Mechatronic developments for railway vehicles of the future

Abstract Railway vehicles have principally been designed by mechanical engineers since railways began in the early 1800s, i.e. before electronics and feedback control were invented. Today however they contain substantial amounts of electronic and computer control, in particular the traction systems, which have been converted entirely. However electronic control can also be applied to the vehicle suspension and guidance functions, which can provide large improvements in performance. More significantly, incorporation of sensors, controllers and actuators into the design process from the start can enable vehicle designers to take advantage of different mechanical configurations which are not possible with a purely mechanical approach—in other words the true spirit of mechatronics. The paper reviews the concepts, the current state-of-the-art and opportunities for mechatronic developments for railways for the future.

[1]  Moritz Gretzschel,et al.  A Mechatronic Approach for Active Influence on Railway Vehicle Running Behaviour , 1999 .

[2]  H.-J. Schwartz,et al.  Wheel creep control for light rail vehicles , 2000 .

[3]  Roger M. Goodall,et al.  MECHATRONICS IN GROUND TRANSPORTATION - CURRENT TRENDS AND FUTURE POSSIBILITIES , 1997 .

[4]  M.O.M. Osman,et al.  Independently Rotating Wheel Systems for Railway Vehicles-A State of the Art Review , 1992 .

[5]  T. Shelley.  MOTORS MAKE THE WHEEL GO ROUND , 1999 .

[6]  W. Rulka.  Effiziente Simulation der Dynamik mechatronischer Systeme für industrielle Anwendungen , 2001 .

[7]  M. Gretzschel.  Konzeption und Konstruktion einer aktiven Torsionsverbindung für einen generischen Eisenbahnradsatz , 1995 .

[8]  Anton Stribersky,et al.  The development of an integrated suspension control technology for passenger trains , 1998 .

[9]  M G Pollard,et al.  Discussion of previous paper [The use of steering axle suspensions to reduce wheel and rail wear in curves] , 1982 .

[10]  Roger M. Goodall,et al.  ACTIVE RAILWAY SUSPENSIONS: IMPLEMENTATION STATUS AND TECHNOLOGICAL TRENDS. , 1997 .

[11]  Bernd Engel,et al.  Traction Drive Control with PI State Controller and Kalman Filter - First Experimental Results , 1996 .

[12]  A. H. Wickens.  General Aspects of the Lateral Dynamics of Railway Vehicles , 1969 .

[13]  A. O. Gilchrist.  The long road to solution of the railway hunting and curving problems , 1998 .

[14]  Roger M. Goodall,et al.  Active Yaw Relaxation For Improved Bogie Performance , 1997 .

[15]  Roger M. Goodall,et al.  Linear and non-linear skyhook damping control laws for active railway suspensions , 1999 .

[16]  M G Pollard,et al.  Passenger Comfort—the Role of Active Suspensions , 1984 .

[17]  E Andersson,et al.  Allowing Higher Speeds on Existing Tracks—Design Considerations of the X2000 Train for Swedish State Railways , 1995 .

[18]  Roger M. Goodall,et al.  Solid Axle and Independently-Rotating Railway Wheelsets - A Control Engineering Assessment of Stability , 2000 .

[19]  A. H. Wickens,et al.  The Application of Roller Rigs to Railway Vehicle Dynamics , 1999 .

[20]  A. H. Wickens,et al.  The dynamics of railway vehicles—from Stephenson to Carter , 1998 .

[21]  J S Tang.  Passive and Semi-Active Airspring Suspensions for Rail Passenger Vehicles—Theory and Practice , 1996 .

[22]  Roger M. Goodall,et al.  WHEELS OR FIELDS?: THE FUTURE OF SUSPENSION AND DRIVE SYSTEMS. , 1993 .

[23]  J. J. Kalker,et al.  A Fast Algorithm for the Simplified Theory of Rolling Contact , 1982 .

[24]  R. Sommerer.  INTEGRAL : ein Gliederzugsystem für den Vollbahnbetrieb , 1999 .

[25]  Per Axel Roth,et al.  A Lateral Semi-Active Damping System For Trains , 1996 .

[26]  Roger M. Goodall,et al.  Mechatronic Research and Development for Railway Vehicles , 2000 .

[27]  A J Powell,et al.  Active Guidance of Railway Vehicles Using Traction Motor Torque Control , 1996 .