Abstract: A magnetic levitating transportation apparatus including rails and a vehicle capable of travelling along the rails by a linear motor and caused to magnetically levitate by magnet units with electro-magnets. The gap is controlled by controlling the current supplied to the magnet units in response to gap sensors. The rails include rail gaps where the ends of two rail elements abut, and rail gap sensors are arranged to detect the rail gap. Thus, current supplied to one of the magnet units is disabled when the rail gap is detected, and the current to be supplied to the associated magnet unit is stopped. The current to be supplied to the associated magnet unit is determined from the outputs of the remaining gap sensors.

Abstract: A magnetic levitating transportation apparatus comprising a rail and a vehicle capable of travelling along the rails by a linear motor and caused to magnetically levitate by magnet units including permanent magnets and electro-magnets. The gap between the rail and each of the magnetic units is controlled by controlling the current supplied to the magnet units so that the current is substantially zero when the vehicle is in the levitated condition. One of the magnet units is movably mounted to the vehicle and moved by the piezoelectric actuator so that the gap between this magnet unit and the rail can be adjusted. The controller controls the piezoelectric actuator based on the current supplied to the magnet units.