Electromagnetic levitation of a conducting cylinder

L. S. Piggott, A.M.I.E.E., and G. F. Nix, M.Sc, Graduate I.E.E.

Synopsis
A long conducting nonmagnetic circular cylinder may be supported on the magnetic field produced by
an alternating current carried in two horizontal wires parallel to the axis of the cylinder. The cylinder will
float stably provided it is not too high and not displaced too far from the centre of symmetry. The
boundaries of the region of stable floating have been determined for a 2cm-diameter aluminium bar when
the wires are 2, 4 and 6cm apart, and when the frequency of the supply is 50, 400 and 2000c/s. The
power loss in the bar has also been calculated. Both the width of the region of stable floating and the loss
in the bar increase as the distance between the wires increases and as the frequency is raised. The current
required to lift the bar decreases as the frequency is raised and as the wires are brought closer together.
The theoretical results have been checked by experiment for one configuration.

List of principal symbols
a — radius of cylinder, m
b\, b2 = radial distance of filaments from centre
of cylinder, m
An, Bn, Cn, Dn, En = coefficients in the series for the field
vectors
Ez = amplitude of the Zcomponent of elec-
trical intensity, V/m
F= Fx +jFy = 'complex'force per unit length of cylinder
Fx, Fy — components of force, N/m
Hr, HQ — amplitudes of r and 0 components of
magnetic field strength, A/m
Jnl, In2 = amplitudes of the components of surface-
cur rent density in the equivalent
sheets, A/m
/ = peak current in the filaments
P = heat loss per unit length of cylinder, W/m
Qn =
T — torque per unit length of cylinder, Nm/m
oc{, ct2 — polar angles of positions of filaments
II = vector potential
a = conductivity of cylinder, mho/m
1 Introduction
When a conducting body is placed in an alternating
magnetic field, currents will flow in the body; by interaction
with the magnetic field, these currents will cause a force to
be exerted on it. If it can be arranged that this force acts
vertically upwards, the gravitational force of the body may
be annulled, and the body may then be described as 'floating
on the magnetic field'. However, it will not necessarily float
stably, for should it be displaced from a position in which
no horizontal force acts upon it, it will or will not return to
that position according to the direction of the horizontal
force. If this force is such as to displace the body further
from its original position, this position will be one of unstable
equilibrium. If a surface could be so constructed that on it
the horizontal force changed sign, this surface would represent
the boundary between regions of static stability and static
instability. There will be a region of static instability where
the vertical force is less than the gravitational force and
decreases as the body falls.
If the body is moving in the magnetic field, the system of
currents flowing in it will be modified by its motion, and the
force acting upon it will depend not only on its position but
Paper 5041 J, first received 2nd February and in revised form 23rd
March 1966
Mr. Piggott and Mr. Nix are with the Electrical Engineering Labora-
tories, University of Manchester, Manchester 13, England
also on its rotational and translational velocities. Further-
more, there will be inertial forces in addition to the gravita-
tional force. The problem of dynamical stability of the body
is more difficult than that of static stability and is beyond the
scope of this investigation.
No attempt is made here to analyse the general case; only
one particular case is studied. Two long parallel wires in a
horizontal plane carrying equal and opposite alternating
currents produce the magnetic field, and the object to be
floated is a long nonmagnetic metal cylinder whose axis is
parallel to the exciting wires.
The force would be increased if the wires were laid on an
iron surface. The primary field would thereby be nearly
doubled, but the force would not be four times that developed
in the absence of the iron because of the attractive force
between the cylinder and its image in the iron. It is the
authors' intention to investigate subsequently the effect of an
iron backing.
A list of references to electromagnetic levitation in general
is given in Prof. E. R. Laithwaite's paper 'Electromagnetic
levitation', Proc. IEE, 1965, 112, (12), p. 2361.
2 Theory
2.1 The electromagnetic field
The cylinder being supported is supposed to be long,
and it can be reasonably assumed that there is no component
of magnetic field strength H parallel to the cylinder axis
(zaxis). It is convenient to express the field vectors in terms
of a vector potential II = (0, 0, IT).
a)V x II
Ez = -h a + joj€)Yl
and V2IT - A = 0 • • • (1)
Let the Jtaxis be horizontal, and let the origin of polar
co-ordinates be the centre of the cross-section of the cylinder.
At b, a there is a filament carrying a current /. (The effect
of the secondfilamentcarrying —/can be added subsequently.)
Suppose the whole of space to be divided into three regions:
(1) the inside of the cylinder, r < a
(2) the annular space, a < r < b
(3) r>b
In region 1, only conduction current flows, and eqn. 1
becomes
A suitable solution is
00
n = j^Ah
— oo

