A Review of Developments in Electrical Battery, Fuel Cell and Energy Recovery Systems for Railway Applications: a Report for the Scottish Association for Public Transport

This report outlines the current status of batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and short-term energy storage systems for railway and tramway applications. The report includes discussion of issues associated with regenerative braking and the recovery of energy that would otherwise be dissipated as heat during braking. As well as feeding energy back to the supply grid, as in the case of conventional electrified rail systems, energy recovery may also be achieved using batteries, supercapacitors, flywheels or hydraulic devices and developments in each of these areas are reviewed. The advantages of hybrid systems that involve combinations of different power sources and energy storage methods are emphasised and some associated design optimisation issues are discussed. For each of the developments mentioned, there is a brief account given of some transport applications in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. This is a rapidly developing field and operating experience with vehicles currently entering service in various countries will provide important additional insight within the next two or three years

Secure Large Scale Penetration of Electric Vehicles in the Power Grid

As part of the approaches used to meet climate goals set by international environmental agreements, policies are being applied worldwide for promoting the uptake of Electric Vehicles (EV)s. The resulting increase in EV sales and the accompanying expansion in the EV charging infrastructure carry along many challenges, mostly infrastructure-related. A pressing need arises to strengthen the power grid to handle and better manage the electricity demand by this mobile and geo-distributed load. Because the levels of penetration of EVs in the power grid have recently started increasing with the increase in EV sales, the real-time management of en-route EVs, before they connect to the grid, is quite recent and not many research works can be found in the literature covering this topic comprehensively. In this dissertation, advances and novel ideas are developed and presented, seizing the opportunities lying in this mobile load and addressing various challenges that arise in the application of public charging for EVs. A Bilateral Decision Support System (BDSS) is developed here for the management of en-route EVs. The BDSS is a middleware-based MAS that achieves a win-win situation for the EVs and the power grid. In this framework, the two are complementary in a way that the desired benefit of one cannot be achieved without attaining that of the other. A Fuzzy Logic based on-board module is developed for supporting the decision of the EV as to which charging station to charge at. GPU computing is used in the higher-end agents to handle the big amount of data resulting in such a large scale system with mobile and geo-distributed nodes. Cyber security risks that threaten the BDSS are assessed and measures are applied to revoke possible attacks. Furthermore, the Collective Distribution of Mobile Loads (CDML), a service with ancillary potential to the power system, is developed. It comprises a system-level optimization. In this service, the EVs requesting a public charging session are collectively redistributed onto charging stations with the objective of achieving the optimal and secure operation of the power system by reducing active power losses in normal conditions and mitigating line congestions in contingency conditions. The CDML uses the BDSS as an industrially viable tool to achieve the outcomes of the optimization in real time. By participating in this service, the EV is considered as an interacting node in the system-wide communication platform, providing both enhanced self-convenience in terms of access to public chargers, and contribution to the collective effort of providing benefit to the power system under the large scale uptake of EVs. On the EV charger level, several advantages have been reported favoring wireless charging of EVs over wired charging. Given that, new techniques are presented that facilitate the optimization of the magnetic link of wireless EV chargers while considering international EMC standards. The original techniques and developments presented in this dissertation were experimentally verified at the Energy Systems Research Laboratory at FIU

Space Station needs, attributes and architectural options study. Volume 7-4A: Data book, architecture, technology and programmatics, part A

Various parameters of the orbital space station are discussed. The space station environment, data management system, communication and tracking, environmental control, and life support system are considered. Specific topics reviewed include crew work stations, restraint systems, stowage, computer hardware, and expert systems

NASA SBIR abstracts of 1990 phase 1 projects

The research objectives of the 280 projects placed under contract in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 1990 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 program are described. The basic document consists of edited, non-proprietary abstracts of the winning proposals submitted by small businesses in response to NASA's 1990 SBIR Phase 1 Program Solicitation. The abstracts are presented under the 15 technical topics within which Phase 1 proposals were solicited. Each project was assigned a sequential identifying number from 001 to 280, in order of its appearance in the body of the report. The document also includes Appendixes to provide additional information about the SBIR program and permit cross-reference in the 1990 Phase 1 projects by company name, location by state, principal investigator, NASA field center responsible for management of each project, and NASA contract number

