ABSTRACT
Low speed mag-lev transport systems will often be used in congested urban areas where it is likely that guideways will be elevated above ground level. The introduction of guideway flexibility will affect control of the magnet characteristic and, separately, the vehicle suspension characteristic. The action of guideway flexibility is to link the de-coupled magnet and suspension control loops and induce substantial lags to the feedback parameters. Recent work has sought to control the magnet characteristic so that it can stabilise the vehicle suspension with respect to guideway flexibility rather than to be neutral and unaffected by guideway flexibility. The optimised controller has a dramatic influence on the stability of the BR mag-lev vehicle on flexible guideways. Restrictions on the length of the chapter paper preclude detail discussions of the optimised controller but the author will welcome further discussion.
