For trains I have concerns about loose metal getting caught on the magnets and how well it will handle general debris. That said these might be solvable. For niche uses and for clean environments this looks awesome and promising though. I suspect they will have a future even if it’s a little different than envisioned.
That seems pretty simple to solve : have an unmanned empty unit drive about half a mile or so ahead equipped with cameras and even AI to make sure everything is perfectly safe
This is not new. In 2022, China revealed the world’s first suspended maglev line built with permanent magnets that can keep a “sky train” afloat forever - even without a power supply. The 800-metre (2,600-foot) experimental Red Rail in southern China’s Xingguo county, Jiangxi province, used powerful magnets rich in rare earth elements to produce a constantly repelling force strong enough to lift a train with 88 passengers in the air. Just google Xingguo County Maglev Sky Train. name: Maglev Sky Train testing location: Xingguo county, Southern China length: 800 meters capacity: 88 passengers top speed: 80 km/h
The video completely failed to address the traction system for the railway application. Side loaded traction wheels , what are the issues? They have been used in some types of Fell engine but are maintenance intensive. Btw. Elevators don't have significant friction losses from guide bearings. The car's load hangs from the cables.
I agree. A short cross section of track say half inch or so with iron filings in a picture box setup would clearly show what’s going on. No simulations or animations needed.
It works like this. If you place a piece of iron near a (permanent) magnet, it will get magnetised itself. This “new” magnetic field is such that INSIDE the iron it amplifies the previous magnetic field and OUTSIDE the iron it largely counteracts it. The net effect is that the previous magnetic field seems to be “sucked” into the iron. Therefore, a piece of iron really acts as if it has “less resistance” for magnetic field lines.
@@imaltenhause4499 yes, but how do you then balance with a counter magnet without equally degrading the magnetic moment and fields, eg you need a strong magnet in the rail, and you need a strong opposing magnet do you have very powerful magnets very close to the iron essentially "charging or reinforcing" the magnetic moment and then much less powerful but strong enough to float magnets in the other direction
@@michaelcombrink8165 The lifting principle can be explained as follows. The shape of the rail is crucial here: wide at the top, narrow at the bottom. We previously established that iron has “less resistance” for magnetic field lines. If a C-shaped permanent magnet is placed around the top of the rail, there is a lot of iron nearby. Hence, the field lines experience very little “resistance” and go straight from one end of the C-shaped magnet, through the iron, to the other end of the magnet. Now, if you try to lower the magnet a bit, there will be less iron nearby and therefore the field lines will not go straight anymore. Instead they will divert upwards, toward the top of the rail, to “catch” more of the low-resistance iron. We now effectively have two magnets: the original C-shaped magnet and the top of the rail, consisting of magnetised iron. Just like any two magnets, they will attract each other. This attraction is the lifting force.
The idea of retrofitting maglev onto conventional tracks is a game-changer for industries beyond transportation. It’s exciting to think about the possibilities in urban infrastructure, like elevators or automated systems, reducing costs while enhancing efficiency.
@@AdvantestInc it's an investment scam, and cannot possibly achieve the claimed benefits. Apart from anything else, the lateral guid wheels will have more friction than the conventional wheels the thing replaces. Plus, even if there was some benefit to living with the hideous inefficiency, those same guides stop it running through any kind of junction.
I am inclined to agree with you. In order to realize a practical cost savings, the energy saved through reduced rolling resistance would have to far exceed the energy used to levitate the car - this is a quantitative question. Also, the prototype does not appear to be very sophisticated, so this is nowhere near a practical design.
@@5tr41ghtGuy Chinese engineers already built an operating demo permanent magnet maglev monorail sky train system back in 2022 and apparently, they achieved 31% energy efficiency advantage over similar non-maglev skytrain. This tech is not new or ground breaking. I am willing to wager that the Chinese have already tried to apply this to conventional rails and faced the same practical problems (wear from the guide wheels and dirt / debris fouling the mechanism) - that’s why they developed it as a suspended skytrain. These guys probably read about China’s maglev skytrain and started this project - the timeline looks about right. The size of the magnets will be proportional to the load they need to carry. The material science of rare earth magnet technology is fairly mature, not sure if there will be any breakthrough quantum leaps to increase the load bearing capability needed for the applications they are dreaming about. One might make a little money as a first mover niche novelty product. The demand for smooth quiet sliding door mechanisms is unlikely to be big unless it is mass produced cheaply and competitively priced against simple roller mechanisms. The rails will have to be a magnetic metal and rust proof as well. This will be a hard sell in the shark tank.
Interesting for low speed use, but what about magnetic drag due to eddy currents at higher speed? I would be happy to learn more, are there any scientific / white paper on this tech?
The resistance on conventional trains is already very low and cheaper to build. The railway network of the US is terrible compared to other developed countries anyway.
The channel S2T gives a much better explanation on this: "IronLev - Levitation on a existing rail Explained {Future Friday Ep269}" I guess Two Bit da Vinci got paid for this video for stock holders. The technology is limited due to the eddies and also it's not compatible with lane switching. This is a scam concept that last since 2018.
@@Platypus_Warrior Lots of stuff was once considered scam, but then through people looking at it from various lenses realized that with adaptations, those pain points could be alleviated.
Exactly! It seems like these are permanent magnets or are they electromagnets? I still don't see why no one has used there for doors or moving things in a factory already.
You can also google the mechanism. Induced magnetic field levitation is a very old idea. We just...forgot about it. Humans are weird and hate change and new ideas.
@@davis.fourohfour I don't see a video where they have it like on a long steel beam like in the video. Is it simply a series of "C" shaped magnets with the bottom towards the ground? It doesn't seem like that would work as the magnet will just go to the side of the track. What am i missing here?
@@gabrielteo3636 the magnet side is above the rail and wraps around to each side like a U-channel profile. the shape of the rail does weird magnet shttt that causes it to resist movement, pushing off the rail but also causing it to hug the rail at the sides so it won't won't to come off without a sizeable force. So basically all you need are the guide wheels to keep any side to side shifting to a minimum and so it won't stick to the side which would happen it the system were to come out of balance (but it won't because of the guide wheels keeping it within the "ideal zone".
Bend the lines of flux. Basically, you'd house the magnets above the rails, and then use highly magnetic, formed iron/steel to bend the lines of flux where they need to be relative to the rail. I don't understand the exact orientation of the magnets, but I would assume you'd have to have both positive and negative on both sides of the rail for the magnetic locking... so, you'd need a non-magnetic spacer sandwiched between the layers of formed iron/steel to add rigidity as separation for the lines of flux. You lose a little strength when you do this, but by housing the magnets above the rail, you can put in much larger, more powerful magnets. Ensure the formed iron/steel is thin enough to pass through switching stations and road crossings, and you're good to go.
On the switching tracks, the carriage would have to lift the current undercarriage to the point where other existing train wheels could be stowed and used for jumping the switch points. Would be interesting to see how they overcome this hurdle - but then again perhaps we should re-examine switching tracks and how they can be updated to accommodate this technology.
You would lower and raise the magnets while keeping the existing flanged truck sets. The magnets would be used in long sections of open track as established by gps survey. Eventually the railroads will work to have more sections of open tracks for mainline sections.
Hi having made rail traction gear box's for David Brown ⚙! What is Sean here just isn't hevy duty enough to cope with the weight and force of conventional trains! Switch points and crossings just one thing to be considered when re-engineering. PS: may be a step in the right direction to implement on a new Light Railway system.
I think a bigger obstacle greater use of railways is braking technology. Train speed downhill is limited by heat dissipation to much slower speeds than are available uphill. For uphill you just need more horsepower properly distributed. Downhill you need something better than brake shoes on wheels. Disc brakes would require more complicated and expensive trucks. And eddy current braking has the potential to overheat rails. Rail freight is about lowest cost per ton mile. What does this tech do to reduce that?
well, permanent magnets are expensive and you need a lot of them to lift a loaded train, also the generated eddi-currents would suck up a lot of the efficiency, i would need to see actuall data from the test-track to make a call, but i assume its minimal gains for tons of upfront cost in the end. for lane switches and crossings you would need a hybrid system that can switch between conventional and maglev anyways.
