8.5 New developments in HTS Maglev vehicle system Ë 319Tab. 8.13:Levitation load and lateral guidance capabilities of “Super-Maglev”.
ZFC FCH40 mm FCH30 mm FCH20 mmLevitation load capability
WH20mm 325 kg 225 kg 162 kg
WH15mm 612 kg 473 kg 444 kg 237 kg
WH10mm 1013 kg 848 kg 779 kg 622 kg
Lateral guidance capability
LD20mm 128 kg 246 kg 352 kg 555 kg
thanks to the rational utilization of the guidelines mentioned in Sections 8.3 and
8.4. Up to now, a maximum speed of 25 km/h has been reached with one passenger
sitting in it. The maximum 50-km/h target is still being attempted in low air pressure
in the vacuum tube now. Further experimental data and information on the running
performance will be reported in the near future.
8.5.3ETT HTS Maglev
Unhampered by wheels, Maglev vehicles undoubtedly can run faster than 350 km/h.
However, with the speeds above 350 km/h, air friction becomes a serious resistance
drag, and the aerodynamic noise also becomes a huge pollution issue. Eqs. (8.9) and
(8.10) show the relationships of the air resistance force,Fair, the aerodynamic noise,
Noise(v), with running speed,v.
Fair∝ v^2 , (8.9)Noise(v) ∝ ¦v(^7) ,v< 120 km/h,
v^8 ,v> 120 km/h.
(8.10)
If the running speed exceeds 400 km/h, more than 83% of the traction energy will be
dissipated against air resistance, and the aerodynamic noise will exceed 90 dB (the
corresponding environmental standard is 75 dB for the noise issue) [58]. Therefore,
even if the HTS Maglev vehicle has the potential for higher running speed, to reduce
air pressure around the vehicle is the only way to achieve speeds from 400 up to
1000 km/h.
Some systems (notably the Swissmetro system [59]) have proposed of rail trains,
even Maglev train technology used in evacuated (airless) tubes, which eliminates air
drag and allows higher speed. Analogically, evacuation tube transportation (ETT)
systems might allow HTS Maglev trains to attain speeds of a new order of magnitude,
like a super-high 3000 km/h which could be applied to some military or space launch
systems. On January 12, 2004, the project meeting of a super-high speed ETT HTS