Amplitude control of the track-induced self-excited vibration for a maglev system

•This paper investigates the principle of the track-induced self-excited vibration.•The amplitude of the vibration is investigated using the harmonic balance method.•We discover that the amplitude of the vibration is mainly decided by the voltage of the power supplier.•We provide a simple scheme to suppress the track-induced self-excited vibration.

The Electromagnet Suspension (EMS) maglev train uses controlled electromagnetic forces to achieve suspension, and self-excited vibration may occur due to the flexibility of the track. In this article, the harmonic balance method is applied to investigate the amplitude of the self-excited vibration, and it is found that the amplitude of the vibration depends on the voltage of the power supplier. Based on this observation, a vibration amplitude control method, which controls the amplitude of the vibration by adjusting the voltage of the power supplier, is proposed to attenuate the vibration. A PI controller is designed to control the amplitude of the vibration at a given level. The effectiveness of this method shows a good prospect for its application to commercial maglev systems.