Experiments and Simulations of the Secondary Suspension System to Improve the Dynamic Characteristics of HTS Maglev

High temperature superconducting (HTS) magnetic levitation (maglev) has the potential as a high-speed passenger transportation mode owing to its passive stabilization. Our group is constructing a 1500 m-long HTS maglev high speed test line. As a kind of passenger transport, safety and comfort are primary factors for its operation quality. However, the weak damping in HTS maglev system is not enough to suppress the vibration. As a preliminary study of the test line, this article investigates an additional suspension system aiming to improve the dynamic characteristics of HTS maglev through experiments and simulation. We first built an HTS maglev model vehicle composed of a levitation frame and a car body. The dynamic responses were tested based on a dynamic measurement system. Second, a dynamic model of this kind of maglev device was established and the influence of suspension parameters on its vibration performance is analyzed theoretically. Third, this suspension system was applied to an HTS maglev engineering prototype through numerical simulations. Experimental and simulation results manifested that the suspension system can effectively reduce the vibration, especially with high frequencies. This article provides a reference for the design of HTS maglev vehicles.