PROC. IEE, Vol. 113, No. 7, JULY 1966 1229

where kx = (-/O^OCT) 1 / 2 . [A solution in terms of Yn(kxr) is At r = b, Hr is continuous and HQ has a discontinuity
excluded because the field must remain finite at the origin.] equal to the surface-current density in the sheet r = b.
Then
Bnbn + Cnb~n = Dnb~n n>0
• (2) (12)
5 n 6" + C&-» = .En6", /i < 0

H9 = - a— = - akx
an Dnb~n - Cnb~n = 0
or
. (3)
03)
Ez=-h • • (4) -Enb" + ^ft" - CJb~» = ^ - , n<0
jajeQtt

d At r = a, both Hr and i/"e are continuous:

The term in J0(A:ir) gives rise to a current density Bna» + C a - " + ^A'nUkxa) =0 . . (14)
ak\A$$cxr), which produces a total current along the
cylinder. This current will depend upon the nature of the
. (15)
return path. It will be assumed here that there is no return
path, and Ao = 0. In region 2, it will be appropriate to
suppose that II obeys Laplace's equation, since the wave- When eqns. 12-15 are solved, and use is made of the recur-
length corresponding to the excitation frequency will be very rence relations between the Bessel functions, it is found that
large compared with the dimensions of the system. Thus .n-l
eqn. 1 becomes
\b) "
i Af —\ I =0
An = —r—: —r, n > 0

A suitable solution is
„
0 = £ (Bnrn + Cnr-»)e»*
— CO The other constants are of no interest.
In the complete system there will be two current filaments:
with Bo= Co = 0. Then + / a t (b{, aj) and —/at (b2, a 2 ), and A'n must be replaced by

2
H
- ~ S
. . (16)
8
or r - C^" V (6)

Ez = • (7) • • (17)

In region 3, there is the additional condition that the field

vectors must remain finite at infinity; thus positive powers where / „ , , -
27TbX
of r must be excluded:
I
-l
= S Dnr~"
2.2 The force on the cylinder
- r (?" E^V") • (8) In calculating the force acting on the cylinder, it is
— oo
convenient to use Cartesian co-ordinates whose axes are
-1 fixed in relation to the filaments. Let the origin be on the
"e = v
1 / i rHsr
\ ^"^
— 00
• (9) midpoint of the line joining the filaments, which are 2c apart
(Fig. 1). If (x, y) is the position of the centre of the cylinder
-1
rnejn%\
2 ( ^^ i
E.- to eQ[XQ I 2 J J • (10)
— 00
V i
The current filament lies on the boundary between regions 2
and 3, and in order that boundary conditions may be applied,
the current filament must be replaced by a set of travelling
waves of surface current density i(6) on the surface r = b,
so that

i(fi) = £ IneM
— 00

l r2n 2 n

Thus /„ = ;=- i{d)e-J

2TT Jn
a+S
1
T
8^0
r28' ; 2 6
-Jn* . . (11)
J
a-S Fig. 1
and ' - „ = /„ Cylinder in relation to the filament wires
1230 PROC. IEE, Vol. 113, No. 7, JULY 1966
in this co-ordinate system, since = jkx
2 2 M
b\ = (c + x) + y , V = -(c + x)-jy Now = = r {J ll (^ 1 fl)J l , + i(kxa) - fln(kxa)ln+ x(kxa)}
b\ — (c — x)2 + y2, b2ej<*2 = c — x — j'y
The Cartesian components of H are
//"_*. = Hr cos 6 ~ He sin 0 Thus
/ / , = //,. sin 9 + H6 cos 0 ^AnAn+lJn(kxa)Jn+x(kxa) . (20)
The tractive force on the cylinder is
Eqn. 20 reveals that tractive forces are produced by the inter-
Hrdrdd action of adjacent harmonics.
2 J o Joo Since Ao = 0, the series may be rearranged as follows:
2n .a 0

