Linear motor

A linear motor is essentially an electric motor that has had its stator "unrolled" so that instead of producing a torque (rotation), it produces a linear force along its length. The most common mode of operation is as a Lorenz-type actuator, in which the applied force is linearly proportional to the current and the magnetic field (F = i x B).

Many designs have been put forward for linear motors, falling into two major categories, low-acceleration and high-acceleration linear motors. Low-acceleration linear motors are suitable for maglev trains and other ground-based transportation applications. High-acceleration linear motors are normally quite short, and are designed to accelerate an object up to a very high speed and then release the object. They are usually used for studies of hypervelocity collisions, as weapons, or as mass drivers for spacecraft propulsion.

When a linear motor is used to accelerate beams of ions or subatomic particles, it is called a particle accelerator. The design is usually rather different as the particles move close to the speed of light and are usually electrically charged.

Low acceleration

The history of linear electric motors can be traced back at least as far as the 1840s, to the work of Charles Wheatstone at King's College in London but Wheatstone's model was too inefficient to be practical. The German engineer Hermann Kemper built a working model in 1935 [http://cem.colorado.edu/archives/fl1997/thor.html. In the late 1940s, professor Eric Laithwaite of Imperial College in London developed the first full-size working model. In his design, and in most low-acceleration designs, the force is produced by a moving linear electromagnetic field acting on conductors in the field. Any conductor, be it a loop, a coil or simply a piece of plate metal, that is placed in this field will have eddy currents induced in it thus creating an opposing electromagnetic field. The two opposing fields will repel each other, thus forcing the conductor away from the stator and carrying it along in the direction of the moving magnetic field.

Because of these properties, linear motors are often used in maglev propulsion, as in the Japanese Linimo magnetic levitation train line near Nagoya. However, linear motors have been used independently of magnetic levitation, as in Bombardier's Advanced Rapid Transit systems worldwide and a number of modern Japanese subways, including Tokyo's Toei Oedo Line.

Similar technology is also used in some roller coasters with modifications, but at present is still impractical on street running trams, although this in theory could be done, by burying it in a slotted conduit.

Outside of public transportation, vertical linear motors have been proposed as lifting mechanisms in deep mines, and the use of linear motors is growing in motion control applications. They are also often used on sliding doors, such as those of low floor trams such as the Citadis and the Eurotram. Dual axis linear motors also exist. These specialized devices have been used to provide direct X-Y motion for precision laser cutting of cloth and sheet metal, automated drafting, and cable forming.

High acceleration

High-acceleration linear motors have been suggested for a number of uses. They have been considered for use as weapons, since current armor-piercing ammunition tends to be small rounds with very high kinetic energy, just what such motors supply. Many amusement park roller coasters now use linear induction motors to propel the train at a high speed, as an alternative to using a lift hill. They have also been suggested for use in spacecraft propulsion. In this context they are usually called mass drivers. The simplest way to use mass drivers for spacecraft propulsion would be to build a large mass driver that can accelerate cargo up to escape velocity.

High-acceleration linear motors are difficult to design for a number of reasons. They require large amounts of energy in very short periods of time. One rocket launcher design (see ^*) calls for 300 GJ for each launch in the space of less than a second. Normal electrical generators are not designed for this kind of load, but short-term electrical energy storage methods can be used. Capacitors are bulky and expensive but can supply large amounts of energy quickly. Homopolar generators can be used to convert the kinetic energy of a flywheel into electric energy very rapidly. High-acceleration linear motors also require very strong magnetic fields; in fact, the magnetic fields are often too strong to permit the use of superconductors. However, with careful design this need not be a major problem.

Two different basic designs have been invented for high-acceleration linear motors: railguns and coilguns.

External links

Electromagnetic Guns - A page describing recent research at MIT.
The Pulsed Induction Motor Concept for High-Speed Trains SANDIA national laboratories

Electric motors | Automation | Linear Synchronous Motor

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Low acceleration

High acceleration

See also

External links