3000 rev/min when the
air gap is 10 mm, which is satisfactory for an MPTV.
B. Levitation Characteristics
The magnetic wheel system has a high stiffness like the con-
ventional EDS system, but its damping effect is relatively low.
Fig. 3(a) shows the equivalent stiffness of a designed magnetic
wheel at 3000 rev/min. Here, indicates that the magnetic
wheel moves downward, and the electrodynamic force works as
restoring force. In the region, gravity restores the magnetic
wheel to the initial position. Here, it should be noted that the

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PARK AND BAEK: DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF A MAGLEV PLANAR TRANSPORTATION VEHICLE
Fig. 1. Designed magnetic wheel for MPTV: (a) photograph of the magnetic
wheel and (b) magnetic flux density along the circumference.
TABLE I
CHARACTERISTICS OF DESIGNED MAGNETIC WHEEL
Fig. 2. Levitation force of the designed magnetic wheel versus the magnetic
wheel rotational speed: (a) 10 mm, (b) 15 mm, (c) 20 mm, and (d) 25 mm air
gap.
restoring force acts as repulsion only when the magnetic wheel
moves down. There is no attraction generated by the electro-
dynamic force, but only the gravitational force pulls the mag-
netic wheel down when it moves upward. Fig. 3(b) shows the
damping coefficient of the designed magnetic wheel. The dy-
namic effect at a low rotational speed is larger than that at a high
rotational speed. Therefore, the damping performance improves
as the rotational speed is lowered. In particular, the damping ef-
fect becomes remarkably high under 1500 rev/min.
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1831
Fig. 3. Levitation characteristics of the designed magnetic wheel: (a) stiffness
and (b) damping coefficient.
The levitation stiffness of the designed magnetic wheel was
estimated to be 41 800 N/m at the 10-mm nominal position and
3000 rev/min operating speed. The maximum input power was
about 4 kW. Thus, the stiffness per unit power of the designed
magnetic wheel is 10.45 N/m W. The levitation force per unit
weight (including the weight of the rotary machine) is 2.75. It
is noted that the designed mechanism has sufficient stiffness but
needs to be lighter.
III. PROPULSION MECHANISM OF MPTV
A. Single-Sided Transverse Flux Linear Induction Motor
The propulsion mechanism of the MPTV is similar to a con-
ventional single-sided transverse flux linear induction motor
(STFLIM), except that a secondary yoke does not exist. In the
conventional STFLIM, a secondary yoke has a low-reluctance
magnetic path as with a primary yoke. Hence, the flux loss
in the air gap can be minimized. However, in the MPTV, the
secondary yoke of the propulsion mechanism prevents the
magnetic wheels from producing a levitation force because the
permanent magnets of the magnetic wheel will attract the sec-
ondary yoke. In relation to energy efficiency, this nonsecondary
yoke system is a disadvantage of the propulsion mechanism of
the MPTV.
The advantages of an STFLIM are that it requires less mag-
netizing current than an SLIM at approximately the same rating
and pole pitch, and it is possible to have a relatively smaller
core compared to the core of a similar SLIM, because the core
depth of the primary of an STFLIM is not related to its pole pitch
1832
Fig. 4. Geometry of the propulsion mechanism.
TABLE II
CHARACTERISTICS OF DESIGNED STFLIM
Fig. 5. Magnetic modeling of the propulsion mechanism.
[9]. Generally, the phase sequence of an STFLIM is A, B, C,
A, B, C as shown in Fig. 4 because the shape of the mag-
neto movie force (MMF) wave should be close to sinusoidal,
which means the STFLIM will produce the highest thrust [10].
The characteristics of the STFLIM for the MPTV are shown in
Fig. 4 and Table II.
The design and analysis of the propulsion mechanism are
similar to those of the magnetic wheel. Fig. 5 shows the mag-
netic modeling of the propulsion mechanism for the MPTV. Re-
gions I and II represent the primary yoke and the secondary
conductor, respectively. Regions III and IV correspond to air.
The STFLIM is excited by the current sheet, which is located
between the primary yoke and the air gap, region III. It is lim-
ited between the points and . able. In the high slip region of Fig. 6(b), the total thrust force is
The magnetic analysis of a linear induction motor has been
well studied [11]. Hence, in this paper, we briefly discuss the
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 44, NO. 7, JULY 2008
theoretical results of the propulsion mechanism. From the solu-
tion of the propulsion mechanism, the magnetic vector potential
in the air gap is calculated as follows:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
Here, and are the roots of (5), which are the two roots
nearest to the imaginary axis and are located at the complex
plane. The other roots are far from the imaginary axis and can be
assumed to attenuate very quickly. In many cases, the errors of
these two roots are not large [11]. The thrust can be determined
using the Lorentz force equation as follows:
(7)
where
(8)
Here, denotes the conjugate of .
Fig. 6 shows some theoretical results of the propulsion mech-
anism of the MPTV. Fig. 6(a) shows the magnetic flux density
in the 5-mm air gap along the machine length when the applied
current is 10 A, and Fig. 6(b) displays the thrust force versus
the slip when the synchronous speed is 3.6 m/s. The magnetic
flux density has discontinuities at the ends of the machine. Since
the designed STFLIM has no secondary yoke, the discontinuity
of the magnetic flux density at the machine ends is remark-
smaller than the normal thrust force. However, it is larger than
the normal thrust force at the low slip region. This is a typical
PARK AND BAEK: DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF A MAGLEV PLANAR TRANSPORTATION VEHICLE 1833

Fig. 6. Calculated values of proposed linear induction motor: (a) magnetic flux
density at 5 mm air gap and (b) thrust force along the slip.