I saw a video about this a couple of months ago, and even I acknowledge there's megatons of hurdles. BUT if it comes down to building new tracks or retrofitting a few areas -- few THOUSAND areas -- retrofitting seems easier and more cost effective.
I have one criticism. And so, design suggestions. Permanent magnets will create eddy currents, creating additional drag/heating track(additional problem of maintanence and accidents in design!). And the load is impressive but how far can it be; because it's tiny with comparison to what is available. Design suggestions were to use a permanent magnets switch (a system which contains a magnetic field of permanent magnets by geometric and mechanical means and it is passive) for transition from low speed to high speed and an electromegnetic linear motor for High speed!
If you can reduce maintenance and it’s far more efficient. Which means even cheaper or more profits. Regardless of how small you think it is it still equates to more profit.
@@user-rj8df3vj2i Enough permanent magnets to levitate a train are going to cost a fortune and you still need all of the conventional components for every place that the levitation system cannot clear, as a backup in case anything happens to the levitation system and when the train is stopped. Major bucks in up-front costs from adding a whole extra system, not necessarily removing much of the old, still got to maintain everything.
In addition to the physical restraints clearing railroad crossings and turnout frogs and points, wheel friction/traction is essential to propulsion and braking. so you are out of luck on traditional railroads. It would be a new system and the rail is manufactured in volume with mature installation processes, so keep going. It has many benefits.
I hadn't thought about braking. The locomotive can manage propulsion because it contacts the rail but it couldn't handle braking the whole train alone.
Even if they can't solve the switching problem, this could make future grade-separated high-speed rail projects even more cost effective. They should design switches to work with their existing tech to sell alongside as a system.
1. Have the rail mechanism at 45° to the track, but leave the face of it perpendicular to the rail, to minimise the footprint. 2. Have one permanent or drop-down wheel, on each corner to handle switching. The wheel doesn't even need to touch the track, it could be 1mm off a the rail and only touch the switching rail. 3. 🎉
I completed my PTS training recently, so i feel confident in understanding some areas of this video well. Taking away the wheels of the carriage to replace with raised magnets would save the rail from friction and bumps, metal to metal contact but i feel long-term testing of how much Wear and tear can be caused by magnets, needs to be done before increasing to heavier loads...so calculated Calibration can take place. Their using Manganese rail in some places, as it's the most strongest metal used for rail. Hot weather can buckle the rail and cold weather can break the rail, there's a lot to take in overall so I'd love to learn how Magnets effects Rail over time which may be invisible to the eye. Thanks Ricky for your work
This is not new. In 2022, China revealed the world’s first suspended maglev line built with permanent magnets that can keep a “sky train” afloat forever - even without a power supply. The 800-metre (2,600-foot) experimental Red Rail in southern China’s Xingguo county, Jiangxi province, used powerful magnets rich in rare earth elements to produce a constantly repelling force strong enough to lift a train with 88 passengers in the air. The permanent magnet suspension system saved about 31% energy when compared to non maglev-suspended sky trains. name: Maglev Sky Train testing location: Xingguo county, Southern China length: 800 meters capacity: 88 passengers top speed: 80 km/h
@ 90% of rare earth magnet production is in China. Something like this will be a cakewalk for them to produce since they already have the tech, the materials and manufacturing.
The Japanese MAGLEV is meant to hit insane high speeds -- it is not just a levitating train. Japan has those, too, but they are not as efficient as regular wheel trains, so they are not widespread. The usecase for the Japanese high speed MAGLEV is to connect cities that would normally require 3 to 4 hours of time on a regular bullet train, down to only 1 hour. Now that is a real game changer. This product is a nice idea as a technology demonstrator, but not as a real usecase satisfying design in any way.
They should attach this system to a football pitch in one of the stadiums that have sliding pitches for better sunlight, it would be much easier and quicker to move; same goes for stadiums that have sliding roofs.
@@jg-bd3hr Surprised I got this far into the comments, without a single person bringing this up.... With steel rails, and a permanent magnet, nothing is floating anywhere....
😅 x section of rails is like a capital "I" it works by magnetic attraction, not repulsion. The magnetic flux over the top of the ferrous railway track is redirected through the device like a horseshoe magnet that is shielded in the bend, thus, no downward attraction forces. Net upward attraction force supports the weight
@VicAusTaxiTruckie I still don't get it.... too stupid I guess... Regular train wheels are really low friction anyway... It might find buyers for high end wardrobe doors, but the cost vs cheap castors is going to make it impossible to sell enough to make back any R&D money... Anyone investing in this is going to get burnt....
@@tmog1000 ok, the iron tracks have a cross section with a "T" shape top, effectively, the system put super strong magnets under the flat of the "T" and sheild the top of the top of the "T" from magnetic fields. The magnets are pulling the whole thing upwards
They'll probably need to be able to switch to and from wheels for those problematic spots. To do it, they'll likely need either some kind of LIDAR sensors to track things or to paint the tracks and scan for the paint to know when to go on wheels and when to resume maglev. On the upside, switching to wheels could be used for power generation if it's set up correctly, like regenerative braking.
NO BRAKES! So you have to have an engine or something touching the rail to propel it forward. But on a train all the cars have brakes. So whats stopping this thing if the engine derails? There are alot of cool technologies like this out there that just aren't practical outside of the lab.
Oh, don’t worry, the motion losses enough energy due to magnetic hysteresis, there may be no “friction” but you lose energy due to motion in other ways. They’re essentially braking all the time, and they’d have to counteract that to maintain speed.
Comment from an old guy. This is a very old idea and one of the two ideas of maglev trains back in the day. The first idea was to use permanent magnets to create a permanent lift. This would be accomplished only by using superconducting magnets using cryogenic liquids to cool them. The second idea was to basically get the train moving on the track. The motion of the magnets on the train would induce Eddy currents in the metal track below and also a magnetic field that matches the train magnets polarity. That is to say, that if you can get the train moving, the train automatically lifts for free. Foward motion=lift. Plus: no friction after liftoff speed. A linear switching magnet could be used to move the system, same as superconductive magnet trains. Two choices presented themselves: the Japanese engineers that initially created such trains chose superconductors in cryogenic containers, the first option, over fifty years ago. Seeing superconducting lift trains basically became so common that people forgot about the eddy current induction train possibility. And, oh yes, it works. Cheap, foolproof, low power and no liquid helium cooled superconducting magnets needed. This simplifies maglev trains enormously.
That was really cool, thank you! The challenge mentioned at the end, I can see them solving either with stepping stones -- switch back to "wheels" on the dangerous parts -- or, by allowing the pieces "magnetically gripping" the sides of the track to widen. A camera in front as well as comms with the system should help it know when to widen and when it's safe to tighten. It should be designed such that it still operates when widened, just at reduced capacity (i.e., slower, most likely). Thanks again!
If retrofitting is an issue, I think they should make it to where it alternates between traditional wheels and this. When approaching a switch, just lift it away.
@@Toastmaster_5000 The same can be seen in some cheaper laser cutters. Eliminating vibration from the bearings could really improve the quality of precision engraving work.
I really wish I could post a picture of some laser engravings I've done on a low-end engraver. The wobble from the bearings can be pretty bad if you look closely.
Rail head wear is only from guide rollers on this though so that's a huge saving on rail/wheel maintenance. Very interesting. I'm sure the US will want it for their rail mounted rocket sled testing range ^^ , that I would pay money to watch! Thanks for the video!
