ADVANCED ELECTRIC SWITCHING CONCEPTS FOR MAGLEV VEHICLES

THREE SYSTEMS OF ACTIVE GUIDEWAY SWITCHING CONCEPTS ARE PROPOSED WHICH USE FAIL- SAFE ELECTRICAL SWITCHING WITHOUT NEED FOR LARGE MECHANICAL MOVEMENT OF GUIDEWAY STRUCTURAL MEMBERS. THE SPECIFIC APPLICATION OF THIS APPARATUS TO A 300 MPH, 40- 80 TONNE CLASS MAGLEV VEHICLE OF 50-200 PASSENGERS IS USED AS A BASELINE DESIGN WITH A VEHICLE WIDTH 3.65 M AND EXTENDING IN LENGTH FROM 14 M TO 56 M. THE THREE SWITCHING CONCEPTS ARE SPECIFIC TO LINEAR SYNCHRONOUS MOTOR PROPULSION SYSTEMS WITH ON-BOARD NB-TI SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNETS OF THE DUAL-TANDEM ARRAY AND LIMITED TO ELECTRODYNAMIC SUSPENSION (EDS) FOR VEHICLE LEVITATION. THE 6 MONTH PROGRAM INCLUDES DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A 1/16TH SCALE PROOF OF CONCEPT PROTOTYPE ELECTROMAGNETIC SWITCH USING FLAT-TOP GEOMETRY AND THYRISTOR SOLID-STATE SWITCH DEVICES. THE FUNDAMENTAL DESIGN PERFORMED IN PHASE I ARE TO SUPPORT THE NATIONAL MAGLEV INITATIVE IN ENGINEERING OF THE FULL SCALE GUIDEWAY. THE PROPOSED TECHNOLOGY HAS A VERY FAST SPEED OF RESPONSE OF 2.0 MILLISECONDS FOR ACCOMPLISHING THE HIGH SPEED ELECTRIC SWITCH. A VARIATION ON THE NULL-FLUX HORIZ- ONTAL GUIDANCE LOOP IS USED AS THE BASIC SWITCH ELEMENT INTERACTING WITH THE EXISTING LSM FIELD MAGNET OF LEVITATION MAGNET ARRAY ON BOARD THE VEHICLE. THE TECHNIQUE IS EXTENDABLE TO HIGH TC SUPERCONDUCTORS FOR 400-700 KAT FIELD STRENGTHS.