Volume 231 No 23 £2.95

iN THIS ISSUEOn the rightwavelengthRadio telemetery isbeing usedincreasil'lgly tom0nitor. and controlsystems andequipment page 18

II A REED BUSINESSINFORMATION PUBliCATION

24 November 1998

Show previewUnlike many UK tradeShows, France's Eleckeeps growing. Wereport on what the150,000 visitorsexpected this yearwill see page 22

Train attractsglobal interestMagnetic levitationof high-speedpassenger trains ispreparing· for itsworld debut inGermany page 30

Year 2000 gensetde·mand could

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outStrip supplymVicWymanCompanies seeking to protectthemselves against potentialpower failures caused by theMillennium Bug are snapping upgenerating sets from hire firms.Those industrial electricity

users that fail to order back-upsoon are likelyto find themselveswithout protection as demandoutstrips supply.John Styles, major projects

manager of generating set com-pany Aggreko, says: "I suspectthat anyonewho delays fora couple ofmonths willhave troublegetting generat-ing sets."Despite the

demand, hi'recompanies can-not justifyinvesting largeamounts ofmoney in equip-ment that willbe needed onlyfor a short period.. Brian Tatton, managing direc-tor of hire company Powerent,says: "You can't run your busi-ness on the basis of a one-nightevent."Paul Mullord, commercial

manager of British Water, whichrepresents firms supplying thewater companies, says some cus-tomers are "blase" about the mil-lennium bug problem. "Othersare as close to pressing the panic

button as they can be," he adds.Tatton says that some organi-

sations, including two Londonhospitals, have enquired aboutcover for all their activities incase power blackouts last wellinto 2000.He cites similar enquiries from

a prison, a hospital, and indus-.trial companies.

A typical superstore mightneed 1MVAofgenerating capacitythat would cost £80,000-100,000to buy. Styles says there is no

.~ unusually large. interest in the

sets that Aggrekosells but adds:"There's beenquite a demandforrental."However, the

AMPStrade org-anisation, whichrepresents gen-erating set firms,reports no great

" . surge in demandGomg, gomg, gone: bug beatmg gensets for standby sets

at present.Secretary Gerald Parkinson

points out that many organisa-tions already have standbycapacity for their essential activi-ties, including supermarkets thatneed to keep freezers and chilledfood cabinets working, hospitalswith vital equipment and Cityorganisations.Eleotricity suppliers have said

that there is minimal risk of black-outs as the year changes to 2000-but are givingno guarantees.

Fax back page. Top appointments, page 39

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expensive to construct and operate.This high-speed maglev system has three

main components: the vehicles, the guidewayand the drive system. The services will becontrolled by radio, in a similar way to theEuroradio component of the new Europe-wide train signalling systems (see ElectricalReview, 18August).

The heart of the system is the drive sys-tem, the first commercial application of lead-ing-edge electrical technology - certainly in

. transport. In conventional railways, thewheels and rails are the support, guidance,acceleration and braking systems. Thesesame functions are needed in all fixed trans-port-modes.

In maglev systems, however, electro-mag-nets provide levitation and guidance, andlong-stator linear induction motor propulsionmagnets provide acceleration and braking.Levitation magnets "lift" the vehicle towardsthe motor windings on the underside of theguideway, with additional guidance magnetsplaced on either side to keep the vehicle cen-tral. -,

A synchronous, long-stator linear motorpropels the train. These stator packs, along

Application of conventional technology in a radicallydifferent way: levitation magnets lift the vehicle andpropulsion magnets allow acceleration and braking

with three-phase windings, are attached tothe underside of the track - or guideway -while acceleration and braking is controlledby varying the strength and frequency of thecurrent passing through the stator coils.

It is not materials or new technologies thatmake this project revolutionary, it is theapplication of conventional technology in aradically different way. Many people haveused the Berlin M-Bahn and our own

Moto,t winding

//

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The levitation magnets lift the vehicle uptowards the guideway, keeping the vehicle ata distance of 150mm from the upper surface.This is sufficient to clear small obstacles onthe guideway, including ice and snow. Thegap between the underside of the statorplates and levitation magnets is 10mm at alltimes, and the guidance magnets constrainthe vehicles laterally.

Also contained within the levitation mag-

Support/levitationmagnet

Guidancemagnet

Birmingham maglev, but the high-speed non-contact railway has major benefits.

A key benefit - no resistance to accelera-tion from the friction between steel wheel onsteel rail - has significant cost and environ-mental advantages. If these benefits are fullyrealised on the Berlin-Hamburg line, it willmark a step-change in land transport tech-nology.

LEVITATION AND GUIDANCEThis is simple to understand. The levitationand guidance systems are, like Laithwaite'smachine, a disassembled rotating machine.

In this case, two groups of electromagnets(15 independent levitation and 13 indepen-dent guidance magnets) are fitted to the vehi-cles themselves, while the reaction rails, orstator plates, are attached to the undersideof the guideway.

nets are linear generators, providing powerfor the on-board systems, including redun-dant electronic controls for levitation andguidance.

PROPULSIONA long-stator linear induction motor basedon contactless technology is the driving forceof this high-speed train, serving as both thedrive and brakes. The prime mover isattached to the guideway and not carried onthe train itself. Taking out the stator androlling it out flat results in a travelling, ratherthan rotating magnetic field because of theinteraction with the magnetic fields of the lev-itation/guidance magnets.The vehicle is propelled along this field withthe levitation/support magnets acting asexciters. Variation of the strength and fre-quency of the three-phase current increasesor reduces the thrust. The magnet controlunits control current and field strengthsusing the now almost conventional thyristor-based inverters - providing infinite regulationof the vehicle speed from stationary to maxi-mum designed speed.Reversing the direction of current flowallowsthis linear motor to act as a generator, brak-ing the vehicle without any kind of contactwith the guideway.

Obviously, electric traction is not only themost energy-efficient form of land transport,but also the most environmentally friendly.The maglev takes its supply from the Germannational grid at 110kV,feeding substationsspaced at regular intervals along the route.Pairs of these substations feed each side ofthe guideway motor independently.

Since the coils of the stator of the>

Electrical Review 24 November 1998 31

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