Dynamic response characteristics of the high-temperature superconducting maglev system under lateral eccentric distance

• The dynamic characteristic of the HTS maglev system at different eccentric distances was experimentally investigated.
• The influence of different eccentric distances on the vertical and lateral stiffness is different.
• The decrease ratio of stiffness illustrates the poor lateral stability of the HTS maglev system.
• The levitation drift is more obvious with the increasing eccentric distance.
• The eccentric distance is detrimental to the HTS maglev system, and it should be avoided in reality.

Off-centre operation of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) maglev systems caused by inevitable conditions such as the misregistration of vehicle, crosswind and curve negotiation, may change the distribution of the trapped flux in the HTS bulks and the magnetic interaction between HTS bulks and the PMG. It impacts on the performance of HTS maglev, and more seriously makes the maglev vehicle overturned. Therefore, understanding the performance of the HTS maglev in off-center operation is very important. In this paper, the dynamic response characteristics of a cryostat with twenty-four onboard YBaCuO superconductor bulks were experimentally investigated at different eccentric distances under loads before the initial FC process. Parameters such as vibration accelerations, displacement, natural frequency and dynamic stiffness were acquired and analyzed via the B&K vibration analyzer and laser displacement sensors. Results suggest that the natural frequency and dynamic stiffness of the maglev vehicle would be obviously reduced with the eccentric distance, posing negative effects on the stability of HTS maglev.