Control of electromagnetic levitation transport of flexible steel plate (fundamental considerations on elastic vibration control under transport)

We have proposed a magnetic levitation control system for flexible steel plates and confirmed its feasibility through a digital control experiment. However, there is a risk that side slipping or the dropping of the plate may occur owing to inertial force, because the levitation control system does not provide any restraints for the direction of travel. Therefore, we have proposed the addition of electromagnetic actuators to control the horizontal motion of a levitated steel plate. In addition, we have reported that it is possible to suppress the elastic vibration of the steel plate in the vertical direction by using the electromagnetic actuators for horizontal positioning. In this paper, the effect of the magnetic field applied from the horizontal direction on the transport performance of a magnetically levitated flexible steel plate is reported.