Hi everyone.
This is sheida. Give me your taughts about the Magnetic Levitation system. If we design a wheel underside of the maglev train (guidway)which can go over the railroad, the magnetic field can be viable, since it is impossible to construct it anywhere.
Are you saying that this system would be installed on existing tracks ?.
As for the subject. I support magnetic transport systems. Lots of advantages…
TL
i saw something about that in a science project.the (i think)polarity is reversed causing it to float.they said it did not emit harmful gases that coud damage the enviroment,and saves valuable oil.so im all for it.
yes…the Maglev train is just capable of running through Long Distances, which is not economically efficient for the cunstoction purposes. Now the Maglev train is just used in China’s airport. Because the train wouldn’t be able to come off for the branch cities, the construction of the train will be impossible. And I am aware of the advantages, that’e why I am trying to find a way to run the Maglev train in both High-speed rails and over magnetic feilds as well. and thanks for the concern.
sheida
yes… indeed. the power of which maglev uses,is even less than its Air Conditioning system. The hair Dryer and electronic devises around us provid much more magnetic feilds. So it is really safe.
Mag-lev would be interesting to see implemented, although it has two very limiting factors that i can think of…
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it seems more of a long-distance/mass transit system, so it would only be viable in large cities, or in situations like the European high-speed trains. However, these situations already HAVE working solutions, and its probably easier to keep whats there than change to maglev.
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it’s EXPENSIVE… and as such, it would be kept contained to a relatively rich city/country, and also would keep its expansion very slow at best.
also, if ANY of the electromagnets would fail, the train itself would most likely be destroyed. From what i have seen/read, they would be 2-3 car deals, hovering about 1-2 inches over a concrete center beam on the EM field. even if the field failed for 1 second, thats more than enough time for said train do sink that inch or so and shred itself on the concrete…
In my science fair experience, it’d take a crap load of power to hold up a freight train in levitation, and it’s not viable to run high speed on existing rails, or they wouldn’t have 65 speed limits so many places. Also, only the giant rail lines could afford to install such a system (with a lot of government subsidies), and the shortlines would be out of business, eliminating much of the rail availablity and probably ending the usefulness and income of railroads in general. I think hydrogen or more efficient diesels are the way to go. I know it sounds wierd, but using corn to power steam turbines would probably be the most efficient since corn contains so many more BTU’s than fossil fuel energy.
Greg
I’ve seen two variants of maglev trains. One type runs on what looks like a very wide monorail, the other runs in a concrete rain gutter. Neither is capable of operating on a standard track, and neither is designed for hauling freight. Both are incredibly fast, and incredibly expensive to build.
Railroads have always made their money by moving freight. Passengers were an expensive nuisance, which is why all but a few railroads were happy to unload their remaining pasenger service on Amtrak back in 1971.
I’m not holding my breath waiting for anyone to build a long distance maglev system in the United States, since most people (about 90%) do their long-distance traveling in their own cars. For those who need speed, Boeing and Airbus Industries already make suitable vehicles that don’t need an expensive right-of-way between terminals.
just for interest Revell make a HO static model of the German Transrapid which is the same as the Chinese one. You can fit an N gauge mech inside . . . [:D]
See magnetic levitation in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_levitation and then find the discussion on the Halbach array within the article. This technique uses permanent magnets arranged in a certain way in the vehicle that cause the vehicle to levitate when passing over a guideway containing conductive loops. It works great and there are no moving parts in the vehicle. You just have to provide propulsion.
george
Propulsion could be obtained by switching the polarity of the magnets - ie the coils in front of the train would be oppositely charged (until the train got too near/over them) and the ones under the train/behind it would be similarly charged as the train. thus the train would be pushed/pulled by the fields it is riding on.
I support Maglev trains as they can make travel alot easier. I know here in Southern California they want to build one from Los Angeles to Las Vegas which will make traffic less crowded out here.
I thought if the mag failed that it had wheels it could ride on.
Actually many U.S. urban areas are looking into the feasiblity of a maglev train of some type. Yes, they will be limited to where they will go, but the high speeds and low noise pollution (I saw a video where a reporter was talking in a normal tone of voice while the train zipped by at over 100 mph and you could still here him!) may provide an advantage beyond economic. Would people be willing to park their cars far from an airport and take a superfast train to the airport, thus avoiding the gridlock that happens at many airports? I’m thinking places like DFW, Newark etc.
Every system that I have read about has things in place so the train won’t tear itself apart should the magnetic field fail - most seem to have some sort of wheels to ride on the concrete rail should the field fail.
Propulsion seems to be mostly a series of coils that are constantly changing polarity that propells the train forward. There are currently two types of levitation being pursued. One uses like magnetic poles to “push” the train off the track. (I believe this is known as the Japanese method) while the other uses opposing poles (one on a guide on the train and the other on a monorail looking thing that is above magnet on the train) to “pull” the train off the track. Computers would constantly monitor the space between the rail and the train and adjust the strength of the fields to maintain the optimum amount of levitation.
It’s an amazing technology which may be highly useful.