J
r r J
2 A
nAn
o o
= {{£ + S
J
o o

Thus = - ?£ Re Jo JJo k\- £ ^ - A_n_xA_nJn+x(kxa)Jn(kxa)}

sin

- okx cos

Only those terms in the integrand which do not depend on

6 contribute to the integration with respect to 6, and, after ,
some manipulation, the expression reduces to
Now, bx = — (c + z)e~J<Xl, and
Fx = - An(An+l - A n_x) / g—jnoLi
a 277^,
JJ iJ^Ar. —bx
o etc
2-nbx \c + z -
£ Qn {An+x - An_{)
where z = x + jy
and therefore
where C , = \Jn(kxr)\2rdr, a positive real quantity.
J
o ay (a V\
Similarly
Jin .a
Fy =
J
P [k\ £ AM
JJ
n0 n0 - -co
°°
. (22)
X { — £ mAJJkxr)e-Jm« cos 9
Since the filaments must lie outside the cylinder, t| < a,
oo \b2\ < a. Also,
+ rrJr- N1 A T ' (Tr. v\p — JWO c i n

| 7 l
__ -y-Tr/xpa 2 • |2 £ Q {ik ^ ^ t + ^ }
+
4 _oo " and
- i t i ^ , ( ^ . + 1 +^ n _ 1 )} (19)
Eqns. 18 and 19 may be combined to give a 'complex as n becomes very large.
force', F=FX + jFy. Thus the series in eqn. 21 is absolutely convergent for all
physically possible values of z.
F= £ Q n( kxAnAn_x)
2.3 The torque on the cylinder
The total moment of the forces per unit length about,
the axis of the cylinder will be

2n .a
J EzHrr2drd9
0 4

o "o — °° — °°

PROC. IEE, Vol. 113, No. 7, JULY 1966 1231

 From eqns. 16 and 17, it is clear that \An\2 = \A_n\2. Since
Q-n = Qn> there is no resultant torque on the cylinder while
it is stationary in any place in thefield.There is no tendency
for the cylinder to start spinning, but, if rotation were started,
a torque might develop in the direction of rotation, as in a
single-phase induction motor.
increased. If the maximum force is made equal to the gravita-
tional force on the cylinder, the minimum current Imin
required to support the cylinder will beflowingin the filaments.
Imin is given for the various frequencies and configurations
in Table 1, which also gives the I2R loss in the aluminium

2.4 Heat loss in the cylinder

The total heat loss per unit length of the cylinder is

(23)

Thus heat loss involves no interaction between harmonics.

When Qn and An are replaced by the expressions developed
above, eqn. 23 becomes
2
-1

_/ a \ n2\
(24)
\c — z)

Theoretical results
As an example, consider an aluminium cylinder of
radius lcm. Then a\kx\ = 0-1672/ 1 ' 2 , where/is theexcitation
frequency. The horizontal and vertical components of the
force on the cylinder, and the I2R loss in it, have been worked
out for / = 50, 400 and 2000c/s, and for spacing between
the filaments of 2c = 2, 4, 6 and 8 cm. The same forces
would act on a copper cylinder of lcm radius at 31c/s, Fig. 3
248 c/s and 1240 c/s, respectively. The gravitational force on The 12R loss in the cylinder of Fig. 2
the aluminium cylinder is 8-31N/m, and that on the copper
cylinder is 27-4N/m. Table 1
The force in magnitude (to an arbitrary scale) and direction Imin FOR VARIOUS FREQUENCIES AND CONFIGURATIONS,
acting on the cylinder at a number of points in the field is AND THE 12R LOSS IN THE ALUMINIUM CYLINDER
shown in Fig. 2, which is drawn f o r / = 400c/s, and 2c = 2cm.
The I2R loss for the same case is displayed isometrically in
Fig. 3. Both diagrams show only one quadrant, since forces 2c / ym /mfn(r.m.s.) p Temperature