Obviously, they need a way to magnetically stabilize the maglev horizontally (if possible) to eliminate the guide wheels, and they need a way to _magnetically_ propel the system using eddy currents on the tracks generated by electromagnetism on the system. Hopefully, they can achieve this.
Regarding road crossings, if each section of the maglev unit under the train carriages could automatically raise the one section of the maglev unit to clear the track and tarmac just a little, this would be enough to allow the further maglev units along the track to continue the drive.
You could still have the rails, but the ironironlev system can engage, by levitating, and reduce friction on the track for the long stretches. Concorde wasn't supersonic over land.
This concept is brilliant to say the least. Thanks for bring it to our attention. The challenges of design optimization, especially the switching and crossing "opportunities for excellence," as Tony Robbins might say, appear to be an ideal candidate for AI to solve. Also, AI could be applied to the system electronics to correlate multiple factors such as crossings, etc with geolocation. Over time, and with "socialized learning to all systems on all tracks. This is a constant six-sigma search for opportunities for improvement. For example, a new maglev train is put into service in Chicago. Instead of learning where the crossings are, but, perhaps what happens over those crossings at any moment in history recorded by all the trains that have travelled anywhere. Like Tesla robots. When one robots learns something, all robots learn it through the super-web of cyber-space. Very large doors like commercial and military hanger doors are a definite candidate. Show them the money to them and you'll have another customer.
This is an excellent presentation with a very big challenge to conquer over road crossings. But there'll be new innovations that we haven't thought of, yet. Keep Thinking BIG.
Was thre any experimentation for using the tech to reduce derailments, where existing railcars could have smaller versions of these that helps keep the wheels glued to the rails? I know that is not intended use case, but might be a step towards full wheel truck replacement.
I would be all for a version of this that was like a Roller Coaster track in the air. You could set up sections that just pushed left or right a section of track into another section. They could be individual cars like bobsleds that were electric vehicles. The system could run several tracks on top of one another and a computer manage them. At certain a thin strip below the car could be used to power in. In fact, if this were covered with solar panels on a roof above the track, it could power the whole system! You could set your destination and go to sleep/read etc. while the computer brought you to your destination. If something broke like a motor, another car could be use to push that unit to another the closest town for persons to disembark while another car was fetched.
Im just curious what the point is. Its not like You use less energy to move the train. You lower the train's rolling resistance by providing a rediculous amount of electrial energy. Your just shifting the use and type of energy required to move the vehicle. Inductive levitation is NOTHING new. This feels like another "HyperLoop". something feasable but with no actual benefit.
Passing a magnet over the soil near train tracks will result in a lot of fine metallic dust building up on it. Would this dust collect on the magnets and how would that affect the working magnetic field?
There may be no contact friction, but you’re still going to have energy losses from moving related to the magnetic field changes in the iron, which I’m pretty sure will increase with speed. I forget the exact name, but I could see the things you were sliding around coming to rest on their own. Also, the more you take advantage of the magnetization of permanent magnets, the faster they become demagnetized, so what’s the replacement schedule and cost of that? Large permanent magnets are usually very expensive. It makes sense when you’re talking about some of these objects like sliding doors, where you don’t have multiple tons and you don’t need high speed.
There are many places where there are simple A to B without road crossings (or where installing one or two underpasses are all that's needed). A and B might be hundreds of kilometers apart. In Australia for example, once you leave Kalgoorlie on the Indian Pacific train you don't cross a road or encounter much until you reach Port Augusta. That's thousands of kilometers. there are some switching spots so that trains going opposite ways can pass each other. They could be eradicated by simply only having the one mag lev' train going back and forth. It could do it at a much higher speed I'm sure. You have to change trains a couple of times to traverse the country, but most people fly from Perth to Sydney anyway. The train trip is for a more adventurous experience. It could also compliment road freight. Vastly speeding up the long middle bit.
I am only speculating and I think what is happening is that an electric current is induced on the rails using pulsed or varying current on the train. Then the magnets on the train ( on either side of the rail) exert a motor force on the induced current creating the lift. Might save a bit of energy compared to wheeled trains, since most of the energy is used to work against air resostance😅. Another possibility is that an electric current is passed directly across the rail guide and the train magnets acr directly on the current. If the train can produce 20T magnetic fields, then to produce a lift force of1000 kg, a current of 1000 X 10 ÷20 ÷0.05 = 10000A needs to pass through the rail, assuming a rail width of 5 cm.
Not all track is the same weight, and the rail width varies accordingly. In the US there are 6 common weights varying from 57 kg per metre (115 pounds per yard) to 73 kg per metre (147 pounds per yard). A maglev system designed for conventional track would need to cope with multiple widths as a train may change from high speed track to lower speed track several times in a journey.
A retractable conventional wheel system is already used on regular pick-up trucks used for track inspection and whatnot. Adapting a heavier system to handle the load of freight cars is just a matter of scaling. But the added expense for every train car might well be prohibitive.
I think they will just have to use super narrow bearings. Narrow titanium rollers for strength, interspersed with narrower iron to complete the magnetic circuit. This probably has a little less lifting power so the entire assembly needs to be lengthen by some percentage to carry the load. The narrow bearings will roll right through all the narrow gaps on the tracks.
We've all seen the maintenance trucks that the railroads send out to work on the track. They have regular wheels and 'rail guides' that descend to support the truck when on the tracks. The truck uses its drive wheels on the rail to progress. Given the benefits of the mag-lev, I'm imagining that rather than retrofitting existing rail cars, why not adapt to the 'shipping container' load size and a minimal mag-lev (lower weight) that attaches, along with descending rail-guides like on the truck. Lightening the overall load by taking the massive rail cars out of the mix acknowledges that locomotives are also oversized when you reduce the friction. To those who refer to the low rolling resistance of steel wheels on steel rails; you're talking several more orders of reduction with mag-lev over steel rail than you are steel rail over the road. What I'm seeing is by adopting the rolling stock of the road with the mag-lev, you could operate on specific lines - say from a port like Savannah to a distribution point like Atlanta. One could imagine in an effort to rationalize the truck traffic, building rail lines between the east west and north south lanes connecting major cities that would transport maglev containers that are on mobile pedastals that not have rail guides, truck tires and mag-lev capability but are led around the distribution lots by low-speed audtonomous vehicles that put them behind the right semi-tractor for a 30-container truck-train. Who knows, the drop in rolling friction may be so grand that instead of a semi-tractor pulling that train of 30 containers, it is a cybertruck-sized vehicle 'cause it just doesn't take much to move stuff over a mag-lev setup.
System would require one major change to any conventional rail line, from moving point switching to a moving FROG switch, where the rails themselves move rather than just wedging the flange over. EVERY switch on a given line would have to be changed, to accommodate this system. The system, as described, would ultimately be more expensive as EVERY road carriage would need a minimum of two of these electromagnetic trucks, while industrial cars could probably get away with one... with no switching involved. But you're also looking at significant costs involved with trucks like these modified to operate on conventionally-switched track, due to the load-bearing moving parts needing to bring conventional flanged wheels down in order to lift over the rail during the transition to the diverging track. This means maintenance of the cars themselves would be more expensive. Changing the switches to handle either type would be less expensive for the operator, than changing the platform that needs constant monitoring and maintenance.
I like that they have rusty rails in their demonstration bit of rail. I wish them luck. Maybe the old school wheels are just above the mag rail and the mag rail lifts, settling onto the steel wheels that are 5cm out of the way most of the time. Maybe slow upgrades to the infrastructure could reduce the number steel wheel engagements over time as they alter level crossings to have gaps for the trains and infill for the cars.
I can not see it being energetically efficient for freight trains. However, train engines are EVs with their own generators, but can they power all the power needed for this?
You could rocker down conventional wheels with a rounded profile and rocker lift the bearings. The need is to keep it on the rail. There may be a way to "bump" the magnetic field to lift over the rail, but that means suspension and again, maybe a rocker situation.
