Magnetic Travel

By BHARAT YADAV

The Maglev Train History

In the 1960s in Britain Eric Laithwaite developed a functional maglev train. His maglev had 1.6 km of track and was in detail tested. His research was stopped in 1973 because lack of money and his progress was not enough. In the 1970s, Germany and Japan also began research and after some failures both nations developed mature technologies in the 1990’s……………………………………...

Eric Laithwaite

The Maglev Train

• The Maglev Train is one of the fastest transport media in the whole world.

• The maximum speed reached for a Maglev train has been 581 km\h in Japan.

• The Maglev Train uses magnets to reach a really high velocity.

• It doesn’t touch the floor. It levitates because the magnets.

• Maglev is a short for Magnetic Levitation.

How does it work• A maglev train floats about 10mm above

the guidway on a magnetic field.

• It is propelled by the guidway itself rather than an onboard engine by changing magnetic fields

• Once the train is pulled into the next section the magnetism switches so that the train is pulled on again.

• The Electro-magnets run the length of the guideway.

It works like this

MagLev “Guideways” or TracksMagLev “Guideways” or Tracks

Track repels magnets on Track repels magnets on undercarriage of train, sending the undercarriage of train, sending the train forward.train forward.

Train levitates between 1 and 10 cm Train levitates between 1 and 10 cm above guideway.above guideway.

MagLev vs. Conventional TrainsMagLev vs. Conventional Trains

MagLev Trains Conventional Trains

No Friction = Less Maintenance

Routine Maintenance

Needed

No Engine = No fuel required

Engine requires fossil fuels

Speeds in excess of

300 mph

Speeds up to 110 mph

Advantages of a maglev Train

• The German Transrapid is about 20 times safer han airplanes

• 250 times safer than conventional railroads

• 700 times safer than automobile travel

• Speeds up to 500 km/h.

• A accident between two maglev trains is nearly impossible because the linear induction motors prevent trains running in opposite directions.

Limitation’s

• Cost is major issue when considering maglev trains, it costing approximately $8.5 billions.

• The weight of the electromagnets

• A very strong magnetic field is required to levitate the heavy trains,and maintaining the field constant requires a lot of energy which is expensive.

The Maglev Train and Society

• The Scientifics want the Maglev train to be fast and economical.

• They want it to be something that anyone can use.

• The big problem about this is that the pieces for the maglev are really expensive

• The procedure to build it up is very expensive as well

The Maglev Train and Environment

Less energy consumption because no rail-track friction

Requires no fossil fuel which can harm the environment.

Less noise pollution since the train never hits the track

MagLev guideways and trains take up less space than conventional trains

ReferencesReferences Bonsor, Kevin. “How Maglev Trains Work”. 5 September, 2002. <Bonsor, Kevin. “How Maglev Trains Work”. 5 September, 2002. <

http://travel.howstuffworks.com/maglev-train.htm>>

Keating, Oliver. “Maglevs (Magnetically Levitated Trains)”. 16 June, Keating, Oliver. “Maglevs (Magnetically Levitated Trains)”. 16 June, 2000. <2000. <http://www.okeating.com/hsr/maglev.htm>>

Disney Online. “California Screamin’”. August, 1999. <Disney Online. “California Screamin’”. August, 1999. <http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/parks/attractions/detail?name=CaliforniaScreaminAttractionPage>>

MagLev Systems. “Electromagnetic Systems”. General Atomics MagLev Systems. “Electromagnetic Systems”. General Atomics and Affiliated Companies. 2005. <and Affiliated Companies. 2005. <http://www.ga.com/atg/ems.php>.>.

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