Re: Maglev power consumption.

[dbromage@omni.com.au (David Bromage)]

Tell (telljb@ozemail.com.au) wrote:
> I have never really studied this magnetic propulsion
> system.  I would be interested to know if somebody has
> figures on the electrical energy required to propel
> these things and is the "track" energised for its
> entire length all the time.?

Thyssen claims it uses less power than conventional trains, but I have
read that this is only true up to about 150km/h. I don't know if their
calculations include the power needed for levitation, or on board lighting
and heating.

A physicist at NASA emailed me a response to an earlier posting saying the
magnetic field necessary to levitate a 300t train by 15cm would be about 3
Tesla. Thyssen says the field felt by passengers would be no more than 100
micro Tesla, approximately the same as a domestic toaster or hair drier. 
This means a substantial shielding field of approximately the same power
as required for levitation. This before you even get the thing moving.

(Pause while I try to remember my high school and undergraduate physics)

There are some figures which I dispute. They say the maglev will
accelerate from 0 to 300km/h in 5km, and that a conventional train
requires 30km to reach the same speed from a standing start.

Another thing to remember is the time frame.Thyssen says the Hamburg -
Berlin link should be approved in 1999 (planning started in 1997), and the
292km route would commence operations in 2005.  Back in early 1996,
Speedrail said it could have the link running in time for the Olympics. If
the project was approved today, Speedrail would be running in 2002 and
Transrapid not until at least 2006. Also compare the construction costs of
$2.1 billion and $4 billion respectively. 

The German maglev line was priced at DM9 billion in 1993 (A$7.8 billion in
1993), which is probably closer to A$9 billion today. I don't see how they
can build a longer route for only $4 billion.

Cheers
David