Linear motor
Encyclopedia
Electric motor
An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...
that has had its stator
Stator
The stator is the stationary part of a rotor system, found in an electric generator, electric motor and biological rotors.Depending on the configuration of a spinning electromotive device the stator may act as the field magnet, interacting with the armature to create motion, or it may act as the...
and rotor
Rotor (electric)
The rotor is the non-stationary part of a rotary electric motor, electric generator or alternator, which rotates because the wires and magnetic field of the motor are arranged so that a torque is developed about the rotor's axis. In some designs, the rotor can act to serve as the motor's armature,...
"unrolled" so that instead of producing a torque
Torque
Torque, moment or moment of force , is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis, fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist....
(rotation
Rotation
A rotation is a circular movement of an object around a center of rotation. A three-dimensional object rotates always around an imaginary line called a rotation axis. If the axis is within the body, and passes through its center of mass the body is said to rotate upon itself, or spin. A rotation...
) it produces a linear force
Force
In physics, a force is any influence that causes an object to undergo a change in speed, a change in direction, or a change in shape. In other words, a force is that which can cause an object with mass to change its velocity , i.e., to accelerate, or which can cause a flexible object to deform...
along its length. The most common mode of operation is as a Lorentz
Lorentz force
In physics, the Lorentz force is the force on a point charge due to electromagnetic fields. It is given by the following equation in terms of the electric and magnetic fields:...
-type actuator, in which the applied force is linearly proportional
Linear equation
A linear equation is an algebraic equation in which each term is either a constant or the product of a constant and a single variable....
to the current
Electric current
Electric current is a flow of electric charge through a medium.This charge is typically carried by moving electrons in a conductor such as wire...
and the magnetic field
Magnetic field
A magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude ; as such it is a vector field.Technically, a magnetic field is a pseudo vector;...
.Many designs have been put forward for linear motors, falling into two major categories, low-acceleration and high-acceleration linear motors. Low-acceleration linear motors are suitable for maglev train
Maglev train
Maglev , is a system of transportation that uses magnetic levitation to suspend, guide and propel vehicles from magnets rather than using mechanical methods, such as friction-reliant wheels, axles and bearings...
s and other ground-based transportation applications. High-acceleration linear motors are normally rather short, and are designed to accelerate an object to a very high speed, for example see the railgun.
They are usually used for studies of hypervelocity
Hypervelocity
The term hypervelocity usually refers to a very high velocity, approximately over 3,000 meters per second . In particular, it refers to velocities so high that the strength of materials upon impact is very small compared to inertial stresses. Thus, even metals behave like fluids under hypervelocity...
collisions, as weapon
Weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
s, or as mass driver
Mass driver
A mass driver or electromagnetic catapult is a proposed method of non-rocket spacelaunch which would use a linear motor to accelerate and catapult payloads up to high speeds. All existing and contemplated mass drivers use coils of wire energized by electricity to make electromagnets. Sequential...
s for spacecraft propulsion
Spacecraft propulsion
Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites. There are many different methods. Each method has drawbacks and advantages, and spacecraft propulsion is an active area of research. However, most spacecraft today are propelled by forcing a gas from the...
. The high-acceleration motors are usually of the AC linear induction motor (LIM) design with an active three-phase
Three-phase
In electrical engineering, three-phase electric power systems have at least three conductors carrying voltage waveforms that are radians offset in time...
winding on one side of the air-gap and a passive conductor plate on the other side. However, the direct current homopolar
Homopolar motor
A homopolar motor is an electric motor that works without the need for a commutator, by rotating along a fixed axis that is parallel to the external magnetic field produced by a permanent magnet. The name homopolar indicates that the electrical polarity of the motor does not change...
linear motor railgun
Railgun
A railgun is an entirely electrical gun that accelerates a conductive projectile along a pair of metal rails using the same principles as the homopolar motor. Railguns use two sliding or rolling contacts that permit a large electric current to pass through the projectile. This current interacts...
is another high acceleration linear motor design. The low-acceleration, high speed and high power motors are usually of the linear synchronous motor (LSM) design, with an active winding on one side of the air-gap and an array of alternate-pole magnets on the other side. These magnets can be permanent magnets or energized magnets. The Transrapid
Transrapid
Transrapid is a German high-speed monorail train using magnetic levitation. Based on a patent from 1934, planning of the Transrapid system started in 1969. The test facility for the system in Emsland, Germany was completed in 1987...
