The relationship between levitation force and stiffness in symmetrical and unsymmetrical applied fields

The two key parameters for levitation performance over a permanent magnet (PM) guideway are the levitation force and the stiffness of the high temperature superconductor (HTS) YBaCuO bulk. Their distributions along a lateral displacement (LD) were measured in zero-field-cooling (ZFC) and in field-cooling (FC) conditions. There are two cases of applied magnetic field for a single HTS bulk: symmetrical or unsymmetrical about the bulk axis. Although the levitation. force has a linear relationship with the applied field in the symmetrical case, such a linear relationship disappears once the applied field becomes unsymmetrical. Furthermore, the levitation stiffness is measured in FC, and they still change more drastically than the levitation force in ZFC. In particular, the levitation stiffness has a linear relationship with the associated levitation force, whether the applied field is symmetrical or unsymmetrical. Its lateral distribution at a gap of 20 mm in FC agrees with the levitation force distribution at a gap of 10 mm in ZFC.