History
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. A feasible linear induction motor is described in the US patent 782312 ( 1905 - inventor Alfred Zehden of Frankfurt-am-Main ), for driving trains or lifts. The German engineer Hermann Kemper built a working model in 1935. In the late 1940s, professor Eric Laithwaite of Imperial College in London developed the first full-size working model.
In a single sided version the magnetic field can create repulsion forces that push the conductor away from the stator, levitating it, and carrying it along in the direction of the moving magnetic field. Laithewaite called the later versions of it magnetic river. These versions of the linear induction motor use a principle called transverse flux where two opposite poles are placed side by side. This permits very long poles to be used, which permits high speed and efficiency.
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. Most linear motors in use are LIM (linear induction motor), LSM (linear synchronous motor). Linear DC motors are not used as it includes more cost and linear SRM suffers from poor thrust. So for long run in traction LIM is mostly preferred and for short run LSM is mostly preferred.
Linear induction motors have also been used for launching aircraft, the Westinghouse Electropult system in 1945 was an early example and the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) was due to be delivered in 2010.
Read more about this topic: Linear Induction Motor
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