Dynamic Characteristics of a 3-D Superconducting Actuator With Arranged Permanent Magnets and Electromagnets

High-temperature superconductor (HTS) bulks can trap high magnetic fields due to strong flux pinning. We have been investigating 3-D superconducting actuators using HTS bulks for transportation applications. The actuator consists of an HTS bulk as a mover and 2-D arranged electromagnets (EMs) as a stator. However, many EMs and power supplies would be needed to produce a 3-D actuator with a large moving area; therefore, a new type of 3-D actuator based on a 2-D array of permanent magnets (PMs) in combination with a small number of EMs was designed and tested. In this new type of actuator, the speed control of the HTS bulk mover is very important to develop a reliable noncontact transportation device. In this paper, the dynamic movement characteristics of the HTS bulk mover in the new type of actuator were experimentally investigated as a function of the gap distance between PMs and the drive current patterns.