MAGLEV is definitely on the right track. I think the solution to transition from standard rails to flush rails, etc is very simple and can be integrated into the MAGLEV chassis
remove the guide bearings and use traditional bogeys as the guides, just reduce the pressure applied by the bogeys using the mag-lev., the outside part of the mag part could be pneumatically positioned , so you could remove the outside at crossings and use the traditional bogeys at that time. most crossings are taken at slow speeds so it should be manageable.
The problems I see are grade crossings and switches. In most current applications, there is only room for the flange of the wheel to pass. The guide rollers shown in the video would collide with pavement, in the case of grade crossings, or other rail pieces in the case of switches in the case of switches or crossovers.
is this more efficient than wheels? like you need to accelerate the train on both but you then need to constantly provide power to apply a force against gravity and momentum, like metal on metal is low friction
Perfect for the smaller applications. Ingenious! As for actual trains... They don't even mention the heat a moving magnet will produce and how it will affect (i.e. deform) the rails. They either don't know about it or they intentionally fail to address the issue at this point.
A maglev train has to have TWO sets of magnets: the first provide the lift, which this system seems to accomplish, but you also need the 2nd set of magnets which are the ones that switch between pulling and pushing in tiny fractions of a second in order to actually more the train forward and backward. Nowhere in the video was that even brought up. Everything shown required the host to manually provide the motive force. Thus, this seems like a start of a possible solution, but its maybe only 20% of the total solution needed. There are the problems of switching locations and level crossings acknowledged in the video, plus the problems other commenters have raised such as how the long and (currently at least) straight magnet shown would deal with curves in the track, etc. And what I believe to be current prevailing thinking is that maglev trains can't be reasonably engineered to climb steep track gradients. Like TGV technology trains, maglev really needs straight and level track. Or at least notably shallower gradients than conventional rail.
This is very interesting technology and they are right that it needs to be able to run without changing any infrastructure. When they solve that, I imagine it will be widely used as it will reduce running costs massively.
It may have some use, for revitalisation of abandoned lines to small passanger stream, without costly full repair of tracks. Or even like some commuter in cities with many tracks but mostly used only for cargo.
A couple of steel bolts lying near the tracks could ruin it. It would be constantly be picking up iron that's naturally found in sand. Trains are reliable because their tech is large and tough. This isn't. I imagine kids that just for giggles kids would toss nickels at the magnetic parts of a slider until the thing seizes.
Anyone else noticed not a single word about propulsion? MagLev is using linear induction by electromagnets this is using permanent magnets, no contact to the rail means no way to decelarate. How will this thing stop? I understand why for many (including this content creator) it seems a viable idea, but as a civil engineer myself I would give it a D+. Good effort. The side projects could bring in some financial success but not the rail.
You have to have lifting wheels with a screw mechanism to be strong enough to lift the whole train with a way to lower the coupler at the same time. Or a new coupler that can change height frome one side to the other.
This is amazing technology and the maglev train possibilities is interesting but watching you push the sliding door I thought of the skyscraper in New York City that has a counter weight built into the top of the building to offset the sway in the building from wind. This could be a computer controlled pendulum for stability control of buildings.
If look at it's "tires" or magnets for lack of a better word you can see degradation on it's tires/rollersn - and this is a small model. They need to scale up and see what happens.
I could see this working for the train cars _IF_ they can get the guides narrow enough to fit existing switching points and grade crossings. The train engines would likely have to be conventional diesel or diesel/electrics although they wouldn't need to work nearly as hard.
Another issue they will have to overcome, in the case of trains, is stopping the maglev train. Wheeled trains use brakes on every car to help slow the train and bring all of that tonnage on each car to a stop. Although each maglev car will be easy to pull, if they use current train engines, it will be impossible for those engines to stop all of that weight from moving without some sort of braking system on each car.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, ideas and videos. Left wondering, you said it’s permanent magnet yet I can obviously see a fairly large electric motor on each corner. How is the electricity being used and how much. Off the charts on cool factor but steel wheels don’t consume power when they are just supporting the load and not going anywhere. If it’s entirely self powered thru permanent magnets than a disclaimer needs to be included to explain away the electric motors. I personally would love to have this as a gantry crane in a workshop and would have no problem with any electrical load if I’m gaining the ease of moving load by hand and the quietness of removing any actuator that would move the carriage. Looking forward to seeing more of this technology in the future. Road crossings and switches aside how does it go around corners? As much as I love the concept I’m guessing the train angle definitely has a few more problems to solve.
You don’t give up conventional flanged wheels you add lowering magnets to use on open spaces. You would establish a gps database of where the magnets can be lowered. This would be used on passenger trains. In freight trains there isn’t any power on the cars to lower or raise magnets.
Passive Levitation with no energy being input is just so ... counterintuitive! Cool stuff! I want it for concrete bunker blast doors on my as-yet non-existent underground shelter. :-)
As you say there's only a small amount of maglift trains there must be local trains that don't go through crossing or roads, Where it can be implemented
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this tech is like 20 years old
Cool, but how does it work?
For trains I have concerns about loose metal getting caught on the magnets and how well it will handle general debris. That said these might be solvable. For niche uses and for clean environments this looks awesome and promising though. I suspect they will have a future even if it’s a little different than envisioned.
That seems pretty simple to solve : have an unmanned empty unit drive about half a mile or so ahead equipped with cameras and even AI to make sure everything is perfectly safe
This is not new. In 2022, China revealed the world’s first suspended maglev line built with permanent magnets that can keep a “sky train” afloat forever - even without a power supply. The 800-metre (2,600-foot) experimental Red Rail in southern China’s Xingguo county, Jiangxi province, used powerful magnets rich in rare earth elements to produce a constantly repelling force strong enough to lift a train with 88 passengers in the air. Just google Xingguo County Maglev Sky Train.
name: Maglev Sky Train
testing location: Xingguo county, Southern China
length: 800 meters
capacity: 88 passengers
top speed: 80 km/h
Contact wheels probably already have more to worry about, since the debris has nowhere to go.
@@blindfaith8777 name: Maglev Sky Train
testing location: Xingguo county, Southern China
length: 800 meters
capacity: 88 passengers
top speed: 80 km/h
maybe they can just weld some angled pieces of metal to plow through things and protect the units.
It works on raised rails, but a lot of pedestrian and car crossings are inset into the pavement and those huge rollers won't fit that
Good observation
It also can't negotiate pointwork, and the side rollers mean it actually has worse rolling friction than a conventional train. It's a scam.
y'all did we watch the same video
the guy mentions it at the end, they're aware it's a problem that they have to solve if this has any future
@@jonathanj8303 that's not how friction works...
@@junovzlaThey ate burning money by renting show rooms and build "nice" prototyps but havent figured out how to actualy make it work?
It is a scam.
Before watching let me just say this sounds too good to be true…
Permanent magnets are expensive, and short supply... much more valuable in motors
It is😏
I thought the same exact thing myself
Yeppers
Then watch it
The video completely failed to address the traction system for the railway application. Side loaded traction wheels , what are the issues? They have been used in some types of Fell engine but are maintenance intensive.
Btw. Elevators don't have significant friction losses from guide bearings.
The car's load hangs from the cables.
I hoped you could explain how it works. "Path of least resistance" means nothing for magnets.
I agree. A short cross section of track say half inch or so with iron filings in a picture box setup would clearly show what’s going on. No simulations or animations needed.
It's path of least reluctance for magnetism, but the concept is similar; electricity and magnetism are different sides of the same coin.
It works like this. If you place a piece of iron near a (permanent) magnet, it will get magnetised itself. This “new” magnetic field is such that INSIDE the iron it amplifies the previous magnetic field and OUTSIDE the iron it largely counteracts it. The net effect is that the previous magnetic field seems to be “sucked” into the iron.
