Lateral Stability Analysis of Superconducting Levitation System with Suspension Between Two Fixed Magnetic Bodies

The lateral stability of superconducting magnetic levitation systems is critical to safe operation of maglev technologies. The article provides a horizontal stability investigation of suspension of a superconducting system with an object levitating between two magnetic bodies. The system consists of bulk high-temperature superconductors (HTSs) and permanent magnets (PMs). The numerical analysis is carried out for different designs of the system (an HTS suspended between two fixed PMs and a PM between two HTSs). The stability of levitation is studied with respect to small horizontal displacements from an equilibrium position. Based on the analysis of horizontal force gradients in basic traditional maglev systems, it is shown that during levitation in the gap, the lateral stability is mainly provided by the attractive interaction of the suspended object with the upper fixed body. As a result of modeling, united diagrams with regions of stable and unstable levitation have been obtained. They show stable suspension positions along the gaps of different sizes.