Energy-Efficient Train Control

✍ Scribed by Philip G. Howlett, Peter J. Pudney (auth.)

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag London
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 314
• Series: Advances in Industrial Control
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Rail is potentially a very efficient form of transport, but must be convenient, reliable and cost-effective to compete with road and air transport. Optimal control can be used to find energy-efficient driving strategies for trains. This book describes the train control problem and shows how a solution was found at the University of South Australia. This research was used to develop the Metromiser system, which provides energy-efficient driving advice on suburban trains. Since then, this work has been modified to find practical driving strategies for long-haul trains. The authors describe the history of the problem, reviewing the basic mathematical analysis and relevant techniques of constrained optimisation. They outline the modelling and solution of the problem and finally explain how the fuel consumption can be minimised for a journey, showing the effect of speed limits and track gradients on the optimal driving strategy.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xix
Front Matter....Pages xxi-xxi
The Train Control Problem....Pages 1-16
Modelling the Train Control Problem....Pages 17-24
Practical Driving Strategies....Pages 25-32
Constrained Optimisation — An Intuitive View....Pages 33-62
Front Matter....Pages 63-63
Existence of an Optimal Strategy....Pages 65-79
Necessary Conditions for an Optimal Strategy....Pages 81-109
Determination of Optimal Driving Strategies....Pages 111-133
Front Matter....Pages 135-135
Critical Speeds and Strategies of Optimal Type....Pages 137-156
Minimisation of Fuel Consumption....Pages 157-181
A More General Model....Pages 183-214
Speed Limits....Pages 215-228
Non-Constant Gradient....Pages 229-265
Continuously Varying Gradient....Pages 267-284
Practical Strategy Optimisation....Pages 285-297
Back Matter....Pages 299-306

✦ Subjects

Control; Automotive Engineering