6.17 First manned HTS Maglev vehicle in the world – “Century” Ë 201Fig. 6.64:Total levitation forces of the eight
on-board HTS Maglev equipments over the
PMG [1].Fig. 6.65:The first manned HTS Maglev vehicle in the world [1] was tested successfully at 2:26 pm,
December 31, 2000, at ASCLab, Southwest Jiaotong University, P. R. China. (a) The first manned
HTS Maglev vehicle in the world—vehicle body framework without an outer shell. (b) First pass
perfusion of liquid nitrogen to the on-board HTS Maglev equipments on December 31, 2000 [21].
(c) The net levitation gap of the HTS Maglev vehicle was more than 20 mm when five people stood
on the vehicle [1].
The first manned HTS Maglev vehicle in the world [1] (Fig. 6.65) was tested successfully
at 2:26 pm, December 31, 2000, at ASCLab, Southwest Jiaotong University, China. The
on-board HTS Maglev equipment was fixed to both sides of the vehicle body frame.
Figure 6.65a shows the vehicle body frame without the outer shell of first manned
HTS Maglev vehicle in the world: 2268 mm long, 1038 mm wide, and 120 mm high. The
external size of the vehicle “Century”, with an outer shell of 3.5 m long, 1.2 m wide, and
0.8 m high and there were four seats in the HTS Maglev vehicle (Fig. 4.10b).
Figure 6.65b is the first-pass perfusion of liquid nitrogen to the on-board HTS
Maglev equipments on December 31, 2000 [21]. Figure 6.65c shows that the net
levitation gap of the HTS Maglev vehicle was more than 20 mm when five people stood
on the vehicle. [1]
During this test run, five people were standing on the vehicle body and the total
weight was about 530 kg. The net levitation gap was more than 20 mm. Accurate
measurements later showed that the total levitation forces of the entire Maglev vehicle
were 6351 and 7850 N at net levitation gaps of 20 and 15 mm, respectively, in July 2001.
The net levitation gap was the distance between the PMG’s upper surface and the
liquid nitrogen vessel’s bottom.