and losses in the other quadrants may be obtained by reflec- cm c/s cm A W/m degC
tion in the co-ordinate axes. The axis of the cylinder cannot 2 50 0-48 2310 167 120-
approach closer than lcm from a filament, and there is 400 0-5 603 218 145
therefore a 'forbidden area' of 1 cm radius centred on each 2000 0-5 465 466 170
filament.
4 50 0-9 6470 307 185
On the vertical axis, the vertical force is zero at y = 0, 400 0-92 1700 358 210
rises to a maximum and then decreases as y is further 2000 10 1430 638 330

6 50 1-32 11900 461 255 .

400 1-4 3120 509 275
2000 1-4 2610 924 450

8 50 1-8 18250 604 320

400 1-8 4790 683 350
2000 1-8 4000 1229 540
I I I I I I I . / /

cylinder when it is located at the point of maximum vertical

force ym and Imin isflowingin thefilaments.The approximate
steady-state temperature of the cylinder is shown in the last
column. This was calculated assuming an ambient tempera-
ture of 27°C; the emissivity of aluminium was taken as 0-2
and the convection loss as 28-4W/m2degC per s.
As the frequency is raised, the current required to give lift
decreases, but the power required increases, and as the
spacing between the filaments is increased, both the current
and the power rise. These results can be explained qualita-
Fig. 2 tively, for, as the spacing of the filaments is increased, the
Force acting on an aluminium cylinder of 1 cm radius, over filaments magnetic field strength on the ;yaxis decreases, and thus a
2 cm apart
The arrows represent the force in magnitude (arbitrary scale) and direction when
larger current is required to produce the necessary flux in the
the axis of the cylinder is at the base of the arrow cylinder. The electric intensity induced in the cylinder is pro-
1232 PROC. IEE, Vol. 113, No. 7, JULY 1966
portional to the frequency, and, as the frequency is raised,
the necessary current will fall; however, the product of current
and frequency will not be constant because the effective
resistance of the cylinder will rise as the frequency is raised;
this causes the increase in I2R loss.
From Table 1, it appears that the filaments should be
closely spaced in order to keep the energy loss low. The
frequency will have to be chosen to give a compromise
between excessive current in the filaments and excessive I2R
loss in the cylinder.
Both the frequency and spacing will influence the width of
the region of stable floating. In Fig. 4 the boundary of the
region of static stability, as defined in Section 1, is shown for
three configurations and for three frequencies. It will be seen
that maximum width of the stable region is obtained by using
large spacing and high frequency; both require high currents
and give rise to high I2R loss.
Fig. 4
Boundaries of the region of stablefloatingof an aluminium cylinder
of lem radius
50 c/s 400c/s 2000 c/s
a 2c = 2cm b 2c = 4cm c 2c • 6cm
4 Experimental results
The theory has been developed by assuming 'current
filaments', but any practical piece of equipment must use
conductors of finite area. Since the object of the practical
tests was to confirm the predictions of the theory, some
reasonable approximation to 'filaments' had to be used. With
a conducting cylinder 2cm in diameter, it was considered
that a pair of parallel copper wires of 0-089 cm diameter
would give a reasonable compromise. Wires of such small
diameter cannot carry sufficient current to lift the cylinder,
and therefore the forces produced by a current which does
not overheat the wires are small compared with the gravita-
tional force on the cylinder.
The force acting on the cylinder for a given current will be
greatest if the spacing between the wires is small and the
PROC. IEE. Vol. 113, No. 7, JULY 1966
frequency high. Available power sources dictated that the
tests were performed at 400 c/s and that the wires were
spaced 2cm apart (c/a = 1). A 2 cm-diameter bar of aluminium
alloy was used as the conducting cylinder, and this had a
conductivity of 3-27 x 107mho/m, compared with 3-5 x
107mho/m for pure aluminium. The forces acting on such
a cylinder were recalculated for c\a = 1, using this lower
value of a.
The copper wires were approximately 1 -5m in length, and
