IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 29, NO.

2, MARCH 2019 3601005

Conceptual Models of HTS Levitation and Linear

Propulsion System
Lu Hai Zheng , Xin Qiang Li, and Ai Guo Wang

Abstract—High-temperature superconductor (HTS) materials,

including HTS wires and bulks, become available to apply in trans-
portation applications such as various hybrid levitation and linear
propulsion systems. In this paper, for the evacuated tube trans-
portation and electromagnetic aircraft launch system applications,
two different types of hybrid HTS levitation and linear propulsion
systems have been designed and modeled, respectively. The levita-
tion force and electromagnetic thrust performance of the systems
have been studied by a numerical and finite element method. With
the principal parameters’ verification, this work forms a basis for
the structural and electromagnetic design of a hybrid HTS lev-
itation and linear propulsion systems for practical hyper flight
applications.
Index Terms—High temperature superconductor (HTS), evac-
uated tube transportation (ETT), electromagnetic aircraft launch
system (EMALS).
I. INTRODUCTION
RACTICAL high temperature superconductor (HTS) ma-
P terials have entered into the phase of industrialized man-
ufacturing more than thirty years since the YBCO HTS dis-
covered in 1987 [1], and have been considered to be ap-
plied in electrical power system and transportation applications
[2]–[10]. Among those applications, the HTS bulks can be
used to interact with permanent magnet (PM) to obtain an
HTS magnetic suspension system with self-levitation and self- Fig. 1. The HTS magnetic suspension system: (a) 3D structure; (b) interaction
guidance abilities [4]–[9], and also can be magnetized to be model of HTS bulk and PMG.
HTS bulk magnets to achieve a new-type of HTS bulk mag-
net linear synchronous motor (LSM) [5], [10]. Meanwhile, the presented in this paper are full superconducting propulsion sys-
well-developed Bi-2223 and YBCO tapes can be used to be HTS tem and with double-sided HTS LSMs to abolish the normal
coil magnets for the secondary of a LSM [10], [11], and also force influence on the HTS magnetic suspension subsystem,
can be applied to the primary to obtain a full superconducting which can’t be ignored by the single-sided LIM used in [6] to
LSM. When an HTS LSM is integrated with an HTS magnetic [8]. In this paper, the thrust force model of the double-sided HTS
suspension system, a hybrid HTS levitation and linear propul- LSM has been built and analyzed, and the thrust performance
sion system can be formed for the high speed transportation has also been obtained and presented.
applications.
In this work, two different models of hybrid HTS levitation II. FORCES MODELS OF HTS BULKS AND MAGNETS
and linear propulsion systems for the evacuated tube trans-
portation (ETT) and electromagnetic aircraft launch system A. Levitation and Guidance Forces
(EMALS) have been designed respectively. Different to the ma- The HTS magnetic suspension system is composed of HTS
glev application models given by Z. G. Deng, Y. Zhao from bulk arrays in a cryostat and a permanent magnet guideway
China [6], [7], and R. M. Stephan from Brazil [8], the modes (PMG) as the track shown in Fig. 1(a), where the PMG is a typ-
ical flux concentration PMG. However, the halbach array PMG
Manuscript received August 12, 2018; accepted November 25, 2018. Date may be applied in the practical application. Fig. 1(b) shows the
of publication December 28, 2018; date of current version January 10, 2019.
(Corresponding author: Lu Hai Zheng.) interaction model between the HTS bulk and the PMG, where
The authors are with the Shanghai Electrical Apparatus Research Institute the HTS bulk has the field penetration depth of δ and the critical
(Group) Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200063, China (e-mail:,zhenglh@seari.com.cn). current density of Jc with Jc = −(1/μ0 ) ∂Bz /∂r. where μ0
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. is the vacuum permeability, and Bz is the z-axis component of
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TASC.2018.2890120 external field.
1051-8223 © 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

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3601005 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 29, NO. 2, MARCH 2019

According to the Lorentz force formula, the levitation force

FLev and guidance force FGui between the HTS bulk and PMG
as shown in Fig. 1 can be obtained as follows
 h g +h s  w s /2+Δ x−δ
FLev = ls Jc × Bx dxdz
hg w s /2+Δ x
 h g +h s  −w s /2+Δ x+δ
+ ls Jc × Bx dxdz (1)
hg −w s /2+Δ x
 h g +h s  w s /2+Δ x−δ
FGui = ls Jc × Bz dxdz
hg w s /2+Δ x
 h g +h s c  −w s /2+Δ x+δ
+ lsc Jc × Bz dxdz (2)
hg −w s /2+Δ x

where hg is the levitation height, Bx is the x-axis magnetic field

components along the transversal direction, x is the horizontal
displacement of the rectangular HTS bulk, ls , ws , hs are the
length, width, and height of the HTS bulk respectively. Based
on the equivalent current sheet (ECS) model of the PMG, Bx
and Bz can be derived by