Modelling and Simulation of Hybrid Electric Trains Powered by Hydrogen Fuel Cells and Batteries for Routes in the Highlands of Scotland : Preliminary Results

This report builds on an earlier review for the Scottish Association for Public Transport on the potential of batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and other short-term energy storage systems for railway and tramway applications. It outlines the development of a train performance model and associated computer simulation software for a design of hybrid multiple unit, powered by a combination of hydrogen fuel cells and batteries. Assumptions underlying the model are discussed in detail. The chosen mode of operation involves steady state conditions for the fuel cells, with the batteries being used to provide additional stored energy for use on gradients and when the train is accelerating. The simulation techniques involve a mix of conventional “forward” simulation and an approach based on an “inverse” simulation method. Simulation results presented are for a case study involving a short section of route chosen to be typical of sections of many rural routes in Scotland, such as the West Highland lines and routes north and west of Inverness or to and from Stranraer. Data relating to the performance of Class 156 diesel multiple units currently used on non-electrified railway lines in Scotland have provided a point of reference in assessing the performance of the hybrid multiple units. Although other studies of hybrid rail vehicles involving hydrogen fuel cell and battery combinations have been published, those have involved routes that are shorter, with more intermediate stations and no prolonged gradients. Conclusions are presented in terms of fuel cell and battery power levels and battery storage capacity required for operation on the type of route being considered. The most important conclusion is that a preliminary specification for a hybrid two-coach unit could involve two 200 kW traction motors, fuel-cells providing a maximum power output of 350 kW and a battery pack giving a maximum power output of 250 kW and 75 kWh of electrical energy storage capacity. Using standard components that are available commencially, approximate calculations suggest that a design based around these power ratings could be implemented within a target weight of 90 tonnes for a two-coach unit. However, it is thought that the limitations of the UK loading gauge could present difficulties in terms of the space required and implementation might only be possible at the cost of some passenger space. Suggestions are made in the report for further simulation work involving a three-coach configuration and for the addition of a pantograph and associated electrical equipment to allow power to be drawn from 25 kV overhead wiring when the unit is operating on electrified routes. Another important recommendation for further work involves development of a detailed route model for a typical line, including exact information about gradients, curvature and local speed restrictions. Assessment of possible journey-time reductions is also important and preliminary results are presented, for the specification given above, using inverse simulation methods. Potential journey-time reductions over a complete route or specific sections could be investigated in future work. Issues of weight could also be linked to performance within the simulation software and advice could be provided to the user when space or weight constraints are violated. The report includes discussion of possible benefits of developing more detailed, physics-based, sub-models of elements such as fuel cells, batteries, traction motors and power electronic components which could be used to replace the much simpler sub-models used in the existing simulation model. This might allow use of well-established and validated sub-models and would extend the range of issues that could be addressed through simulation and allow more accurate assessment of losses in batteries, power electronic components and traction motors over the full range of operating conditions. This could also be of value for checking underlying assumptions within the model and for the development of control and energy management strategies. The report recommends the use of both forward and inverse methods of simulation for applications of this kind as these two approaches, taken together, can provide additional insight that is not obtained so readily from the use of conventional forward simulation methods alone

Power Quality in Electrified Transportation Systems

"Power Quality in Electrified Transportation Systems" has covered interesting horizontal topics over diversified transportation technologies, ranging from railways to electric vehicles and ships. Although the attention is chiefly focused on typical railway issues such as harmonics, resonances and reactive power flow compensation, the integration of electric vehicles plays a significant role. The book is completed by some additional significant contributions, focusing on the interpretation of Power Quality phenomena propagation in railways using the fundamentals of electromagnetic theory and on electric ships in the light of the latest standardization efforts

Open-Source, Open-Architecture SoftwarePlatform for Plug-InElectric Vehicle SmartCharging in California

This interdisciplinary eXtensible Building Operating System–Vehicles project focuses on controlling plug-in electric vehicle charging at residential and small commercial settings using a novel and flexible open-source, open-architecture charge communication and control platform. The platform provides smart charging functionalities and benefits to the utility, homes, and businesses.This project investigates four important areas of vehicle-grid integration research, integrating technical as well as social and behavioral dimensions: smart charging user needs assessment, advanced load control platform development and testing, smart charging impacts, benefits to the power grid, and smart charging ratepayer benefits