High speed maglev design

Claim 1

A magnetic leviation and propulsion system for a vehicle having a base surface and two ends where the vehicle is adapted to travel over a roadbed comprising: a slotted guideway having a vertical slot with two parallel interior surfaces and an opening opposite the roadbed where said guideway is coupled to the roadbed either directly for at grade structures or indirectly through a plurality of pillars which support said guideway; a vertical undercarriage attached along a centerline of the base surface of the vehicle where said vertical undercarriage resides in said vertical slot of said guideway, a plurality of ground coils affixed to both said interior surfaces of said vertical slot of said slotted guideway where said ground coils are vertically oriented and continue the length of said slotted guideway and where said coils are energized by an external multiphase power source to create a traveling magnetic wave, a plurality of strong field superconducting magnets attached to the vertical undercarriage in a manner so that said magnets are approximately parallel to said ground coils on either side of said strong field superconducting magnets and have an approximate vertical orientation and where said strong field superconducting magnets interact with said traveling magnetic wave to propel the vehicle along said guideway and where a vertical distance between an upper surface of said strong field superconducting magnets and the vehicle base can be controlled; a plurality of weak field superconducting magnets oriented approximately horizontally and attached to the base of the vehicle, a plurality of guideway-mounted non-magnetic conductors oriented approximately parallel to said weak field superconducting magnets and located beneath said weak field magnets where an interaction between said weak field magnets and said non-magnetic conductors generates a repulsive force between said conductors and said weak field magnets to provide for leviation and guidance of the vehicle when said weak field superconducting magnets are energized, a means for magnetically shielding a passenger cabin in the vehicle from a magnetic field generated by said strong field superconducting magnets.