Therefore, a piece of iron really acts as if it has “less resistance” for magnetic field lines.
@@imaltenhause4499 yes, but how do you then balance with a counter magnet without equally degrading the magnetic moment and fields, eg you need a strong magnet in the rail, and you need a strong opposing magnet
do you have very powerful magnets very close to the iron essentially "charging or reinforcing" the magnetic moment
and then much less powerful but strong enough to float magnets in the other direction
@@michaelcombrink8165 The lifting principle can be explained as follows. The shape of the rail is crucial here: wide at the top, narrow at the bottom.
We previously established that iron has “less resistance” for magnetic field lines. If a C-shaped permanent magnet is placed around the top of the rail, there is a lot of iron nearby. Hence, the field lines experience very little “resistance” and go straight from one end of the C-shaped magnet, through the iron, to the other end of the magnet.
Now, if you try to lower the magnet a bit, there will be less iron nearby and therefore the field lines will not go straight anymore. Instead they will divert upwards, toward the top of the rail, to “catch” more of the low-resistance iron.
We now effectively have two magnets: the original C-shaped magnet and the top of the rail, consisting of magnetised iron. Just like any two magnets, they will attract each other. This attraction is the lifting force.
The idea of retrofitting maglev onto conventional tracks is a game-changer for industries beyond transportation. It’s exciting to think about the possibilities in urban infrastructure, like elevators or automated systems, reducing costs while enhancing efficiency.
@@AdvantestInc it's an investment scam, and cannot possibly achieve the claimed benefits. Apart from anything else, the lateral guid wheels will have more friction than the conventional wheels the thing replaces. Plus, even if there was some benefit to living with the hideous inefficiency, those same guides stop it running through any kind of junction.
Would have to be done right maybe no track through roads to prevent damage or shielding or something....
I am inclined to agree with you. In order to realize a practical cost savings, the energy saved through reduced rolling resistance would have to far exceed the energy used to levitate the car - this is a quantitative question. Also, the prototype does not appear to be very sophisticated, so this is nowhere near a practical design.
@@5tr41ghtGuy Chinese engineers already built an operating demo permanent magnet maglev monorail sky train system back in 2022 and apparently, they achieved 31% energy efficiency advantage over similar non-maglev skytrain. This tech is not new or ground breaking. I am willing to wager that the Chinese have already tried to apply this to conventional rails and faced the same practical problems (wear from the guide wheels and dirt / debris fouling the mechanism) - that’s why they developed it as a suspended skytrain. These guys probably read about China’s maglev skytrain and started this project - the timeline looks about right. The size of the magnets will be proportional to the load they need to carry. The material science of rare earth magnet technology is fairly mature, not sure if there will be any breakthrough quantum leaps to increase the load bearing capability needed for the applications they are dreaming about.
One might make a little money as a first mover niche novelty product. The demand for smooth quiet sliding door mechanisms is unlikely to be big unless it is mass produced cheaply and competitively priced against simple roller mechanisms. The rails will have to be a magnetic metal and rust proof as well. This will be a hard sell in the shark tank.
Interesting for low speed use, but what about magnetic drag due to eddy currents at higher speed? I would be happy to learn more, are there any scientific / white paper on this tech?
Wonder if the 2 rails would have a voltage, and power can be created between them
The resistance on conventional trains is already very low and cheaper to build. The railway network of the US is terrible compared to other developed countries anyway.
The channel S2T gives a much better explanation on this: "IronLev - Levitation on a existing rail Explained {Future Friday Ep269}"
I guess Two Bit da Vinci got paid for this video for stock holders. The technology is limited due to the eddies and also it's not compatible with lane switching. This is a scam concept that last since 2018.
@@Platypus_Warrior Lots of stuff was once considered scam, but then through people looking at it from various lenses realized that with adaptations, those pain points could be alleviated.
@@Platypus_WarriorKnew it lol, it's solar roadways all over again
He DIDNT Explain what was diffferent/specail about the tech -- just said ... magnets!
Was looking for exactly that. Waste of time watching this video.
Exactly! It seems like these are permanent magnets or are they electromagnets? I still don't see why no one has used there for doors or moving things in a factory already.
You can also google the mechanism. Induced magnetic field levitation is a very old idea. We just...forgot about it. Humans are weird and hate change and new ideas.
@@davis.fourohfour I don't see a video where they have it like on a long steel beam like in the video. Is it simply a series of "C" shaped magnets with the bottom towards the ground? It doesn't seem like that would work as the magnet will just go to the side of the track. What am i missing here?
@@gabrielteo3636 the magnet side is above the rail and wraps around to each side like a U-channel profile. the shape of the rail does weird magnet shttt that causes it to resist movement, pushing off the rail but also causing it to hug the rail at the sides so it won't won't to come off without a sizeable force. So basically all you need are the guide wheels to keep any side to side shifting to a minimum and so it won't stick to the side which would happen it the system were to come out of balance (but it won't because of the guide wheels keeping it within the "ideal zone".
Maybe not trains but definitely loved the door idea!
Bend the lines of flux. Basically, you'd house the magnets above the rails, and then use highly magnetic, formed iron/steel to bend the lines of flux where they need to be relative to the rail. I don't understand the exact orientation of the magnets, but I would assume you'd have to have both positive and negative on both sides of the rail for the magnetic locking... so, you'd need a non-magnetic spacer sandwiched between the layers of formed iron/steel to add rigidity as separation for the lines of flux. You lose a little strength when you do this, but by housing the magnets above the rail, you can put in much larger, more powerful magnets. Ensure the formed iron/steel is thin enough to pass through switching stations and road crossings, and you're good to go.
On the switching tracks, the carriage would have to lift the current undercarriage to the point where other existing train wheels could be stowed and used for jumping the switch points. Would be interesting to see how they overcome this hurdle - but then again perhaps we should re-examine switching tracks and how they can be updated to accommodate this technology.
Maybe like the dual mode vehicles but instead of road wheels the maglev system?
As mentioned in the video, replacing all the current switches would be too expensive.
You would lower and raise the magnets while keeping the existing flanged truck sets. The magnets would be used in long sections of open track as established by gps survey. Eventually the railroads will work to have more sections of open tracks for mainline sections.
@@fountainvalley100 this would make more sense but would still be a ton of forces as they switch off between systems.
Hi having made rail traction gear box's for David Brown ⚙! What is Sean here just isn't hevy duty enough to cope with the weight and force of conventional trains! Switch points and crossings just one thing to be considered when re-engineering.
PS: may be a step in the right direction to implement on a new Light Railway system.
I think a bigger obstacle greater use of railways is braking technology. Train speed downhill is limited by heat dissipation to much slower speeds than are available uphill. For uphill you just need more horsepower properly distributed. Downhill you need something better than brake shoes on wheels. Disc brakes would require more complicated and expensive trucks. And eddy current braking has the potential to overheat rails. Rail freight is about lowest cost per ton mile. What does this tech do to reduce that?
skid brakes will do the work just fine. use a plank of brake pad n push it to the rails and done.
well, permanent magnets are expensive and you need a lot of them to lift a loaded train, also the generated eddi-currents would suck up a lot of the efficiency, i would need to see actuall data from the test-track to make a call, but i assume its minimal gains for tons of upfront cost in the end. for lane switches and crossings you would need a hybrid system that can switch between conventional and maglev anyways.
They would have to be very powerful magnets to lift a train on normal rails.
I saw a video about this a couple of months ago, and even I acknowledge there's megatons of hurdles.
BUT if it comes down to building new tracks or retrofitting a few areas -- few THOUSAND areas -- retrofitting seems easier and more cost effective.
I have one criticism.
And so, design suggestions.
Permanent magnets will create eddy currents, creating additional drag/heating track(additional problem of maintanence and accidents in design!).
And the load is impressive but how far can it be; because it's tiny with comparison to what is available.
