Force on current coils moving over a conducting sheet with application to magnetic levitation

The use of Fourier-transform techniques provides exact integral expressions for the forces on polygonal dc current coils moving over a conducting sheet. These expressions are applied to investigate magnetic levitation of proposed high-speed transportation. Extensive numerical data have been analyzed to determine the performance dependence of the system parameters such as velocity, coil shape, array configuration, clearance, and track thickness, conductivity and permeability. In terms of potential applications, a comparison between the superconducting repulsive and ferromagnetic attractive systems is given.