Shanghai motor is an LSM.
Types
Induction motor
In this design, the force is produced by a moving linear magnetic fieldMagnetic field
A magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude ; as such it is a vector field.Technically, a magnetic field is a pseudo vector;...
acting on conductors in the field. Any conductor, be it a loop, a coil or simply a piece of plate metal, that is placed in this field will have eddy current
Eddy current
Eddy currents are electric currents induced in conductors when a conductor is exposed to a changing magnetic field; due to relative motion of the field source and conductor or due to variations of the field with time. This can cause a circulating flow of electrons, or current, within the body of...
s induced
Electromagnetic induction
Electromagnetic induction is the production of an electric current across a conductor moving through a magnetic field. It underlies the operation of generators, transformers, induction motors, electric motors, synchronous motors, and solenoids....
in it thus creating an opposing magnetic field, in accordance with Lenz's law
Lenz's law
Lenz's law is a common way of understanding how electromagnetic circuits must always obey Newton's third law and The Law of Conservation of Energy...
. The two opposing fields will repel each other, thus creating motion as the magnetic field sweeps through the metal.
Synchronous motor
In this design the rate of movement of the magnetic field is controlled, usually electronically, to track the motion of the rotor. For cost reasons synchronous linear motors rarely use commutators, so the rotor often contains permanent magnets, or soft iron.Homopolar
In this design a large current is passed through a metal sabot across sliding contacts that are fed from two rails. The magnetic field this generates causes the metal to be projected along the rails.Piezo electric
Piezoelectric drive is often used to drive small linear motors.History
Low acceleration
The history of linear electric motors can be traced back at least as far as the 1840s, to the work of Charles WheatstoneCharles Wheatstone
Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS , was an English scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope , and the Playfair cipher...
at King's College
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
in London, but Wheatstone's model was too inefficient to be practical. A feasible linear induction motor is described in the US patent 782312 ( 1905 - inventor Alfred Zehden of Frankfurt-am-Main ), for driving trains or lifts. The German engineer Hermann Kemper built a working model in 1935. In the late 1940s, professor Eric Laithwaite
Eric Laithwaite
Eric Roberts Laithwaite was a British electrical engineer, known as the "Father of Maglev" for his development of the linear induction motor and maglev rail system.- Biography :...
of Imperial College in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
developed the first full-size working model. In a single sided version the magnetic repulsion forces the conductor away from the stator, levitating it, and carrying it along in the direction of the moving magnetic field. He called the later versions of it magnetic river
Magnetic river
Magnetic river is an electrodynamic suspension magnetic levitation system designed by Eastham and Eric Laithwaite in 1974.It consists of a thin conductive plate on an AC linear induction motor...
.
Because of these properties, linear motors are often used in maglev
Magnetic levitation
Magnetic levitation, maglev, or magnetic suspension is a method by which an object is suspended with no support other than magnetic fields...
propulsion, as in the Japanese Linimo
Linimo
, formally the is a magnetic levitation train line in Aichi, Japan, near the city of Nagoya. While primarily built to serve the Expo 2005 fair site, the line is still operating to serve the local community.Linimo is owned and operated by...
magnetic levitation train line near Nagoya. However, linear motors have been used independently of magnetic levitation, as in Bombardier
Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation is the rail equipment division of the Canadian firm, Bombardier Inc. Bombardier Transportation is one of the world's largest companies in the rail-equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. Its headquarters are in Berlin, Germany....
's Advanced Rapid Transit
Bombardier Advanced Rapid Transit
Advanced Rapid Transit or ART is the current name given to a rapid transit system manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. The original versions look like small subway cars that typically run in two-, four- or six-car trains, but the latest versions are more streamlined two-car articulated...
systems worldwide and a number of modern Japanese subways, including Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
's Toei Oedo Line
Toei Oedo Line
The is a subway line in Tokyo, Japan operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation . It commenced full operations on December 12, 2000; using the Japanese calendar this reads "12/12/12" as the year 2000 equals Heisei 12...
