Influence of Vacuum Level on Heat Transfer Characteristics of Maglev Levitation Electromagnet Module

The vacuum tube transportation (VTT) system has been a promising direction of future transportation. Within this system, a high-speed maglev travels in a low-vacuum environment to reduce aerodynamic drag. However, the heat dissipation of on-board heating devices will be compromised under low-vacuum conditions, and the device performance may thus be lowered. This study investigates the low-vacuum conjugate heat transfer characteristic of a levitation electromagnet module of a maglev using an experimentally verified numerical method. During the heating process, the surface temperature distribution of the levitation electromagnet, and the temperature and velocity characteristics of the flow field are examined. It is found that, as the vacuum level increases from 1.0 atm to 0.1 atm, the total heat dissipating from the levitation electromagnet module is decreased by 49% at 60 min, the contribution of convection heat flux over the total heat flux is decreased from 49% to 17%, and the convection heat transfer coefficient of the levitation electromagnet is decreased by 89%. This study can provide an efficient numerical model for low-vacuum heat transfer study on a VTT system as well as help the evaluation and optimization of low-vacuum maglev thermal management systems.