Patent ID: 8333156

Claim:
A method for controlling a drive of a magnetic levitation vehicle on a magnetic levitation track, which comprises the steps of: generating a levitation magnetic field on the magnetic levitation vehicle by respectively feeding in a vehicle-side levitation magnet current into at least two levitation magnets of the magnetic levitation vehicle to bring about a predefined air gap between the magnetic levitation vehicle and a track-side reaction rail; feeding a stator current into a track-side stator of the magnetic levitation track to bring about a propulsion force on the magnetic levitation track, the propulsion force acting on the magnetic levitation vehicle being determined by a magnetic coupling between a stator magnetic field and the levitation magnetic field; and damping an oscillating movement of the magnetic levitation vehicle relative to the stator magnetic field by changing the magnetic coupling between the stator magnetic field and the levitation magnetic field on a vehicle side, by operating the levitation magnets on the vehicle side with at least two individual levitation magnet currents of different sizes; setting a distribution of the current between the levitation magnets such that the predefined air gap between the magnetic levitation vehicle and a reaction rail remains constant independently of a respectively set magnetic coupling; during a predefined special operating mode, feeding in the at least two individual levitation magnet currents of different sizes into the levitation magnets, and a special coupling, which is reduced compared to a maximum possible coupling, between the stator magnetic field and the levitation magnetic field is set, and if the magnetic levitation vehicle is moving quicker than the stator magnetic field in a direction of travel, reducing the magnetic coupling by increasing the difference in current in the individual levitation magnet currents; and if the magnetic levitation vehicle is moving slower than the stator magnetic field in the direction of travel, increasing the magnetic coupling by reducing a difference in current in the individual levitation magnet currents.