• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.643-651
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• 2020

A capsule train runs inside a sub-vacuum tube and can reach very high speed due to the low air resistance. A capsule train uses a superconducting electrodynamic suspension (SC-EDS) method for levitation, which allows for a large levitation gap and does not require gap control. However, SC-EDS has inherent characteristics such as the large gap variation and a small damping effect in the levitation force, which can degrade the running stability and ride comfort. To overcome this, a stability improvement device should be designed and applied based on dynamic analysis. In this study, a 1/10 small-scale testbed was developed to replicate the dynamic characteristics of a capsule train and investigate the performance of stability improvement devices. The testbed is composed of a 6-degree-of-freedom Stewart platform for the realization of bogie motion, a secondary suspension with a running stabilization device, and a carbody. Based on the dynamic similarity law proposed by Jaschinski, the small-scale testbed was manufactured, and a bogie motion algorithm was applied with the consideration of guideway irregularity and levitation stiffness. The experimental results from the testbed were compared with simulation results to investigate the performance of the testbed.