Fig. 7. Propulsion mechanism for MPTV.

Fig. 9. Maglev planar transportation vehicle: (a) side view and (b) bottom view.

Fig. 8. Starting thrust with various currents.

characteristic of low-speed linear induction machines. Here, the

normal thrust force refers to the thrust without considering the
end effect.
Even though the discontinuity of the magnetic flux at the ma-
chine ends is high, the end effects are small in this propulsion
mechanism because the designed STFLIMs are mid-low-speed
linear induction motors. The magnetic Reynolds number of the
Fig. 10. Two-dimensional schematic diagram of the MPTV.
propulsion mechanism is about 3.76.

B. Planar Motion Mechanism

The MPTV has four STFLIMs for the planar motion. Two of
STFLIMs are controlled by one controller and take charge of
left/right (L/R) motion. The other two STFLIMs are controlled
independently and assigned for the forward/backward (F/B) di-
rection and rotation of the MPTV. Therefore, the MPTV has
three degrees of freedom in the plane motion including recti-
linear, curvilinear, and rotational motion. Fig. 7 shows the de-
signed propulsion mechanism for the MPTV. STFLIMs for the
F/B and rotational directions are located at both ends to maxi-
mize the rotational motion performance. STFLIMs for L/R mo-
tion are positioned between the F/B STFLIMs.
Fig. 8 shows the measured values of the starting thrust for the
designed STFLIM with several synchronous frequencies. The
starting thrust was about 62.5 N at 8.3 A and had a 20-Hz syn-
chronous frequency. It increases rapidly until the applied current
becomes about 4 A. However, the rate of increase of the thrust
becomes smaller as the applied current increases over 4 A be-
cause of the magnetic saturation of the yoke. Thus, the experi-
mental result was about 68% of the theoretical result.

