ABSTRACT:

Magnetic levitated train is the train which cannot move over the rail; rather it floats above
the rails, under the condition, when it moves faster. The basic principle is electro
magnetic induction i.e., when there is a relative motion of a conductor across the
magnetic field, current is induced in the conductor and vice versa. This paper includes

• Introduction
• Working principle
• Technology
• Advantages
• Disadvantages
• Are maglevs really more environmentally friendly?
• Will maglevs replace conventional trains?
• Maglevs in commercial service
• Conclusion

INTRODUCTION:

The principal of a Magnet train is that floats on a magnetic field and is propelled by a
linear induction motor. They follow guidance tracks with magnets. These trains are often
referred to as Magnetically Levitated trains which are abbreviated to Maglev. Although
maglevs don't use steel wheel on steel rail usually associated with trains, the dictionary
definition of a train is a long line of vehicles travelling in the same direction - it is a train.
TECHNOLOGY:

All operational implementations of maglev technology have had minimal overlap with
wheeled train technology and have not been compatible with conventional rail tracks.
Because they cannot share existing infrastructure, maglevs must be designed as complete
transportation systems. The term "maglev" refers not only to the vehicles, but to the
railway system as well, specifically designed for magnetic levitation and propulsion.

There are two primary types of maglev technology:

• electromagnetic suspension (EMS) uses the attractive magnetic force of a magnet

beneath a rail to lift the train up.
• electrodynamic suspension (EDS) uses a repulsive force between two magnetic
fields to push the train away from the rail.

Another experimental technology, which was designed, proven mathematically, peer

reviewed, and pattented, but is yet too be built, is the magnetodynamic suspension
(MDS), which uses the attractive magnetic force of a permanent magnet array near a steel
track to life the train and hold it in place.
Electromagnetic suspension:

In current EMS systems, the train levitates above a steel rail while
electromagnets, attached to the train, are oriented toward the rail from below. The
electromagnets use feedback control to maintain a train at a constant distance from the
track, at approximately 15 millimeters (0.6 in). The separation between the vehicle and
the guideway must be constantly monitored and corrected by computer systems to avoid
collision due to the unstable nature of electromagnetic attraction; due to the system's
inherent instability and the required constant corrections by outside systems, vibration
issues may occur

Electrodynamic suspension:

In Electrodynamic suspension (EDS), both the rail and the train exert a magnetic
field, and the train is levitated by the repulsive force between these magnetic fields. The
magnetic field in the train is produced by either electromagnets (as in JR-Maglev) or by
an array of permanent magnets (as in Inductrack). The repulsive force in the track is
created by an induced magnetic field in wires or other conducting strips in the track.

EDS Maglev Propulsion via propulsion coils

At slow speeds, the current induced in these coils and the resultant magnetic flux
is not large enough to support the weight of the train. For this reason the train must have
wheels or some other form of landing gear to support the train until it reaches a speed that
can sustain levitation.
 Propulsion coils on the guideway are used to exert a force on the magnets in the
train and make the train move forward. The propulsion coils that exert a force on the train
are effectively a linear motor: An alternating current flowing through the coils generates
a continuously varying magnetic field that moves forward along the track. The frequency
of the alternating current is synchronized to match the speed of the train. The offset
between the field exerted by magnets on the train and the applied field create a force
moving the train forward.

Strong magnetic fields onboard the train would make the train inaccessible to
passengers with pacemakers or magnetic data storage media such as hard drives and
credit cards, necessitating the use of magnetic shielding; limitations on guideway
inductivity limit the maximum speed of the vehicle; vehicle must be wheeled for travel at
low speeds;

Magnetodynamic suspension:

Magnetodynamic suspension, invented by Dr. Oleg Tozoni, is similar to the EMS

system in that it uses attractive forces, but differs in that the magnets used for suspension
are permanent, and the stability is built into the system itself using physics/mechanical
systems, as opposed to EMS's computer systems. MDS is based on the idea of using a
minimum energy point to balance the train. Easy way to explain this is to compare EMS
to a hill, with minimum energy points on the sides of it, and MDS to a valley with the
minimum point in the center. The center of each would be the vehicle's suspended center
point.

If you put a ball on the top of the hill and apply any force to it, the ball will try to
roll down, and you would need to apply a compensation force in the other direction to
keep it centered. Once the ball gets to the top of the hill, it will try to keep rolling down
the other side, and an opposite, compensating force is needed. This is what EMS does
when it uses stabilising systems to increase or decrease the strength of the electromagnets
holding the train suspended, and why that system is inherently unstable, requiring a
constant outside stabilising force. MDS, on the other hand, is more like a valley with the
energy minimum in the center. It takes energy to move the ball away from the bottom,
and the ball returns to the bottom on its own. This is possible because steel magnetic
permeability is highly dependent on magnetic flux intensity in that steel.

Basically, the more you magnetize steel, the more difficult it is to magnetize it
even more. Once the steel becomes fully saturated, bringing a magnet closer to it will not
increase the strength of the magnetic field between the magnet and the magnetically
saturated steel. Dr. Tozoni figured out how to create what is essentially magnetic
insulation, which would keep magnetic fields escaping from the steel rails into the
surrounding air, thus concentrating the magnetic field in those rails and saturating them.

MDS uses a series of magnets constructed in such a way that when the array is
suspended within the steel rail, the lateral, side-to-side, forces pulling the train towards
the steel rails become much weaker than the horizontal, up-down, force holding the
magnets centered between the rails. When two such magnet arrays are arranged
perpendicular to each other, the stronger forces cancel out the weaker forces, forcing the
train to stay centered between the rails automatically, thus holding it in the minimum
energy point; any outside force that moves the train away from the center line of travel is
countered by a force wanting to bring the train back to the center minimum.