both were firmly anchored to a brass block at one end and
held taut by tension springs at the other end in order to
prevent sagging due to the heating effect of the current.
Flexible leads fed current to the wires near the tension springs,
and the brass block at the other end formed a bridging
connection so that the instantaneous currents in the wires
alwaysflowedin opposite directions. The wires were cemented
to numerous narrow Perspex blocks at intervals, and the
blocks were free to slide on a smooth flat surface of non-
conducting material. In this way the wires were maintained
straight and parallel irrespective of the electromagnetic forces
acting on them.
To avoid possible end effects, the cylinder was 50cm long,
so that the length was much greater than the diameter, and
the connections of the current feed to the wires were remote
from the bar. The bar weighed 427 g, and the minimum
calculated current required to lift it at a frequency of 400c/s
was 618 A. The wires were only capable of carrying a current
of approximately 25 A, so that the maximum force that could
be exerted on the bar was of the order of 0 16% of the
gravitational force. To measure such small forces, the bar
was suspended on two threads 55 cm long, and the deflection
of the bar centre due to a force acting perpendicular to the
suspension was observed with a travelling microscope. In
this way, forces acting in the xdirection could be measured
by placing the wires in a plane immediately under the bar
and perpendicular to the suspension, and }>direction forces
could be measured by placing the wires in a plane parallel
to the suspension. Since the forces acting on the bar were
everywhere small compared with its weight, the horizontal
deflection of the bar centre could be considered directly
proportional to the component of force acting in that direction.
The axes of reference for the position of the bar centre
and the wires were taken as the plane through the centre of
the wires and a perpendicular midway between. The maximum
force exerted on the bar occurred when the bar centre lies
on the .yaxis of the system, and, by fixing the wires in a plane
parallel to the suspension, the bar could be deflected suffi-
ciently with a current of 20 A. The supply was smoothed to
Fig. 5
Vertical component of force acting on a 1 cm-radius aluminium
cylinder, when the centre is on an axis passing midway between two
conductors spaced at 2 cm centres and carrying 20 A
1233
eliminate any high-frequency component of current from the
measurements.
The lifting force on the j>axis is plotted in Fig. 5 for the
system with a current of 20 A, together with the experimental
values obtained. The bar would not fit between the wires,
and so the range of experimental values was set by the
position at which interference of the wires and the bar
occurs. In Fig. 6a, the measured values of the ^component
force at a constant distance from the plane of the wires are
compared with the calculated values for two values of y/a.
650A flowed in the tubes. The power consumption at the
input terminals of the transformer was 2-67kW. The
calculated current was 640 A.
Increasing the diameter of the copper tubes to 0-476 cm
reduces the resistance presented to the transformer, and the
system was then able to supply over 800A. However, the
aluminium bar rests on the tubes with its centre at a greater
distance from the xaxis, so that a greater current is needed
to achieve levitation.
Table 2 shows the current needed to lift the bar at various
heights on the central axis; it also shows the calculated
current.

Table 2

CURRENT REQUIRED TO LIFT AN ALUMINIUM BAR

OF l C M RADIUS AT VARIOUS HEIGHTS ON THE
CENTRAL AXIS

yla Current Calculated

current

A A
0-9 744 740
0-95 792 111
100 832 810
105 849 851
xiO'- 3
0-8

0-4
The bar floated stably at all the heights shown in the Table.
A hollow bar of identical material and diameter was also
levitated successfully. A central hole of 0-9cm diameter
reduced the weight by 21%, and the system of 0-476 cm-
diameter tubes was able to lift this bar above the stability
-0-4 boundary. Table 3 shows that the current required to levitate