.
Similar technology is also used in some roller coaster
Roller coaster
The roller coaster is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first coasters on January 20, 1885...
s with modifications but, at present, is still impractical on street running tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
s, although this, in theory, could be done by burying it in a slotted conduit.
Outside of public transportation, vertical linear motors have been proposed as lifting mechanisms in deep mine
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
s, and the use of linear motors is growing in motion control
Motion control
Motion control is a sub-field of automation, in which the position or velocity of machines are controlled using some type of device such as a hydraulic pump, linear actuator, or an electric motor, generally a servo...
applications. They are also often used on sliding doors, such as those of low floor tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
s such as the Citadis
Citadis
The Citadis is a low-floor tram built by Alstom in La Rochelle, France, and Barcelona, Spain. 1,140 Citadis are currently in use in 28 cities, among others: Bordeaux, Grenoble, Lyon, Montpellier, Orléans, the Paris area, and Barcelona, Dublin, Gdańsk, Katowice, Adelaide, Melbourne, Jerusalem and...
and the Eurotram. Dual axis linear motors also exist. These specialized devices have been used to provide direct X-Y motion for precision laser cutting of cloth and sheet metal, automated drafting
Technical drawing
Technical drawing, also known as drafting or draughting, is the act and discipline of composing plans that visually communicate how something functions or has to be constructed.Drafting is the language of industry....
, and cable forming. Mostly used linear motors are LIM (linear induction motor), LSM (linear synchronous motor). Linear DC motors are not used as it includes more cost and linear SRM suffers from poor thrust. So for long run in traction LIM is mostly preferred and for short run LSM is mostly preferred.
High acceleration
High-acceleration linear motors have been suggested for a number of uses.They have been considered for use as weapon
Weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
s, since current armour-piercing ammunition tends to consist of small rounds with very high kinetic energy
Kinetic energy
The kinetic energy of an object is the energy which it possesses due to its motion.It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its acceleration, the body maintains this kinetic energy unless its speed changes...
, for which just such motors are suitable. Many amusement park roller coasters now use linear induction motors to propel the train at a high speed, as an alternative to using a lift hill
Lift hill
A lift hill, or chain hill, is often the initial upward-sloping section of track on a typical roller coaster that initially transports the roller coaster train to an elevated point or peak in the roller coaster ride...
. The United States Navy is also using linear induction motors in the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System that will replace traditional steam catapults on future aircraft carriers. They have also been suggested for use in spacecraft propulsion
Spacecraft propulsion
Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites. There are many different methods. Each method has drawbacks and advantages, and spacecraft propulsion is an active area of research. However, most spacecraft today are propelled by forcing a gas from the...
. In this context they are usually called mass driver
Mass driver
A mass driver or electromagnetic catapult is a proposed method of non-rocket spacelaunch which would use a linear motor to accelerate and catapult payloads up to high speeds. All existing and contemplated mass drivers use coils of wire energized by electricity to make electromagnets. Sequential...
s. The simplest way to use mass drivers for spacecraft propulsion would be to build a large mass driver that can accelerate cargo up to escape velocity
Escape velocity
In physics, escape velocity is the speed at which the kinetic energy plus the gravitational potential energy of an object is zero gravitational potential energy is negative since gravity is an attractive force and the potential is defined to be zero at infinity...
, though RLV
Reusable launch system
A reusable launch system is a launch system which is capable of launching a launch vehicle into space more than once. This contrasts with expendable launch systems, where each launch vehicle is launched once and then discarded.No true orbital reusable launch system is currently in use. The...
launch assist like StarTram
StarTram
StarTram is a proposal for a maglev space launch system. The initial Generation 1 facility would be cargo only, launching from a mountain peak at 3 km to 7 km altitude with an evacuated tube staying at local surface level, raising ≈150,000 tons to orbit annually...
to low earth orbit
Low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 2,000 km...
has also been investigated.
