Maglev Trains :: Magnet Train Trains Essays

Maglev Trains As almost any child knows, magnets have the ability to attract and repel other magnets. This knowledge is now being utilized in separate projects in Germany and Japan to propel and levitate a new and innovative type of train, the magnetic lift train. A German company called Transrapid is now able to build a train takes advantage of a magnets ability to attract magnetic materials. Upon observing the system from a distance, it looks to be composed of only T-shaped track and a train that wraps around the ledges of the track. However, the wrap-around part of the train hides the mechanisms that cause the train to levitate and to fly through the air. Ferromagnets on the underside of both of both the track’s ledges attract electromagnets on the wrap-around-the-track part of the train that is adjacent to the ferromagnets. A computer controls the amount of current flowing through the electromagnets in order to keep the train at a constant 1 cm from the track (#5). These electromagnets are powered by onboard batteries that are charged by linear generators that convert motion into electricity. In addition, the train needs more than its levitation system to maintain its proper lateral position on the track. The Transrapid syst em accomplishes this feat by creating an attractive field between magnets on both the track’s ledge’s sides and on the interior sides of both the warp-around-the-track parts of the train. The two attractive forces cancel each other out and cause the train to remain in the same lateral distance from the track.(Most of the information is form #4.) In addition to levitating the vehicles with magnetic forces, the Transrapid train’s propulsion system also uses magnetism. The forces used to propel and break the vehicle are both created with the aluminum three-phase cable winding in the ferromagnets on the track and the electromagnets on the train. The train moves forward when an alternating current, supplied by an outside source, is sent through the windings on the track. This creates an alternating magnetic field that both pushes and pulls the train along the track. In order to slow the train down the alternating current is reversed. This causes the train to be pushed and pulled in the direction opposite of its motion. Also, this system is energy efficient because instead of electrifying the entire track, the only electrified part is length where the train is traveling.