Inductrack

Inductrack Articles

Inductrack is a completely passive magnetic levitation train system, using only unpowered loops of wire in the track and permanent magnets (in Halbach arrays) on the train to achieve levitation. Inductrack was invented by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory physicist Richard F. Post. The only power required is to push the train forward, with increasing levitation force generated as the velocity of the train increases over the loops of wire.

The following is a mixture of media articles and technical reports about Inductrack, all in Acrobat pdf format.

General Media Articles

  • Forget Superconducting Maglevs, by Scott Gourley, May 1998, Popular Mechanics
  • Traveling over the Rail, by Scott Gourley, May 1998, Popular Mechanics
  • A New Approach for Magnetically Levitating Trains and Rockets, June 1998, Science and Technology Review
  • Magnets put Scientist on Right Track, by J.N. Sbranti, July 28, 1998, Modesto Bee
  • Passive Magnetic Bearnings, by Jim Wilson, September 1999, Popular Mechanics
  • The Inductrack: A Simpler Approach to Magnetic Levitation, September 1999
  • Maglev: A New Approach, by Richard Post, January 2000, Scientific American
  • Induction for the Birds, by Barbara Wolcott, February 2000, American Society of Mechanical Engineers
  • LLNL Inductrack Progress Report, by Tony Louann, March 8, 2000
  • Magnetic Levitation — Transportation for the 21st Century?, by Jonathan Jacobs, Spring 2002, Harvard Science Review
  • Technology Development for U.S. Urban Maglev, by Kim I., Kratz R., and Doll D., Maglev 2002, Lausanne, Switzerland, September 4-8, 2002
  • Ticket to Ride, by Paul Sharke, American Society of Mechanical Engineering, October 2002
  • 2003 New Starts — Authorizations for Final Design and Construction, Airbourne Shuttle System, Pittsburgh, PA
  • Hallbach Arrays Enter the Maglev Race, April 2003, The Industrial Physicist
  • Maglev on the Development Track for Urban Transportation, by Arnie Heller, November 2003, LLNL Science & Technology
  • New Approach to Levitating Trains, by Arnie Heller, January 20, 2004, Impactlab
  • The Inductrack: A Home-Grown Maglev System for Our Nation, by Richard Post, April 15, 2004
  • The Quest for Energy, by Margaret Lovell, June-July 2004, The National Journal of Technology Commericalization
  • A train without the daily grind, by Bruce V. Bigelow, August 3, 2004, San Diego Union Tribune
  • Creating an Urban Maglev Industry, by David O’Loughlin, Fall 2004, Pittsburgh Engineer
  • Magnetically Levitated Train Takes Flight, by Gabriele Rennie, October 2004, LLNL Science & Technology
  • Maglev: Transportation of the Future? by Marie Balestreire and John Hollenberger, April 9, 2005, Fifth Annual Freshman Conference

Government Reports

  • Low Speed Maglev Technology Development Program, March 2002, DOT-CA-26-7025-02.1
  • General Atomics Low Speed Maglev Technology Development Program (Supplemental #3), May 2005, Final Report, FTA-CA-26-7025.2005

Inductrack Presentations

  • Toward More Efficient Transport: The Inductrack Maglev System, by Richard Post, October 10, 2005

Technical Articles

  • Inductrack Demonstration Model, by Richard Post, February 3, 1998,
  • The Inductrack Approach to Magnetic Levitation, by Richard Post, April 2000
  • Final Progress Report for the NASA Inductrack Model Rocket Launcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, by L.S. Tung, Richard F. Post, and J.Martinez-Frias; June 27, 2001, UCRL-ID-144455
  • •Overview of the General Atomics Low Speed Urban Maglev Technology Development Program, by Sam Gurol, Bob Baldi, and Richard Post, June 17, 2002
  • •Discrete Track Electrodynamic Maglev, Part I: Modeling, by Ove F. Storset and Bradley E. Paden, UC Santa Barbara, Mechanical and Environmental Engineering Department
  • Electrodynamic Magnetic Levitation with Discrete Track, Part II: Periodic Track Model for Numerical Simulation and Lumped Parameter Model, by Ove F. Storset and Bradley E. Paden, UC Santa Barbara, Mechanical and Environmental Engineering Department
  • •The General Atomics Low Speed Urban Maglev Technology Development Program, by Sam Gurol, Bob Baldi, and Richard Post, 2003
  • Urban Maglev Integrated Guideway Girder Module, by Mandyam Venkatesh and Phil Jeter, October 2004
  • A Laminated Track for the Inductrack System: Theory and Experiment, by J.F. Hoburg, and Richard Post, October 2004
  • Linear Synchronous Motor Control for an Urban Maglev, by David Doll, Robert Kratz, Michael Newman, Allan Plunkett, and Robert Blevins, October 2004
  • General Atomics Urban Maglev Test Track Status, by Husam Gurol and Robert Baldi, September 2005, The Fifth International Symposium on Linear Drives for Industry Applications, LDIA2005
  • General Atomics Urban Maglev Program Status, by Sam Gurol, Bob Baldi, and Richard Post, September 2006, The 19th International Conference on Magnetically Levitated Systems and Linear Drives, Dresden, Germany
  • Guideway Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete Hybrid Girder Design, by Mandyam Venkatesh and Philip Jeter, September 2006, The 19th International Conference on Magnetically Levitated Systems and Linear Drives, Dresden, Germany
  • General Atomics Urban Maglev – Stable Levitation, Propulsion and Guidance, by Philip Jeter, In-Kun Kim, Daryl Bever, David Doll, Corey Jaskolski, September 2006, The 19th International Conference on Magnetically Levitated Systems and Linear Drives, Dresden, Germany
  • “The Design of Halbach Arrays for Inductrack Maglev Systems,” Richard F. Post, Long Nguyen; 20th International Conference on Magnetically Levitated Systems and Linear Drives, December 16-18, San Diego, CA