High-acceleration linear motors are difficult to design for a number of reasons. They require large amounts of energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
in very short periods of time. One rocket launcher design calls for 300 GJ for each launch in the space of less than a second. Normal electrical generator
Electrical generator
In electricity generation, an electric generator is a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. A generator forces electric charge to flow through an external electrical circuit. It is analogous to a water pump, which causes water to flow...
s are not designed for this kind of load, but short-term electrical energy storage methods can be used. Capacitors are bulky and expensive but can supply large amounts of energy quickly. Homopolar generator
Homopolar generator
A homopolar generator is a DC electrical generator comprising an electrically conductive disc rotating in a plane perpendicular to a uniform static magnetic field. A potential difference is created between the center of the disc and the rim, the electrical polarity depending on the direction of...
s can be used to convert the kinetic energy of a flywheel
Flywheel
A flywheel is a rotating mechanical device that is used to store rotational energy. Flywheels have a significant moment of inertia, and thus resist changes in rotational speed. The amount of energy stored in a flywheel is proportional to the square of its rotational speed...
into electric energy very rapidly. High-acceleration linear motors also require very strong magnetic fields; in fact, the magnetic fields are often too strong to permit the use of superconductors
Superconductivity
Superconductivity is a phenomenon of exactly zero electrical resistance occurring in certain materials below a characteristic temperature. It was discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes on April 8, 1911 in Leiden. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum...
. However, with careful design, this need not be a major problem.
Two different basic designs have been invented for high-acceleration linear motors: railgun
Railgun
A railgun is an entirely electrical gun that accelerates a conductive projectile along a pair of metal rails using the same principles as the homopolar motor. Railguns use two sliding or rolling contacts that permit a large electric current to pass through the projectile. This current interacts...
s and coilgun
Coilgun
A coilgun is a type of projectile accelerator that consists of one or more coils used as electromagnets in the configuration of a synchronous linear motor which accelerate a magnetic projectile to high velocity...
s.
Example : Maglev
Usage
Linear motors have been used for sliding doors and various similar actuators.Linear motors are sometimes used to create rotary motion, for example, they have been used at observatories to deal with the large radius of curvature.
A linear motor has been used for accelerating cars for crash test
Crash test
A crash test is a form of destructive testing usually performed in order to ensure safe design standards in crashworthiness and crash compatibility for various modes of transportation or related systems and components.- Types :...
s.
Conventional rails
All applications are in rapid transitRapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
.
- Bombardier ARTBombardier Advanced Rapid TransitAdvanced Rapid Transit or ART is the current name given to a rapid transit system manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. The original versions look like small subway cars that typically run in two-, four- or six-car trains, but the latest versions are more streamlined two-car articulated...
:- Airport ExpressAirport Line, Beijing SubwayThe Airport Express of the Beijing Subway also known as ABC is an elevated Metro line that connects the Beijing Capital International Airport with Beijing's urban center. The express line has only four stops: Dongzhimen and Sanyuanqiao in the city , and Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 of the Capital...
in Beijing (opened 2008) - AirTrain JFKAirTrain JFKAirTrain JFK is a 3-line, -long people mover system and elevated railway in New York City providing service to John F. Kennedy International Airport...
in New York (opened 2003) - Detroit People MoverDetroit People MoverThe Detroit People Mover is a automated people mover system which operates on a single set of tracks, and encircles downtown Detroit, Michigan....
in Detroit (opened 1987) - EverLine Rapid Transit SystemEverLine Rapid Transit SystemThe EverLine Rapid Transit System will be a fully automated 18.5-kilometre rapid transit system in the city of Yongin, South Korea connecting the Everland amusement park to the Seoul Metropolitan Subway. The new line will serve 15 stations...
in Yongin (under construction) - Kelana Jaya LineKelana Jaya LineThe Kelana Jaya Line is a medium-capacity rail transport system and one of the three rail transit lines in the Kuala Lumpur Rail Transit System operated by RapidKL Rail network...
