Artificial Intelligence Driven Hydraulic Energy Recovery & Delivery for Rail Wagons

我们的客户通过干线将多达2，700吨的货物运送到采石场和港口等专业场地。许多铁路公司依靠现场老化且高度专业化的机车和66或70型机车进行越野运输。在主线上取得良好进展的挑战之一是能够在不停车的情况下通过每个区段，以便不妨碍任何有时间表的客运列车的进展。这导致长时间的延误，货运列车必须等待，直到有沿着足够的间隙才能继续前进。例如，费利克斯托到纽尼顿可能需要长达11个小时的时间，其中有几次延误超过一个小时，列车在发动机空转的情况下停下来，直到允许继续前进。能够从静止加速得更快，例如从红灯，如果列车能更快地通过该区段，将节省大量时间，并避免一些不必要的延误。流星电力公司设计了一种能量捕获装置，存储和交付系统，可以安装到货车本身。想象一下，27 × 100吨满载货车能够在自己的动力下从静止状态移开，让机车在它们移动时接管。我们的项目是安装在货车上的独立系统，当火车减速时捕获能量，当它离开或加速时释放能量。电动机和电池组将既大又重。我们的建议使用液压来帮助制动和捕获“自由”能量并在稍后释放。Meteor Power将开发液压能量捕获和存储系统以及半自动电子控制系统，以尽可能少的机车输入操作。该系统将使用人工智能来控制能量捕获/释放功能，并分析列车是否正在减速，加速，或者在制动器被释放后，货车是否只是缓慢地向后下坡并即将向相反方向行驶。除了监控列车制动压力以确定制动水平外，该系统将完全自力更生，甚至达到从压缩空气列车制动系统捕获的能量为电子设备供电的程度。

We have customers that haul loads of up to 2,700 tons over the mainline to and from specialist sites, such as quarries and ports. Many rely on ageing and highly specialised locomotives on site and Class 66s or 70s to haul cross country.One of the challenges in making good progress on the mainline is being able to get through each section without having to stop so as to not impede the progress of any passenger trains that have a schedule to keep. This results in long delays where the freight train has to wait until the is along enough gap to proceed.Felixstowe to Nuneaton, for example, can take up to 11 hours with several delays of over an hour, where the train sits with engine idling, until allow to proceed.Being able to accelerate more quickly from standstill, e.g. from red lights, would save a considerable amount of time and avoid some these unnecessary delays if the train could get through the sector more quickly.Rather than make complex changes to the locomotives, Meteor Power has designed an energy capture, storage and delivery system that can be fitted to the wagons themselves. Imagine 27 x one hundred ton fully loaded wagons able to move away from standstill under their own power leaving the locomotive to take over once they are moving.Our project is a standalone system fitted to the wagon that captures energy when the train slows down and releases it when it pulls away, or speeds up. Electric motors and battery packs would be both large and heavy. Our proposal uses hydraulics to aid braking and capture 'free' energy and release it later. It can even cut down on brake pad wear.Meteor Power will develop the hydraulic energy capture and storage system alongside the semi-autonomous electronic control to operate with as little input from the locomotive as possible. The system will use artificial intelligence to control the energy capture/release function and analyse whether the train is slowing down, accelerating or if the wagon is just rolling slowly backwards downhill slightly after the brakes were released and is about to drive in the opposite direction.Aside from monitoring the train brake pressure to determine levels of braking the system will be completely self reliant, even to the point of powering the electronics from energy captured from the compressed air train brake system.