A Novel Vertical Active Damping System for the Superconducting Electrodynamic Suspension

The superconducting electrodynamic suspension system has many advantages such as no active control, large clearance, and small weight, but its insufficient vertical damping is a problem that needs to be solved. A novel design of the active damping system is proposed, so the vertical damping force can be generated by the interaction between the energized traction coils and the active damping coils. By decomposing the superconducting electrodynamic suspension system into suspension system, traction system, and active damping system, and establishing mathematical models for electromagnetic force calculation in each subsystem, the working mechanisms of each subsystem are well analyzed. Furthermore, based on genetic algorithm, the size and installation position of the active damping coils are optimized, and the optimization result is consistent with the theoretical analysis of the active damping system. A co-simulation platform including electromagnetic force calculation and vehicle dynamics is built, and the co-simulation analysis verified that the proposed active damping system has good suppression effect on vertical and pitch angular motion of the vehicle.