in Kuala Lumpur (opened 1998) - Scarborough RT in Toronto (using UTDC's (predecessor) ICTS technology - opened 1985)
- SkyTrain in Vancouver (Expo Line (using ITCS) opened 1985 and Millennium LineMillennium LineThe Millennium Line is the second rapid transit line built in the SkyTrain light metro rapid transit system in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The line is owned and operated by TransLink. Millennium Line uses the colour yellow on route maps, wayfinding and station signage.-History:When...
opened in 2002) - Beijing Subway Capital Airport Track (opened 2008)
- Airport Express
- Several subways in JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, built by Kawasaki Heavy IndustriesKawasaki Heavy Industriesis an international corporation based in Japan. It has headquarters in both Chūō-ku, Kobe and Minato, Tokyo.The company is named after its founder Shōzō Kawasaki and has no connection with the city of Kawasaki, Kanagawa....
:- Limtrain in SaitamaSaitama, Saitama' is the capital and the most populous city of Saitama Prefecture in Japan, situated in the south-east of the prefecture. Its area incorporates the former cities of Urawa, Ōmiya, Yono and Iwatsuki. It is a city designated by government ordinance...
(short-lived demonstration track, 1988) - Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Line in Osaka (opened 1990)
- Toei Ōedo LineToei Oedo LineThe is a subway line in Tokyo, Japan operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation . It commenced full operations on December 12, 2000; using the Japanese calendar this reads "12/12/12" as the year 2000 equals Heisei 12...
in Tokyo (opened 2000) - Kaigan LineKaigan LineThe is one of two lines of Kobe Municipal Subway . Trains of the line are propelled by linear motors.-Stations on the Kaigan Line:- Rolling stock :* 5000 series All trains are based at Misaki-Kōen Depot....
in Kobe (opened 2001) - Nanakuma Line in Fukuoka (opened 2005)
- Imazatosuji Line in Osaka (opened 2006)
- Green LineGreen Line (Yokohama)The is a line of the Yokohama Municipal Subway in the city of Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Its formal designation is Line 4, and it is the first part of a proposed...
in Yokohama (opened 2008) - Tōzai Line in Sendai (under construction)
- Line 4 of Guangzhou MetroGuangzhou MetroGuangzhou Metro is the metro system of the city of Guangzhou in Guangdong Province of China. It is operated by the state-owned Guangzhou Metro Corporation and was the fourth metro system to be built in mainland China, after those of Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai.The earliest effort of preparation...
in GuangzhouGuangzhouGuangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
, ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
(opened 2005). - Line 5 of Guangzhou Metro in Guangzhou, China (open in December 2009).
- Line 6 of Guangzhou Metro in Guangzhou, China (under construction).
- Limtrain in Saitama
Both the Kawasaki trains and Bombardier's ART have the active part of the motor in the cars and use overhead wires
Overhead lines
Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains at a distance from the energy supply point...
(Japanese Subways) or a third rail
Third rail
A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost...
(ART) to transfer power to the train.
Monorail
- There is at least one known monorail system which is not magnetically levitated, but nonetheless uses linear motors. This is the Moscow Monorail. Originally, traditional motors and wheels were to be used. However, it was discovered during test runs that the proposed motors and wheels would fail to provide adequate traction under some conditions, for example, when ice appeared on the rail. Hence, wheels are still used, but the trains use linear motors to accelerate and slow down. This is possibly the only use of such a combination, due to the lack of such requirements for other train systems.
- The TELMAGVTELMAGVThe TELMAGV , is an ongoing research project which was born in the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas in 1967, and later continued by the Universidad de los Andes...
is a prototype of a monorail system that is also not magnetically levitated but uses linear motors.
Magnetic levitation
- High-speed trains:
- TransrapidTransrapidTransrapid is a German high-speed monorail train using magnetic levitation. Based on a patent from 1934, planning of the Transrapid system started in 1969. The test facility for the system in Emsland, Germany was completed in 1987...
: first commercial use in Shanghai (opened in 2004) - JR-MaglevJR-MaglevJR-Maglev is a magnetic levitation train system developed by the Central Japan Railway Company and Railway Technical Research Institute . JR-Maglev MLX01 is one of the latest designs of a series of Maglev trains in development in Japan since the 1970s...
