Disturbance-Rejection Performance Evaluation of High-Speed Maglev Trains’ EML System: A Data-Driven Approach

The electromagnetic levitation (EML) system is the core system of the electromagnetic suspension (EMS) high-speed maglev train, and its performance critically determines the safety and reliability of train operation. Since EML system is open-loop unstable, its closed loop stability is easily influenced by external disturbances. In addition to investigating high-performance levitation controllers to improve the stability of the EML system, evaluating the disturbance-rejection capability of the EML system is also a crucial aspect in ensuring the safe and stable operation of the train. This paper thus addresses disturbance-rejection performance monitoring and evaluation of high-speed maglev trains’ EML system. First, the impact mechanism of external disturbances on levitation gap tracking errors in closed-loop controlled EML systems is analytically investigated. Then, a novel performance indicator for monitoring the disturbance rejection capability of the levitation control system is proposed. It utilizes only the online data from the EML system, without knowing its accurate model. On this basis, performance evaluation is carried out by grading the monitored disturbance-rejection performance into different levels for further handling. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed methods is validated through numerical simulations and physical experiments. This approach provides a practical solution for controller evaluation in EML systems prior to commercial deployment of EMS high-speed maglev trains.