Electromagnetic flight stability by model impedance simulation

Abstract

Impedance measurements on scale models can be an extraordinarily simple and effective technique for comparing the lift and drag forces and the static and dynamic stabilities of various vehicle‐guideway configurations for levitation by motion‐induced eddy‐current repulsion. The real and imaginary components of the input impedance of an inductive circuit are a measure of its power loss and magnetic energy storage, and the gradient of that energy is magnetic force. As a demonstration of the technique, we have applied it to variations of the magneplane system being developed by the MIT‐Avco‐Raytheon group.