Maglev Linear Synchronous Motor Propulsion

Guideway (Stator) Controls

Supply frequency f 40 Hz

Pole pitch τ 1.20 m

Peak thrust capacity F_max 200 kN

Load force (drag + grade) 40 kN

Live Readout

Accelerating toward sync

Sync (wave) speed

0 km/h

Train speed

0 km/h

Thrust force

0 kN

Load angle δ

0.0°

How it works

A maglev train's long-stator linear synchronous motor (LSM) has no wheels driving it — three-phase current in the guideway coils is switched in sequence to create a magnetic field pattern that physically travels down the track. Onboard superconducting/EM magnets lock onto this traveling wave and are dragged along by it, exactly like a synchronous rotary motor unrolled flat.

Synchronous (wave) speed:  v_s = 2 τ f
Electrical load angle:     δ = (π/τ) (x_s − x_r)
Thrust force:              F = F_max sin(δ)
Equation of motion:        M dv/dt = F − F_load − F_aero

τ is the pole pitch (distance between adjacent guideway poles) and f is the supply frequency, so v_s is exactly how fast the magnetic wave itself moves. x_s is the wave's position and x_r the train's; their separation, converted to an electrical angle δ, sets how hard the wave pulls — thrust follows the same sin(δ) power-angle law as any synchronous machine, peaking at δ = 90° and then falling beyond it.

f and τ set the target sync speed v_s — raise either to make the wave (and eventually the train) go faster.
F_max is the strongest thrust the field/current combination can deliver before saturating.
Load force is opposing drag or an uphill grade the motor has to fight through.
If the load exceeds F_max, δ is pushed past 90° where sin(δ) starts dropping — thrust collapses and the train pulls out of synchronism, exactly the failure mode a real LSM guideway control system is designed to avoid.

This is the actual principle behind the Shanghai Transrapid and the Chuo Shinkansen SCMaglev: unlike a rotary electric train, the "motor" is split — the guideway is the stator and the train itself is the rotor, so there is no mechanical drivetrain at all.

Traveling stator wave Onboard train magnets

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