Sensorless Estimation of Airgap in a Magnetically Levitated (MagLev) System

This paper investigates the electromagnetic and dynamic analysis of a magnetically levitated (maglev) system. A simple experiment illustrating the principles of electromagnetic suspension (EMS) is described and simulation results are given. Finite element analysis has been done to determine levitation forces and magnetic flux used for system modeling. This type of levitation is unstable without the feedback control therefore a robust controller has been proposed to maintain the air gap between the body in motion and guideway. Various controller design methods are evaluated for this non-linear model and results haven been compared. A sensorless methodology has also been proposed to estimate the air gap