Expansion joint for guideway for magnetic levitation transportation system

Abstract

An expansion joint that allows a guideway of a magnetic levitation transportation system to expand and contract while minimizing transients occurring in the magnetic lift and drag forces acting on a magnetic levitation vehicle traveling over the joint includes an upper cut or recess extending downwardly from the upper surface of the guideway and a non-intersecting lower cut or recess that extends upwardly from the lower surface of the guideway. The sidewalls of the cuts can be parallel to each other and the vertical axis of the guideway; the depth of the lower cut can be greater than the depth of the upper cut; and the overall combined lengths of the cuts can be greater than the thickness of the guideway from the upper to lower surface so that the cuts will overlap, but be spaced apart from each other. The distance between the cuts can be determined on the basis of the force transients and the mechanical behavior of the guideway. A second pair of similarly configured upper and lower cuts may be disposed in the guideway; the expansion joint may consist of two upper cuts and one lower cut; or the cuts may have non-parallel, diverging sidewalls so that the cuts have a substantially dove-tail shape.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.