Designing with null flux coils

Null flux were suggested by Danby and Powell in the late 1960´s as a useful means for realizing induced lift with little drag. As an array of alternating magnets is translated past a set of null flux coils, the currents induced in these coils act to vertically center the magnets on those coils. At present, one Japanese MAGLEV system company and two American-based companies are employing either null flux or flux eliminating coils in their design for high speed magnetically levitated transportation. The principle question addressed in paper is: what is the proper choice of coil length to magnet length in a null flux system? A generic analysis in the time and frequency domain is laid out with the intent of showing the optimal design specification in terms of coil parameters