μ0 M0 w2 − x w1 − x
Bx = − arctan + arctan
2π z z
w2 − x w1 − x Fig. 2. Magnetic field distributions along transversal direction at hg = 6 mm:
+ arctan − arctan (a) Bx ; (b) Bz .
hpm + z hpm + z
−w2 − x −w1 − x
− arctan + arctan
z z

−w2 − x −w1 − x
+ arctan − arctan
z + hpm z + hpm
(3)

μ0 M0 (x − w2 )2 + z 2
Bz = ln
4π (x − w1 )2 + z 2

(x − w1 )2 + (z + hpm )2 (x + w2 )2 + z 2
+ ln + ln
(x − w2 )2 + (z + hpm )2 (x + w1 )2 + z 2

(x + w1 )2 + (z + hpm )2
+ ln (4)
(x + w2 )2 + (z + hpm )2
Fig. 3. The 2D Model of double-sided HTS LSM with the secondary com-
where M0 is the magnetization intensity of the PM used, w1 , posed of HTS magnets.
w2 and hpm are the PMG dimensions as shown in Fig. 1(b).
Fig. 2 plots the components Bx and Bz obtained by the ECS
model, finite element (FE) simulations and measurements along magnetic circuit reluctance for each one pair magnetic poles can
the transversal direction at a height of hg = 0.006 m from the be obtained approximately as follows
upper surface of the PMG. As it is shown, the numerically 2hs 4Kc1 g
calculated results are consistent with the FE simulated and the Rtot = + (5)
μr μ0 ls ws μ0 · (ls + lt ) /2 · (ws + wt ) /2
experimentally measured results. So the ECS models of Bx and
Bz can be used for the numerical calculation to obtain FLev and where lt and wt are the length and width of the stator-tooth
FGui . With the verified models, the required electromagnetic respectively, g is the air gap length, μr is the relative permeability
forces of FLev and FGui can be readily designed. of HTS magnet and μr = μ0 for the HTS coil magnet, τ is the
pole pitch, and Kc1 is the Carter coefficients.
B. Electromagnetic Thrust Therefore, the flux linkage ψ SC of one coil generated by one
pole-pair HTS magnets can be obtained as
The 2D mode of HTS magnets used in the double-sided LSM
as the secondary is shown in Fig. 3. When the magnetic re- F 2Hsc ls
luctance of the double-sided primary iron-core is neglected, the ψSC = = (6)
Rtot Rtot

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ZHENG et al.: CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF HTS LEVITATION AND LINEAR PROPULSION SYSTEM 3601005

Fig. 5. 2D model of the double-sided YBCO HTS bulk magnet LSM.

TABLE I
DIMENSIONS AND PARAMETERS OF THE HTS BULK MAGNET LSM

Fig. 4. A hybrid HTS levitation and linear propulsion system driven by a

double-sided HTS bulk magnet LSM for the ETT.

where F is the magnetomotive force (MMF), Hsc and ls are the

coercive force and height of the HTS magnet respectively.
The back electromotive force (EMF) E0 induced in the stator
windings can be determined with a root means square (RMS)
value as
1 π
E0 = √ N1 kN ψSC vs = kE vs (7)
2τ
√
where kE = πN1 kN ψSC /( 2τ ) is the back EMF constant, N1
the number of turns for a single of winding, kN the winding
factor, vs the synchronous velocity and vs = 2τ f, f the frequency.
The electromagnetic power Pem can be derived as
mE0
Pem = [U1 (Xt sin θ + R1 cos θ) − E0 R1 ] (8)
R12 + Xt2 TABLE II
THE SPECIFICATIONS AND TECHNICAL FEATURES OF THE HYBRID HTS
where m is the number of HTS magnet along y-axis direction LEVITATION AND LINEAR PROPULSION SYSTEM
(moving direction), R1 is the phase resistance, U1 the phase
voltage, Xt the synchronous reactance and Xt = 2πfL1 , L1 =
N1 2 /Rtot , L1 the phase inductance, θ the load angle.
Therefore the electromagnetic thrust can be obtained by
Pem mE0 [U1 (Xt sin θ + R1 cos θ) − E0 R1 ]
Fem = = (9)
vs 2τ f (R12 + Xt2 )

III. APPLICATION OF HTS LEVITATION AND LINEAR

PROPULSION SYSTEM IN ETT
A. Model
An application model of hybrid HTS levitation and linear are 780 mm and 0.77 respectively. The main dimensions and pa-
propulsion system for the ETT is illustrated in Fig. 4, which rameters of the double-sided HTS LSM for the ETT are listed in
is constituted of a double-sided YBCO HTS bulk magnet sec- Table I. Table II shows the specifications and technical features
ondary LSM and YBCO HTS magnetic suspension subsystems of the system for potential and practicable ETT applications, in
on both sides to levitate the secondary mover. The secondary which the air resistance is neglected.
YBCO HTS bulk magnet array for each module forms 8 mag-
netic poles with alternating poles along the moving direction,
and each magnetic pole has YBCO HTS bulks of 10 (transversal B. Magnetizing Technique of the HTS Bulk Magnet Array
direction) × 6 (moving direction) with the 2D model as shown To realize alternating magnetic pole for the secondary YBCO
in Fig. 5. The size of the HTS bulks is 100 mm (W) × 100 mm HTS bulk magnets array, a split pulse coil magnetization system
(D) × 50 mm (H), and the pole pitch τ and pole arc coefficient αi has been designed. The split pulse coils are integrated into the