Design suggestions were to use a permanent magnets switch (a system which contains a magnetic field of permanent magnets by geometric and mechanical means and it is passive) for transition from low speed to high speed and an electromegnetic linear motor for High speed!
Conventional trains are already very efficient and relatively cheap. It would have to be a big step up to make it main stream.
If you can reduce maintenance and it’s far more efficient. Which means even cheaper or more profits. Regardless of how small you think it is it still equates to more profit.
@@user-rj8df3vj2i Enough permanent magnets to levitate a train are going to cost a fortune and you still need all of the conventional components for every place that the levitation system cannot clear, as a backup in case anything happens to the levitation system and when the train is stopped.
Major bucks in up-front costs from adding a whole extra system, not necessarily removing much of the old, still got to maintain everything.
No, you just need to make it look good enough for people to invest in it. This concept is stupid and does not work.
@@AsAs-nd7gy you nailed it
In addition to the physical restraints clearing railroad crossings and turnout frogs and points, wheel friction/traction is essential to propulsion and braking. so you are out of luck on traditional railroads.
It would be a new system and the rail is manufactured in volume with mature installation processes, so keep going. It has many benefits.
I hadn't thought about braking. The locomotive can manage propulsion because it contacts the rail but it couldn't handle braking the whole train alone.
Even if they can't solve the switching problem, this could make future grade-separated high-speed rail projects even more cost effective. They should design switches to work with their existing tech to sell alongside as a system.
1. Have the rail mechanism at 45° to the track, but leave the face of it perpendicular to the rail, to minimise the footprint.
2. Have one permanent or drop-down wheel, on each corner to handle switching. The wheel doesn't even need to touch the track, it could be 1mm off a the rail and only touch the switching rail.
3. 🎉
@@SamiCoopers exactly what I was thinking, place it under an angle on the inside.
☝️
I completed my PTS training recently, so i feel confident in understanding some areas of this video well. Taking away the wheels of the carriage to replace with raised magnets would save the rail from friction and bumps, metal to metal contact but i feel long-term testing of how much Wear and tear can be caused by magnets, needs to be done before increasing to heavier loads...so calculated Calibration can take place. Their using Manganese rail in some places, as it's the most strongest metal used for rail. Hot weather can buckle the rail and cold weather can break the rail, there's a lot to take in overall so I'd love to learn how Magnets effects Rail over time which may be invisible to the eye. Thanks Ricky for your work
I would like to know exactly how the train is suspended over the track? Not much surface area.
3 videos in the first 6 days of the year. I’m digging this!
-PJ
👍👍👍
This could be used _today_ in any single escalator in any single building, including airpots
This is not new. In 2022, China revealed the world’s first suspended maglev line built with permanent magnets that can keep a “sky train” afloat forever - even without a power supply. The 800-metre (2,600-foot) experimental Red Rail in southern China’s Xingguo county, Jiangxi province, used powerful magnets rich in rare earth elements to produce a constantly repelling force strong enough to lift a train with 88 passengers in the air. The permanent magnet suspension system saved about 31% energy when compared to non maglev-suspended sky trains.
name: Maglev Sky Train
testing location: Xingguo county, Southern China
length: 800 meters
capacity: 88 passengers
top speed: 80 km/h
" powerful magnets rich in rare earth elements" Do we have enough of these for mass production?
@ 90% of rare earth magnet production is in China. Something like this will be a cakewalk for them to produce since they already have the tech, the materials and manufacturing.
The Japanese MAGLEV is meant to hit insane high speeds -- it is not just a levitating train. Japan has those, too, but they are not as efficient as regular wheel trains, so they are not widespread. The usecase for the Japanese high speed MAGLEV is to connect cities that would normally require 3 to 4 hours of time on a regular bullet train, down to only 1 hour. Now that is a real game changer.
This product is a nice idea as a technology demonstrator, but not as a real usecase satisfying design in any way.
There is a market opportunity on the monorails that run on cities or airports.
True, can use only full loops, so there are no rail splits to deal with
Is there a chance the track could bend?
@@2smoker64 not on your life my Hindu friend 🫡
They should attach this system to a football pitch in one of the stadiums that have sliding pitches for better sunlight, it would be much easier and quicker to move; same goes for stadiums that have sliding roofs.
In order to have magnetic levitation you have to have opposing magnets and train rails are not a magnet. So how does this work again?
@@jg-bd3hr
Surprised I got this far into the comments, without a single person bringing this up....
With steel rails, and a permanent magnet, nothing is floating anywhere....
😅 x section of rails is like a capital "I" it works by magnetic attraction, not repulsion. The magnetic flux over the top of the ferrous railway track is redirected through the device like a horseshoe magnet that is shielded in the bend, thus, no downward attraction forces. Net upward attraction force supports the weight
@VicAusTaxiTruckie
I still don't get it.... too stupid I guess... Regular train wheels are really low friction anyway...
It might find buyers for high end wardrobe doors, but the cost vs cheap castors is going to make it impossible to sell enough to make back any R&D money...
Anyone investing in this is going to get burnt....
@@VicAusTaxiTruckie Can't get my head around that one.
@@tmog1000 ok, the iron tracks have a cross section with a "T" shape top, effectively, the system put super strong magnets under the flat of the "T" and sheild the top of the top of the "T" from magnetic fields. The magnets are pulling the whole thing upwards
They'll probably need to be able to switch to and from wheels for those problematic spots. To do it, they'll likely need either some kind of LIDAR sensors to track things or to paint the tracks and scan for the paint to know when to go on wheels and when to resume maglev. On the upside, switching to wheels could be used for power generation if it's set up correctly, like regenerative braking.
NO BRAKES! So you have to have an engine or something touching the rail to propel it forward. But on a train all the cars have brakes. So whats stopping this thing if the engine derails? There are alot of cool technologies like this out there that just aren't practical outside of the lab.
Oh, don’t worry, the motion losses enough energy due to magnetic hysteresis, there may be no “friction” but you lose energy due to motion in other ways. They’re essentially braking all the time, and they’d have to counteract that to maintain speed.
Comment from an old guy. This is a very old idea and one of the two ideas of maglev trains back in the day.
The first idea was to use permanent magnets to create a permanent lift. This would be accomplished only by using superconducting magnets using cryogenic liquids to cool them.
The second idea was to basically get the train moving on the track. The motion of the magnets on the train would induce Eddy currents in the metal track below and also a magnetic field that matches the train magnets polarity. That is to say, that if you can get the train moving, the train automatically lifts for free. Foward motion=lift. Plus: no friction after liftoff speed. A linear switching magnet could be used to move the system, same as superconductive magnet trains.
Two choices presented themselves: the Japanese engineers that initially created such trains chose superconductors in cryogenic containers, the first option, over fifty years ago.
Seeing superconducting lift trains basically became so common that people forgot about the eddy current induction train possibility.
And, oh yes, it works. Cheap, foolproof, low power and no liquid helium cooled superconducting magnets needed. This simplifies maglev trains enormously.
That was really cool, thank you! The challenge mentioned at the end, I can see them solving either with stepping stones -- switch back to "wheels" on the dangerous parts -- or, by allowing the pieces "magnetically gripping" the sides of the track to widen. A camera in front as well as comms with the system should help it know when to widen and when it's safe to tighten. It should be designed such that it still operates when widened, just at reduced capacity (i.e., slower, most likely). Thanks again!
If retrofitting is an issue, I think they should make it to where it alternates between traditional wheels and this. When approaching a switch, just lift it away.
Could this be used on linear rails of 3d printers and CNC machines? That would be a game changer.
Not really . The biggest problem 3d printers and CNC machines have is accelerating the moving components , not loses from the linear bearings
@@PaulG.x Well, in 3D prints with large flat walls, the vibration of the linear bearings can be seen. A smoother track would alleviate this.