Technology exists as only proof of paper, pattents, and peer-reviewed IEEE

papers. No actual physical constructed models exist yet.
ADVANTAGES:

Well it sounds high-tech, a floating train; they do offer certain benefits over conventional
steel rail on steel wheel railways.

 The primary advantage is maintenance. Because the train floats along there is no
contact with the ground and therefore no need for any moving parts. As a result
there are no components that would wear out. This means in theory trains and
track would need no maintenance at all.
 The second advantage is that because maglev trains float, there is no friction.
Note that there will still be air resistance.
 A third advantage is less noise, because there are no wheels running along there is
no wheel noise. However noise due to air disturbance still occurs.
 The fourth advantage is speed, as a result of the three previous listed it is more
viable for maglev trains to travel extremely fast, i.e. 500km/h or 300mph.
Although this is possible with conventional rail it is not economically viable.
 The final advantage is that the guidway can be made a lot thicker in places, e.g.
after stations and going uphill, which would mean a maglev could get up to
300km/h (186mph) in only 5km where currently takes 18km. Also greater
gradients would be applicable.

DISADVANTAGES:

There are several disadvantages with maglev trains. Maglev guide paths are bound to be
more costly than conventional steel railways. The other main disadvantage is lack with
existing infrastructure. For example if a high speed line between two cities it built, then
high speed trains can serve both cities but more importantly they can serve other nearby
cities by running on normal railways that branch off the high speed line. The high speed
trains could go for a fast run on the high speed line, and then come off it for the rest of
the journey. Maglev trains wouldn't be able to do that; they would be limited to where
maglev lines run. This would mean it would be very difficult to make construction of
maglev lines commercially viable unless there were two very large destinations being
connected. Of the 5000km that TGV trains serve in France, only about 1200km is high
speed line, meaning 75% of TGV services run on existing track. The fact that a maglev
train will not be able to continue beyond its track may seriously hinder its usefulness.

A possible solution: Although I haven't seen anywhere a solution could be to put normal
steel wheels onto the bottom of a maglev train, which would allow it to run on normal
railway once it was off the floating guideway.

ARE MAGLEVS REALLY MORE ENVIROMENTALLY FRIENDLY?

In terms of energy consumption maglev trains are slightly better off than conventional
trains. This is because there is no wheel-on-rail friction. That said the vast majority of
resistive force at high speed is air resistance (often amounting to several tons), which
means the energy efficiency of a maglev is only slightly better than a conventional train.

German engineers claim also that a maglev guideway takes up less room and because
greater gradients are acceptable there are not so much cuttings and embankments
meaning a new guideway would be less disruptive to the countryside than a new high
speed conventional railway.

WILL MAGLEVS REPLACE CONVENTIONAL TRAINS?

Provided maglev can be proved to be commercially viable (which has not yet been done)
it should be a success. Most people have their eyes on Germany, where the first maglevs
will run in commercial service. This may decide whether or not maglevs will be used
across the world. Maglev may become the preferred path for new high speed railway
lines although it would depend whether or not services were needed to stretch beyond a
high speed line.

For example, if you have 300km of conventional track between two cities cleared for
over 200km/h but there was a 60km long section only cleared for 80km/h then it would
make sense to build a new high speed (300km/h) line for the 60km distance. If a maglev
train were to be used a track 300km long would have to be built. However if there is no
existing rail network (only the case in the USA) then it makes sense to build a maglev
line. Whether or not new railway lines stopped being built in favour of maglevs, one
thing is certain, there is 31932km of track in the UK, 34449km in France and 40726km
Germany, no one is going to convert all of this into maglev track, conventional trains are
here to stay for a long time.

MAGLEVS IN COMMERCIAL SERVICE:

In the mid 1980s, Britain was the first country to introduce a maglev service. It was to
link two terminals at Birmingham airport, about 400meters long and a top speed of about
10mph (16km/h). However it was recently replaced with a bus service due to the
difficulty of getting spare parts.

The city of Shanghai, China, is building a high-speed German maglev dubbed

Transrapid, which will whisk people the 33 kilometers between downtown Shanghai and
Pudong International Airport. And by 2004, the U.S. Department of Transportation will
fund a $950 million project to build a maglev train either between Baltimore and
Washington or between Pittsburgh International Airport and downtown Pittsburgh.

Germany is the only country with solid plans for a maglev railway which will link Berlin
with Hamburg in 2005. This will be high speed called the transrapid project.

CONCLUSION:

The first commercial system of Maglev trains all around the world has been developed by
the German company Transrapid International, a joint-venture between Siemens and
Thyssenkrupp industrial companies. Today, their product is only working in Shanghai, in
the line that joins the city financial downtown with its international airport.

This high speed magnetic levitation train allows making the 30km route in only 7 and
half minutes. There are other projects in Germany, USA, United Arab Emirates, the
Netherlands, and even a great project for joining London and Glasgow, going trough all
Great Britain, but at the moment any one of this proposals is approved. Japan, with
Germany, is the most active country in the investigation and development of this
technology. Japan Railway Company develops since some years the JR-Maglev project.
This system, as the Transrapid, uses EMS technology. The trials of this system are being
done in the Yamanashi experimental line, where the speed record for Maglev trains was
established, 581kph (in December, 2003).