MEDIUM-LOW SPEED MAGLEV

Maglev, or magnetic levitation, is a system of transportation that suspends guides and propels vehicle, predominantly trains, using magnetic levitation from a very large number of magnet for lift and propulsion. This method has the potential to be faster, quieter and smoother than wheeled mass transit systems.

 

The power needed for levitation is usually not particular of the overall Consumption; most of the power used is needed to overcome air drag, as with any other high speed train. The first commercial “PEOPLE-MOVER” was officially opened in 1984 in Birmingham, England.

HISTORY OF MAGLEV

High speed transportation patents were granted to various inventors throughout the world. Early United States patents for a linear motor propelled train were awarded to the inventor, Alfred Zehden (German). The inventor was awarded U.S. Patent 782,312 (June 21, 1902) and U.S Patent RE 12,700 (August 21, 1907), another early electromagnetic system was developed by F.S. Smith. A series of German patents for magnetic levitation trains propelled by linear motors were awarded to Hermann Kemper 1937 and 1941. An early modern type of maglev train was described in U.S. Patents 3,158,765,

 

Magnetic system of transportation, by G.R. Polgreen (August 25, 1959).The first use of “Maglev” in a United States patents was in “Magnetic levitation guidance” by Canadian Patents and Development Limited. The world’s first commercial automated maglev system was a low speed maglev shuttle that ran from the airport terminal of Birmingham International Airport to the nearby Birmingham International railway station between 1984-1995.

 

Based on experimental work commissioned by the British government at the British Rail Research Division laboratory at Derby, the length of the track was 600 meters (1,969 ft), and train “flew” at an altitude of 15 millimeters (0.6 in). It was in operation for nearly eleven years, but obsolescence problems with the electronic system made it unreliable in its later years and it has now been replaced with a cable-drawn system. One of the original cars is now on display at Railworld in Peterborough, while the RTV31 hover train vehicle is preserved on the Nene Valley Railway in Peterborough.