Construction and performance of HTS maglev launch assist test vehicle

Various Maglev launch assist concepts were proposed in the world for the aim to find low-cost, safe, and reliable ways to get to space. Among them, high temperature superconducting (HTS) bulk magnetic levitation platform was considered as a better one for Maglev launch assist because of its inherent stability both in the vertical and lateral directions. As a primary work, a demo HTS Maglev launch assist test vehicle was designed and constructed in our laboratory. The system includes a vehicle body, permanent magnet guideway with the length of 7 m, the acceleration and braking parts. HTS bulks were located in LN₂ vessels fixed below the vehicle body. The levitation force larger than 50 kg was provided by the interaction between HTS bulks and NdFeB guideway. The HTS bulk arrangement was optimized by measuring and comparing static and dynamic levitating characteristics of different HTS bulk units on NdFeB guideway. The acceleration part of the system was achieved by the linear motor. The braking was achieved by a set of spring buffer. The experimental investigation was carried out by the system, and some results were presented in the paper.