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3601005 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 29, NO. 2, MARCH 2019

Fig. 8. Locked-mover thrust of the HTS bulk magnet LSM under different
working currents at the rated frequency f = 300 Hz.
Fig. 6. Scheme of a split pulse coil system for in-orbit magnetization of the
HTS bulk magnet array having alternating magnetic poles.

Fig. 9. A HTS levitation and linear propulsion system for the EMALS driven
by a double-sided HTS coil magnet secondary LSM.

analysis by observing the electromagnetic thrust versus differ-

ent working conditions. The locked-mover thrust characteristic
can be obtained by various working currents as shown in Fig. 8.
From the curve graph, a maximum thrust of 4.5 MN can be
obtained with the maximum operation current of 48 kA, which
can well realize the superfast propulsion.
Fig. 7. No-load characteristics of the HTS bulk magnet LSM: (a) three-phase
back E0 ; (b) three-phase flux linkages.
IV. APPLICATION OF HTS LEVITATION AND LINEAR
PROPULSION SYSTEM IN EMALS
primary of the double-sided HTS bulk magnet LSM to realize in-
A. Model
orbit magnetizing as shown in Fig. 6. Base on this combination,
the secondary YBCO HTS bulk magnets array with alternating For the EMALS application, a hybrid HTS levitation and
magnetic pole can be got only by one magnetizing. linear propulsion system has been designed with the 3D mode
as schematized in Fig. 9, which is composed of a double-sided
C. Characteristics Analysis of the HTS Bulk Magnet LSM HTS coil magnet secondary LSM and YBCO HTS magnetic
suspension subsystem on the bottom of the secondary mover.
A 2D FE model of the double-sided HTS bulk magnet LSM The specifications and technical features for the EMALS are
has been built up. Based on this model, the three-phase no-load listed in Table III, which satisfy the following equations
back electromotive forces E0 and three-phase flux linkage ψ s
characteristics of the HTS bulk magnet LSM are obtained by 1 2
S= at , vt = at = 2f τ, Fem m ax = ms a (10)
setting the secondary mover run at the rated frequency of 300 Hz 2
without any exciting as shown in Fig. 7(a) and (b), respectively. where S is the maximal acceleration/deceleration distance, a the
As it is shown, the amplitude of the three-phase E0 is 21.18 kV acceleration/deceleration, t the acceleration/deceleration time,
and shifted by 120° to each other. The waveforms of ψ s are ms the load mass including the aircraft and the secondary mover
also three-phase symmetrical, and have the same amplitudes of of HTS LSM and the magnetic suspension subsystem.
8.76 Wb. The phase of E0 has a 90° ahead of the phase of ψ s . As it is shown in Fig. 9, the HTS coil magnets secondary of the
The running performance of the HTS bulk magnet LSM HTS LSM module are located in the vacuum cryostat with heat
has also been simulated by using the time-stepping transient insulation and radiation protection layers. The secondary mover

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ZHENG et al.: CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF HTS LEVITATION AND LINEAR PROPULSION SYSTEM 3601005

TABLE III been built. The maximum thrust of 1.23 MN can be obtained
THE DESIGN PARAMETERS OF HTSLSM FOR THE EMALS
with the rated working current of 500 A for the YBCO coil
magnets by observing the locked-mover thrust characteristics
as shown in Fig. 10. Therefore, there is only two independent
secondary mover modules supplied by the independent convert-
ers are needed for the practical prototype to provide a thrust of
1.04 MN. In the case of fault, the HTS LSM associated with the
fault is switched off, the remaining HTS LSM is able to produce
continuous and smooth thrust to finish the launch process.

V. CONCLUSION
For the applications in ETT and the EMALS, two different
types of hybrid HTS levitation and linear propulsion systems
driven by double-sided HTS LSMs have been proposed and
analyzed. The double-sided HTS LSMs are realized with two
different types of HTS magnet secondary, i.e., YBCO bulk mag-
net secondary and YBCO coil magnet secondary. Two types of
YBCO HTS magnetic levitation subsystems are used in the both
systems to levitate the secondary mover: on two sides or on the
bottom of the HTS LSMs. The performances of the double-sided
HTS magnet secondary LSM for the practical applications have
TABLE IV been studied by the time-stepping transient analysis, verify that
PARAMETERS OF THE REQUIRED YBCO HTS TAPE
the designed two types of HTS LSMs can realize sufficient thrust
characteristics for the high speed levitated driving applications.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank J. X. Jin and Y. G. Guo for
the assistance and comments on the work.

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