LINEAR MOTOR FOR MAGLEV TRAIN 1997 W. BeatyHere's a possible way to add an electrical drive motor to a model maglev train. Note that I have NOT tried this myself. It may or may not be difficult to build, and there may or may not be hidden problems in this method. (But see the note at the end of this article.) Normal (rotary) DC motors are made of three parts: an outer magnet, an inner rotating coil, and a commutator switch. A DC linear motor is also made up of three parts: a long magnetic "stator" track, a moving coil, and some sort of "commutator" to reverse the poles of the coil. Linear motors are like normal motors which have been unwrapped and flattened out. My "mag lev cradle" device already contains electronic commutators in the form ofhall effect switches and transistors. It also contains coil electromagnets. Therefore, it should be possible take one of the segments of the "levitation cradle" circuit and morph it into a linear drive motor. Rather than lifting a magnet, it will apply sideways thrust to a magnet.__________________________ electromagnet | | _____ n |drive circuit & batteries | | | |__________________________| | | |_____| hall sensor force