Enhancement of Levitation Force Characteristics in High Tc Superconducting Levitation.

Two methods for superconducting magnetic levitation are investigated to enhance levitation characteristics such as levitation force and horizontal stability. In one of the investigated methods, not only a repulsive force between a permanent magnet and a superconductor but also the force between two permanent magnets is utilized to achieve strong levitation force and horizontal stability. In an other method, a high Tc superconductor was preliminarily magnetized by a permanent magnet via a field-cooling process. Levitation forces and horizontal stability in the proposed system were numerically evaluated using a computer program based on the critical state model.