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1834
Fig. 11. Experiment results for levitation performance: (a) the first LDS, (b) the second LDS, (c) the third LDS, and (d) magnetic wheel rotation speed.
TABLE III
CHARACTERISTICS OF PROTOTYPE FOR MPTV
IV. MAGLEV PLANAR TRANSPORTATION VEHICLE
Fig. 9 shows the prototype of the MPTV, and its character-
istics are described in Table III. To eliminate the resonance of
the system caused by the rotation of the magnetic wheel, it has
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 44, NO. 7, JULY 2008
a latticed reinforcement, which is composed of four aluminum
rectangular bars. They also support the rotary machines so that
the magnetic wheels maintain their nominal air gaps of 7 mm.
The first structural resonant frequency was up to about 88 Hz
due to the reinforcement. This is a satisfactory result since the
maximum operating frequency is 50 Hz (3000 rev/min).
The levitation force is generated by four magnetic wheels.
Magnetic wheels no. 1 and 3 in Fig. 10 rotate counterclockwise
and no. 2 and 4 rotate clockwise. Therefore, the net rotational
moment of the MPTV is zero if all the magnetic wheels rotate
at the same speed.
There can be two levitation control methods for the MPTV.
One is to control each magnetic wheel at the same rotational
speed according to the desired levitation height. The other is to
control the MPTV to maintain the horizon level by controlling
the rotational speeds of each magnetic wheel independently. In
the former method, the levitation control can be realized easily,
and the rotational moment of the MPTV does not exist. How-
ever, some pitching or rolling can occur due to the irregularity
of the conductor surface condition. If the conductor surface is
completely flat and smooth, this method can be an ideal solution.
On the other hand, undesired rotation of the MPTV may arise
in the latter method since the rotational speeds of the mag-
netic wheels are different from each other. However, other un-
expected out-of-plane motions are not produced and the perfor-
mance loss due to temperature effects can be compensated. In
this method, the controller must solve the redundant problem
because the MPTV is supported by four magnetic wheels but
there are three outputs (levitation, pitching, and rolling). Thus,
the feedback control algorithm is complicated.
PARK AND BAEK: DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF A MAGLEV PLANAR TRANSPORTATION VEHICLE
Fig. 12. Experiment results for maximum levitation without payloads: (a) the first LDS, (b) the second LDS, and (c) the third LDS.
Fig. 13. Experiment results for vibration test of MPTV: (a) the first LDS, (b) the second LDS, and (c) the third LDS.
In the latter method, even though the performance loss due
to temperature effects can be compensated and undesired rota-
tional motion can be controlled by the propulsion mechanism,
it is an inefficient method because the levitation mechanism
has self-stability without any feedback controllers. Hence, the
former method was applied in this study.
Fig. 11 shows the levitation performance of the MPTV. The
desired target is to levitate 6 mm from the nominal position and
to reach steady state within 15 s. Three laser displacement sen-
sors (LDS) were used to measure the levitation height as shown
in Fig. 10. The target speed of the magnetic wheels was calcu-
lated by the analytical solution and the magnetic wheels were
controlled to rotate with the target speed by PI controllers. The
control started at 4.5 s. The MPTV levitated after 12.5 s and
reached steady state at 18 s. The levitation height decreased
gradually after 30 s owing to the conductivity loss caused by
the increasing conductor temperature.
Fig. 12 shows the maximum levitation height of the MPTV
without payloads at 3000 rev/min. The height was about 12 mm
from the nominal air gap and, in total, was 19 mm from the con-
ductor. This result agrees with the theoretical value of 19.3 mm.
The dynamic characteristics of the magnetic wheel were esti-
mated by means of a vibration test using an initial condition of
5 mm from the steady state position. For this experiment, the
MPTV was first levitated 5 mm from the nominal air gap. It was
then pulled down to the nominal position and allowed be free
while the rotational speed of the magnetic wheels was constant.
As shown in Fig. 13, the vibration dissipated after about 3 s,
and the MPTV converged to steady state earlier than predicted
in simulation. However, there is also good agreement between
the simulation and the experiment.
It is difficult to measure the planar motion performance of the
MPTV because it was designed as a vehicle and there are not
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1835
any sensors to measure the planar motion data in the MPTV.
Planar motion commands including directions and forces are
transferred to the MPTV through a joystick with open loop con-
trollers. We measured the maximum translational speed of the
MPTV using a common laser velocity meter. As predicted, the
maximum speed of the MPTV was about 3.6 m/s. The condi-
tion of the conductor surface affected the planar motion perfor-
mance, but it was not a serious problem.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a maglev planar transportation vehicle was in-
troduced for further applications of magnetic levitation systems.
The optimal performance of the proposed system occurred with
approximately 80-kg payloads and a translational speed of about
3.6 m/s.
The magnetic levitation system has been an important issue
in various fields for a long time. However, conventional levi-
tation methods are limited in expanding their functions, even
though they have remarkable performance for their own appli-
cation fields. Hence, a high-power planar moving system can be
an interesting issue in the magnetic levitation research.
There are many methods for realizing contact-free systems
using electromagnetics [8]. In this study, repulsion by the elec-
trodynamic force was used for levitation because it guarantees
stability in the levitation direction without any feedback con-
trol. Propulsion mechanisms are also designed to use electro-
dynamic forces, and the MPTV is designed to be the moving
primary type. As a result, the working range can be expanded
infinitely by simply paving the conductor.
Because the MPTV uses the electrodynamic forces not only
for levitation but also for planar motion, it is important to de-
sign these mechanisms so as not to interfere with each other.
Therefore, the magnetic wheel is ideal for the MPTV since the
1836
traveling direction of the magnetic flux density generated by the
magnetic wheel is orthogonal to that of the magnetic flux den-
sity produced by the planar motion mechanisms.
The significance of this paper is that a high-power maglev
planar transportation vehicle was proposed and verified through
several experimental investigations. As a result, further applica-
tion of the maglev systems is possible.
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 44, NO. 7, JULY 2008
[9] S. A. Nasar and I. Boldea, Linear Motion Electric Machines. New
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Manuscript received February 1, 2005; revised March 25, 2008. Corre-
sponding author: J. Park (e-mail: jhpark74@krri.re.kr).
Joon-Hyuk Park was born in Seoul, Korea, on April 15, 1974. He received
the B.S. degree from KAIST, Daejeon, Korea, in 1998, and the M.S. and Ph.D.
degree from Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, in 2000 and 2005, respectively,
all in mechanical engineering.
He worked for the Automation Technology Research Institute as a Researcher
at Yonsei University in 2005. Since 2006, he has been a Senior Researcher in
the Railway System Research Department of Korea Railroad Research Institute,
Uiwang, Korea. His research interests are related to an active steering bogie
system and braking control in railway vehicles. He is also interested in a wide
range of advanced motion devices using electromagnetics including mini linear
actuator, 3 D.O.F. actuator, and magnetic levitation systems.
Yoon Su Baek was born in Seoul, Korea, on February 2, 1956. He received the
B.S. and M.S. degrees from Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, in 1979 and 1981,
respectively, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Oregon State University in
1986 and 1990, respectively, all in mechanical engineering.
He worked for Samsung Heavy Industry Ltd. as head Research Engineer
at Mechatronics Research Center from 1990 to 1993. Since 1994, he has
been on the faculty of School of Mechanical Engineering, Yonsei University.
His research interests are motion devices and robotics, especially relating to
multi-D.O.F. actuators. He is also interested in magnetic brake and levitation
systems.