@@Toastmaster_5000 The same can be seen in some cheaper laser cutters. Eliminating vibration from the bearings could really improve the quality of precision engraving work.
@@PaulG.x I'm not thinking acceleration, I'm thinking of wobble in that can be seen in some situation, like what @toastmaster_5000 pointed out below.
I really wish I could post a picture of some laser engravings I've done on a low-end engraver. The wobble from the bearings can be pretty bad if you look closely.
Rail head wear is only from guide rollers on this though so that's a huge saving on rail/wheel maintenance. Very interesting. I'm sure the US will want it for their rail mounted rocket sled testing range ^^ , that I would pay money to watch! Thanks for the video!
Obviously, they need a way to magnetically stabilize the maglev horizontally (if possible) to eliminate the guide wheels, and they need a way to _magnetically_ propel the system using eddy currents on the tracks generated by electromagnetism on the system. Hopefully, they can achieve this.
Forza! Che magnifico! Well-done, Ironlev! Good luck figuring out switching stations. This is too brilliant not be figured out. In bocca al lupo!
Regarding road crossings, if each section of the maglev unit under the train carriages could automatically raise the one section of the maglev unit to clear the track and tarmac just a little, this would be enough to allow the further maglev units along the track to continue the drive.
You could still have the rails, but the ironironlev system can engage, by levitating, and reduce friction on the track for the long stretches. Concorde wasn't supersonic over land.
Always appreciate your topics and presentations!
This concept is brilliant to say the least. Thanks for bring it to our attention.
The challenges of design optimization, especially the switching and crossing "opportunities for excellence," as Tony Robbins might say, appear to be an ideal candidate for AI to solve.
Also, AI could be applied to the system electronics to correlate multiple factors such as crossings, etc with geolocation. Over time, and with "socialized learning to all systems on all tracks. This is a constant six-sigma search for opportunities for improvement.
For example, a new maglev train is put into service in Chicago. Instead of learning where the crossings are, but, perhaps what happens over those crossings at any moment in history recorded by all the trains that have travelled anywhere.
Like Tesla robots. When one robots learns something, all robots learn it through the super-web of cyber-space.
Very large doors like commercial and military hanger doors are a definite candidate. Show them the money to them and you'll have another customer.
This is an excellent presentation with a very big challenge to conquer over road crossings. But there'll be new innovations that we haven't thought of, yet. Keep Thinking BIG.
Was thre any experimentation for using the tech to reduce derailments, where existing railcars could have smaller versions of these that helps keep the wheels glued to the rails? I know that is not intended use case, but might be a step towards full wheel truck replacement.
I would be all for a version of this that was like a Roller Coaster track in the air. You could set up sections that just pushed left or right a section of track into another section. They could be individual cars like bobsleds that were electric vehicles. The system could run several tracks on top of one another and a computer manage them. At certain a thin strip below the car could be used to power in. In fact, if this were covered with solar panels on a roof above the track, it could power the whole system! You could set your destination and go to sleep/read etc. while the computer brought you to your destination. If something broke like a motor, another car could be use to push that unit to another the closest town for persons to disembark while another car was fetched.
It's about time someone did this.
Im just curious what the point is. Its not like You use less energy to move the train. You lower the train's rolling resistance by providing a rediculous amount of electrial energy. Your just shifting the use and type of energy required to move the vehicle. Inductive levitation is NOTHING new. This feels like another "HyperLoop". something feasable but with no actual benefit.
Passing a magnet over the soil near train tracks will result in a lot of fine metallic dust building up on it. Would this dust collect on the magnets and how would that affect the working magnetic field?
Yes, but like with 5 blades automatic shaver, only at first use ;)
There may be no contact friction, but you’re still going to have energy losses from moving related to the magnetic field changes in the iron, which I’m pretty sure will increase with speed. I forget the exact name, but I could see the things you were sliding around coming to rest on their own. Also, the more you take advantage of the magnetization of permanent magnets, the faster they become demagnetized, so what’s the replacement schedule and cost of that? Large permanent magnets are usually very expensive. It makes sense when you’re talking about some of these objects like sliding doors, where you don’t have multiple tons and you don’t need high speed.
We are definitely going to want an update when they start doing stuff with this out in the real world.
I'm amazed that this haven't been made before now
Either they created a new way to make really cheap and powerful permanent magnets, or they are way to expensive
Unlikely to be more expensive than a maglev train + track
Super cool video as always!!
There are many places where there are simple A to B without road crossings (or where installing one or two underpasses are all that's needed). A and B might be hundreds of kilometers apart. In Australia for example, once you leave Kalgoorlie on the Indian Pacific train you don't cross a road or encounter much until you reach Port Augusta. That's thousands of kilometers. there are some switching spots so that trains going opposite ways can pass each other. They could be eradicated by simply only having the one mag lev' train going back and forth. It could do it at a much higher speed I'm sure.
You have to change trains a couple of times to traverse the country, but most people fly from Perth to Sydney anyway. The train trip is for a more adventurous experience.
It could also compliment road freight. Vastly speeding up the long middle bit.
I am only speculating and I think what is happening is that an electric current is induced on the rails using pulsed or varying current on the train. Then the magnets on the train ( on either side of the rail) exert a motor force on the induced current creating the lift. Might save a bit of energy compared to wheeled trains, since most of the energy is used to work against air resostance😅. Another possibility is that an electric current is passed directly across the rail guide and the train magnets acr directly on the current. If the train can produce 20T magnetic fields, then to produce a lift force of1000 kg, a current of 1000 X 10 ÷20 ÷0.05 = 10000A needs to pass through the rail, assuming a rail width of 5 cm.
Not all track is the same weight, and the rail width varies accordingly. In the US there are 6 common weights varying from 57 kg per metre (115 pounds per yard) to 73 kg per metre (147 pounds per yard). A maglev system designed for conventional track would need to cope with multiple widths as a train may change from high speed track to lower speed track several times in a journey.
A retractable conventional wheel system is already used on regular pick-up trucks used for track inspection and whatnot. Adapting a heavier system to handle the load of freight cars is just a matter of scaling. But the added expense for every train car might well be prohibitive.
I think they will just have to use super narrow bearings. Narrow titanium rollers for strength, interspersed with narrower iron to complete the magnetic circuit. This probably has a little less lifting power so the entire assembly needs to be lengthen by some percentage to carry the load. The narrow bearings will roll right through all the narrow gaps on the tracks.
That's amazing! I've always wondered why something like this couldn't work without super cold conducting magnets!
How does it handle curves?
This is so interesting. Thank you for sharing with us
We've all seen the maintenance trucks that the railroads send out to work on the track. They have regular wheels and 'rail guides' that descend to support the truck when on the tracks. The truck uses its drive wheels on the rail to progress.
Given the benefits of the mag-lev, I'm imagining that rather than retrofitting existing rail cars, why not adapt to the 'shipping container' load size and a minimal mag-lev (lower weight) that attaches, along with descending rail-guides like on the truck. Lightening the overall load by taking the massive rail cars out of the mix acknowledges that locomotives are also oversized when you reduce the friction.
To those who refer to the low rolling resistance of steel wheels on steel rails; you're talking several more orders of reduction with mag-lev over steel rail than you are steel rail over the road.
What I'm seeing is by adopting the rolling stock of the road with the mag-lev, you could operate on specific lines - say from a port like Savannah to a distribution point like Atlanta. One could imagine in an effort to rationalize the truck traffic, building rail lines between the east west and north south lanes connecting major cities that would transport maglev containers that are on mobile pedastals that not have rail guides, truck tires and mag-lev capability but are led around the distribution lots by low-speed audtonomous vehicles that put them behind the right semi-tractor for a 30-container truck-train.
Who knows, the drop in rolling friction may be so grand that instead of a semi-tractor pulling that train of 30 containers, it is a cybertruck-sized vehicle 'cause it just doesn't take much to move stuff over a mag-lev setup.
