Driving models of high temperature superconducting linear synchronous motors and characteristic analysis

Driving models of high temperature superconducting (HTS) linear synchronous motors (LSM) are studied and extracted from the HTS LSM technology developed to date. An HTS LSM using an HTS bulk magnet secondary has been developed and presented for technical verification. The HTS LSM drive combined with an HTS bulk–permanent magnet guideway (PMG) system for magnetic levitation results in running without sliding friction and having the functions of self-levitation and self-guidance without the need for a compulsory active control system. In this paper, driving models of the HTS LSMs are introduced with numerical analysis results. Different magnetization methods are applied to obtain the HTS bulk magnets, and the HTS magnetization characteristics using those methods are identified. Two types of PMGs are designed and prepared whose magnetic field distributions are simulated and practically tested for comparison. Comprehensive experiments have been conducted on the HTS LSM drive. The practical results obtained show that the HTS LSM developed has applicable thrust characteristics without the conventional friction, and a better practical performance can be achieved by using HTS bulk magnets having a higher trapped magnetic field.