1
-0-8
0-14 0-12 008 004 0 0-04 008 0-12 0-14
X/a Table 3
b
Fig. 6 CURRENT REQUIRED TO LIFT AN ALUMINIUM TUBE
Components of force OF l C M OUTSIDE RADIUS AND 0 4 5 CM INSIDE
a Vertical component of force acting on the cylinder in the arrangement of Fig. 5,
at a constant height above the plane of the conductors RADIUS, AT VARIOUS HEIGHTS ON THE CENTRAL AXIS

b Horizontal component of force, yla = 0-7

yla Current Calculated
current

The forces in the xdirection were everywhere less than A A

those in the y direction and could be measured with accuracy 0-95 687 680
only when the bar was close to the wires and with the maxi- 100 722 720
mum permissible currentflowing.Fig. 66 shows the measured 105 769 754
110 800 793
values of this component at a distance y/a = 0-7 on both 115 unstable 836
sides of the .yaxis. The values are scaled to 20 A for direct
comparison with Figs. 5 and 6a. Determination of the
stability boundary for the system was not possible, as this
would involve detection of force reversal. this bar was still close to the value calculated for a solid
bar with a 21 % reduction in density and that the stability
boundary occurred at approximately y/a = 1 • 1 on the central
4.1 Practical system
axis. The calculated stability boundary was at y/a = 1-15.
Since the necessary current for levitation of the 2 cm
bar is over 600A at 400c/s, the current-carrying conductors
must be capable of dissipating a considerable amount of
heat. Water-cooled small copper tubes are capable of carrying 5 Conclusions
very high currents, and so a small system using these con-
ductors was built to compare this with the previous tests. The experimental results show good agreement with
The copper tubes were 20 cm long with an outside diameter the theoretical results for one configuration in the regions of
of 0-317cm, and the centres were spaced 2cm apart. Current the larger forces. Experiments with the more practicable size
was supplied at 400c/s from a suitable transformer and of conductors again indicate good agreement with the theory
generator. A 2cm diameter aluminium cylinder of the same concerning the lifting forces, and suggest that the system is
conductivity as that in the previous tests and 18 cm long was stable within the calculated limits. Consequently, the theory
levitated at a height of 0-66 cm (y/a) when a current of can be applied with some confidence to other configurations.
1234 PROC. IEE, Vol. 113, No. 7, JULY 1966
6 Acknowledgment The force density in the cylinder is
The authors are grateful to Dr. C. V. Forrington for H-o
devising all the programs necessary for computing numerical fx =
results from the theoretical formulas.

7 Appendix But / is of reference phase, and H'x and H'y are therefore
The formula for the complex force on the cylinder real, and
can be obtained in another way. That part of the magnetic
field which is due to the currents in the cylinder will react fx +jfy = ^ ( - H'y +yW;)Re(/ z )
with these currents to produce local forces, which may produce
stresses in the cylinder but can produce no net force on it. From eqns. 25 and 26
The resultant force on the cylinder is produced by interaction
of the currents in the cylinder and the field due to the current -1 1
in the filaments. 2TT \X' + c - jy' x' — c ~ jy'
At any point x', y', this field is given by
The axis of the cylinder is at z = x + jy, and then z' = x' +
1 1 jy' = z + re-'6, and
2 2 (25) -1
2TT UX' - c) + y' ' + c)2 + y': -Hy+jHx = -
2TT \Z+ c z — c + re'
x' + c x —c Since r < a < \z ± c\, the two terms may be expanded by
• (26)
2n {(x' + c)2 + y'2 ~ (V - c)2 + /< the binomial theorem:

_ re-*
2TT\J, + c t * z + c

Re (/2) = ^-( k2 y ^Jn^iOe-/'"9 + /c? '

Thus Fx +jFy = \{JX +jfy)rdrdd

o o
1

[ oo

)-(—
—J }J
If the formulas for An and A_n (eqns. 16 and 17) are substituted in eqn. 27, eqn. 22 for the complex force results.

PROC. 1EE, Vol. 113, No. 7, JULY 1966 1235