System would require one major change to any conventional rail line, from moving point switching to a moving FROG switch, where the rails themselves move rather than just wedging the flange over. EVERY switch on a given line would have to be changed, to accommodate this system. The system, as described, would ultimately be more expensive as EVERY road carriage would need a minimum of two of these electromagnetic trucks, while industrial cars could probably get away with one... with no switching involved. But you're also looking at significant costs involved with trucks like these modified to operate on conventionally-switched track, due to the load-bearing moving parts needing to bring conventional flanged wheels down in order to lift over the rail during the transition to the diverging track. This means maintenance of the cars themselves would be more expensive. Changing the switches to handle either type would be less expensive for the operator, than changing the platform that needs constant monitoring and maintenance.
I like that they have rusty rails in their demonstration bit of rail. I wish them luck. Maybe the old school wheels are just above the mag rail and the mag rail lifts, settling onto the steel wheels that are 5cm out of the way most of the time. Maybe slow upgrades to the infrastructure could reduce the number steel wheel engagements over time as they alter level crossings to have gaps for the trains and infill for the cars.
I can not see it being energetically efficient for freight trains. However, train engines are EVs with their own generators, but can they power all the power needed for this?
It's unpowered, the configuration of the magnets creates and maintains the gaps.
Totally awesome example of practical innovation!
You could rocker down conventional wheels with a rounded profile and rocker lift the bearings. The need is to keep it on the rail.
There may be a way to "bump" the magnetic field to lift over the rail, but that means suspension and again, maybe a rocker situation.
I think a hybrid train first where it can use traditional wheels just for crossings and switches would be a good next step.
You can use rotating magnetic fields to provide the side bearings at road crossings and switches.
MAGLEV is definitely on the right track. I think the solution to transition from standard rails to flush rails, etc is very simple and can be integrated into the MAGLEV chassis
remove the guide bearings and use traditional bogeys as the guides, just reduce the pressure applied by the bogeys using the mag-lev., the outside part of the mag part could be pneumatically positioned , so you could remove the outside at crossings and use the traditional bogeys at that time. most crossings are taken at slow speeds so it should be manageable.
The problems I see are grade crossings and switches. In most current applications, there is only room for the flange of the wheel to pass. The guide rollers shown in the video would collide with pavement, in the case of grade crossings, or other rail pieces in the case of switches in the case of switches or crossovers.
Awesome 👌 game changer, I think changing switching stations and crossings is the solution or moving rails into tunnels
is this more efficient than wheels? like you need to accelerate the train on both but you then need to constantly provide power to apply a force against gravity and momentum, like metal on metal is low friction
Perfect for the smaller applications. Ingenious!
As for actual trains... They don't even mention the heat a moving magnet will produce and how it will affect (i.e. deform) the rails. They either don't know about it or they intentionally fail to address the issue at this point.
Can't wait to see Thunderfoot's *BUSTED* video.
A maglev train has to have TWO sets of magnets: the first provide the lift, which this system seems to accomplish, but you also need the 2nd set of magnets which are the ones that switch between pulling and pushing in tiny fractions of a second in order to actually more the train forward and backward. Nowhere in the video was that even brought up. Everything shown required the host to manually provide the motive force. Thus, this seems like a start of a possible solution, but its maybe only 20% of the total solution needed. There are the problems of switching locations and level crossings acknowledged in the video, plus the problems other commenters have raised such as how the long and (currently at least) straight magnet shown would deal with curves in the track, etc. And what I believe to be current prevailing thinking is that maglev trains can't be reasonably engineered to climb steep track gradients. Like TGV technology trains, maglev really needs straight and level track. Or at least notably shallower gradients than conventional rail.
This is very interesting technology and they are right that it needs to be able to run without changing any infrastructure. When they solve that, I imagine it will be widely used as it will reduce running costs massively.
If we here in Australia got this it would totally change our transport infrastructure
Look, Ma, no brakes! 🤣
It seems like the ideal large-scale technology demonstration for this would be a retractable roof on a stadium.
@@mlind66 no one is trying to solve that problem
@@anibaldamiao what are you talking about?
It may have some use, for revitalisation of abandoned lines to small passanger stream, without costly full repair of tracks.
Or even like some commuter in cities with many tracks but mostly used only for cargo.
A couple of steel bolts lying near the tracks could ruin it. It would be constantly be picking up iron that's naturally found in sand. Trains are reliable because their tech is large and tough. This isn't. I imagine kids that just for giggles kids would toss nickels at the magnetic parts of a slider until the thing seizes.
1/10th the power to move the elevator is a HUGE improvement
This seems prefect for a hanging Mono-rail.
I love this! I am amazed we don't already use magnets all over the place where friction is involved. Batteries/energy is always the difficulty?
how do you change lane with it? is it requires speciallly designed railway switches?
🤗 GRATEFUL RICKY,YOU ARE ABLE TO MAKE THE JOURNEY AND SHARE THE EXCITING POSSIBILITIES FOR THE FUTURE 🧐💚💚💚
Anyone else noticed not a single word about propulsion? MagLev is using linear induction by electromagnets this is using permanent magnets, no contact to the rail means no way to decelarate. How will this thing stop? I understand why for many (including this content creator) it seems a viable idea, but as a civil engineer myself I would give it a D+. Good effort. The side projects could bring in some financial success but not the rail.
You have to have lifting wheels with a screw mechanism to be strong enough to lift the whole train with a way to lower the coupler at the same time. Or a new coupler that can change height frome one side to the other.
This is amazing technology and the maglev train possibilities is interesting but watching you push the sliding door I thought of the skyscraper in New York City that has a counter weight built into the top of the building to offset the sway in the building from wind. This could be a computer controlled pendulum for stability control of buildings.
If look at it's "tires" or magnets for lack of a better word you can see degradation on it's tires/rollersn - and this is a small model. They need to scale up and see what happens.
Innovation always seems better to me than the original idea or format. What's better old school crank starting your car, or using a push button fob?
I could see this working for the train cars _IF_ they can get the guides narrow enough to fit existing switching points and grade crossings. The train engines would likely have to be conventional diesel or diesel/electrics although they wouldn't need to work nearly as hard.
Another issue they will have to overcome, in the case of trains, is stopping the maglev train.
Wheeled trains use brakes on every car to help slow the train and bring all of that tonnage on each car to a stop. Although each maglev car will be easy to pull, if they use current train engines, it will be impossible for those engines to stop all of that weight from moving without some sort of braking system on each car.
Very interesting !!!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, ideas and videos. Left wondering, you said it’s permanent magnet yet I can obviously see a fairly large electric motor on each corner. How is the electricity being used and how much. Off the charts on cool factor but steel wheels don’t consume power when they are just supporting the load and not going anywhere. If it’s entirely self powered thru permanent magnets than a disclaimer needs to be included to explain away the electric motors. I personally would love to have this as a gantry crane in a workshop and would have no problem with any electrical load if I’m gaining the ease of moving load by hand and the quietness of removing any actuator that would move the carriage. Looking forward to seeing more of this technology in the future. Road crossings and switches aside how does it go around corners? As much as I love the concept I’m guessing the train angle definitely has a few more problems to solve.
You don’t give up conventional flanged wheels you add lowering magnets to use on open spaces. You would establish a gps database of where the magnets can be lowered. This would be used on passenger trains. In freight trains there isn’t any power on the cars to lower or raise magnets.
Cool. Alaska needs this.
Passive Levitation with no energy being input is just so ... counterintuitive! Cool stuff! I want it for concrete bunker blast doors on my as-yet non-existent underground shelter. :-)
As you say there's only a small amount of maglift trains there must be local trains that don't go through crossing or roads, Where it can be implemented
I'm thinking to use for conveyor belts for the mining and package handling industries. Also for linear actuation of robots and car suspension.