Combination of a contactless power supply with an electromagnetic guiding for a vertical transportation system

Abstract A contactless energy transmission system is essential to supply on-board systems of magnetic levitated vehicles without physical contact to a guiding rail e.g. in clean room environment. This paper introduces a combined contactless power supply (CPS) and electromagnetic guiding system (MGS). The actuator of the linear guiding system is part of an inductive energy transmission. With this approach two devices are integrated in one entity. The hybrid actuator consists of an omega shape iron yoke with permanent magnets and coils on its lateral arms. A concentrated primary winding is added to the elevator shaft and a secondary winding is wound on the central arm. Hereby a superposition of the MGS flux and the CPS flux emerges in the magnetic circuit of the actuator. A decoupling of the two systems is achieved by the high frequency of the CPS flux compared to the MGS flux. The proposed system requires less construction space and weight compared to existing energy transmission systems.