Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronald_raygun
Anyway, aside from the traditional motor-prop propulsion, I thought of electromagnets and their use on experimental maglev trains. Is there anyway I can use an electromagnet--powered by the track--to propel the train forward similar to the picture below?
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Maglev trains aren't really experimental anymore, now that they've entered
commercial service.
Building a model maglev train powered like the real ones is possible, but it'll involve a lot of electronics. To emulate the full size trains, you have to pulse the electro-magnets from north to south to north again precisely the right amount of time, which itself varies depending on how fast the train is moving.
I don't know the exact specifics on how on the Transrapid maglev propulsion system works, but on your model if you use hall effect sensors to pick up the magnetic fields, you can time the difference between the fields of the magnets, and know how fast you are moving. If you know how fast you are moving, you can accurately pulse the polarity of the electromagnets to propel the model forward.