Design of Levitation Magnet with Thermal Analysis

열해석을 이용한 자기부상자석의 설계

The UTM-01 developed in 1998 was the first maglev vehicle in Korea for the urban transit maglev (UTM) system. Through the improvement of UTM-01 and development of UTM02, the commercialization of the UTM system is being prepared now. In order to prepare for the commercialization of maglev, it is necessary that an optimal design of the levitation magnet should be provided for the safe operation of the vehicle. The levitation force is formed through the function of magnetic flux density on the top of magnet poles and gap between magnet pole and guide rail. To generate a magnetic field that is high enough to levitate the vehicle, ferromagnetic materials, such as pure iron for magnet pole and SS400 for guide rail, were used. The heat generated by $I^2R$ loss of magnet conductor makes the thermal convection on the surface of magnet including coil and poles. As these two characteristics are nonlinear phenomena, this paper deals with the nonlinear analysis on the magnetic and thermal properties of the U-type levitation magnet by using 3-D finite element method (FEM). Base on the analysis results, a small scale U-type magnet was designed, manufactured, and tested and it was verified that the magnet manufactured was satisfactory to all the design specifications.