- Transrapid
- Rapid transit:
- Birmingham Airport, UK (opened 1984, closed 1995)
- M-BahnM-BahnThe M-Bahn or Magnetbahn was an elevated Maglev train line operating in Berlin, Germany in 1991. The line was 1.6 km in length, and featured three stations, two of which were newly constructed...
in Berlin, Germany (opened in 1989, closed in 1991) - Daejeon EXPO, Korea (ran only 1993)
- HSST: LinimoLinimo, formally the is a magnetic levitation train line in Aichi, Japan, near the city of Nagoya. While primarily built to serve the Expo 2005 fair site, the line is still operating to serve the local community.Linimo is owned and operated by...
line in Aichi, Japan (opened 2005)
See also
- California Screamin'California Screamin'California Screamin is a steel roller coaster located at Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, CA.-History:This boardwalk-themed coaster was designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, and was built by Intamin AG. California Screamin' is the 6th longest roller coaster in the world , at long...
Roller coaster LIM application - capacitorCapacitorA capacitor is a passive two-terminal electrical component used to store energy in an electric field. The forms of practical capacitors vary widely, but all contain at least two electrical conductors separated by a dielectric ; for example, one common construction consists of metal foils separated...
- compulsatorCompulsatorA compensated pulsed alternator, also known by the portmanteau compulsator, is a form of power supply.As the name suggests, it is an alternator that is "compensated" to make it better at delivering pulses of electrical energy than a normal alternator.- Description and operation:The principle is...
- doubly fed electric machine
- flywheelFlywheelA flywheel is a rotating mechanical device that is used to store rotational energy. Flywheels have a significant moment of inertia, and thus resist changes in rotational speed. The amount of energy stored in a flywheel is proportional to the square of its rotational speed...
- homopolar generatorHomopolar generatorA homopolar generator is a DC electrical generator comprising an electrically conductive disc rotating in a plane perpendicular to a uniform static magnetic field. A potential difference is created between the center of the disc and the rim, the electrical polarity depending on the direction of...
- launch loopLaunch loopA launch loop or Lofstrom loop is a proposed system for launching objects into space orbit using a moving cable-like system attached to the earth at two ends and suspended above the atmosphere in the middle...
a proposed system for launching vehicles into space using a linear motor powered loop - linear actuatorLinear actuatorA linear actuator is an actuator that creates linear motion .Mechanical and hydraulic actuation are the most common methods of achieving the linear motion...
- MaverickMaverick (roller coaster)Maverick is a Intamin-made linear synchronous motor-launched blitz steel complete-circuit roller coaster at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. It was manufactured by IntaRide LLC, the United States division of Intamin, and was the five-hundredth roller coaster designed by German engineer Werner Stengel...
- a roller coaster LSM application - pulse transformer
- SkyTrain (Vancouver)SkyTrain (Vancouver)SkyTrain is a light rapid transit system in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. SkyTrain has of track and uses fully automated trains on grade-separated tracks, running mostly on elevated guideways, which helps SkyTrain to hold consistently high on-time reliability...
, Canada - Rapid transit system - StarTramStarTramStarTram is a proposal for a maglev space launch system. The initial Generation 1 facility would be cargo only, launching from a mountain peak at 3 km to 7 km altitude with an evacuated tube staying at local surface level, raising ≈150,000 tons to orbit annually...
concept for a linear motor on extreme scale - tether cable catapult system
- Tomorrowland Transit AuthorityTomorrowland Transit AuthorityThe Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover , formerly known as the WEDWay PeopleMover until 1994 and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority until 2010, is a PeopleMover system in Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort...
Slow ride LIM application - Dreamworld, AustraliaTower of Terror (roller coaster)The Tower of Terror II is a steel shuttle roller coaster located at the Dreamworld amusement park on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. When the Tower of Terror opened on 23 January 1997, it was the first roller coaster in the world to reach speeds making it the tallest and fastest roller...
LSM reverse freefall roller coaster - Research Test Vehicle 31, a hovercraft-type vehicle guided by a track
External links
- Design equations, spreadsheet, and drawings
- motor torque calculation
- Electromagnetic Guns - A page describing recent research at MIT.