Energy‐Efficient Train Speed Profile Generator Combining Partial Energy‐Oriented Driving Approaches

One way of reducing the energy consumption of trains is to drive them in an energy‐efficient manner. There can be various driving patterns between two adjacent stops, or various speed profiles, because there is a gap called the running time supplement between the planned running time set in a timetable and the shortest possible running time of the train. Previous studies have proposed using up the supplement by changing the driving operation from powering to coasting at optimal points in terms of energy consumption. Others have shown that full use of regenerative braking helps save energy. In this study, we developed an energy‐efficient speed profile generator by combining these partial energy‐oriented driving approaches when the planned running time is given. We added this generator to existing shortest running time calculation software, so that it works for various vehicle and train route data. Numerical experiments showed that our profile provided superior performance compared to manually created ones for artificial and real data.     

Modeling and optimizing energy‐efficient manual driving on high‐speed lines

This paper presents a simulation‐based model for manual driving strategies that will minimize energy consumption for high‐speed trains. Specific characteristics of both high‐speed lines (HSLs) and manual driving strategies are considered in order to obtain achievable designs that can be tested on commercial services. The proposed design model calculates a list of efficient high‐level commands to be systematically executed by the driver on an HSL along the trip. The design is based on a detailed simulation model of the train's motion (taking into account track and train characteristics and operational constraints), combined with a genetic algorithm to select the best driving. Continuous control solution by mathematical optimization is avoided, as it is not an appropriate reference for manual driving in HSL. The validation of the simulation model is focused on running resistance, tractive/braking efficiencies, and consumption of auxiliary equipment, and shows differences between real measurements and simulated results which are lower than 2% both in run time and energy consumption. Finally, a real case is presented in which the proposed model was used to design efficient driving strategies that were subsequently implemented on commercial services along the Spanish HSL Madrid–Barcelona in both directions, measuring average energy savings of 23 and 18%, respectively, when the efficient driving strategies were compared with measured standard manual driving. The future scope will be the application of this model to online recalculation of driving commands. © 2012 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Evaluation of Automatic Train Operation Design for Energy Saving Based on the Measured Efficiency of a Linear‐Motor Train

Recently, interest in energy savings in railway systems has been increasing because of its environment‐friendly aspects, for example, CO₂ emissions. In this paper, the authors propose a scheduling and control system for automatic train operation (ATO) that saves energy. This research in ATO concentrates on the optimization of speed profiles to save energy. The differences in this system from previous work are substantiative experiments on the track and a design that explicitly considers the following energy‐saving operations. First, coasting is installed in speed profiles and maximum speed is decreased by jerk regulation. Second, power‐limiting braking is used in the braking section and regenerative energy is increased. To achieve this braking efficiency, notch operations are updated. Finally, second‐order scheduling is achieved by high speed control using ATO. For the experiments on the track, the efficiency of a linear‐motor train was measured in a pre‐experiment and used to perform accurate numerical calculations. In conclusion, the numerical study shows an energy efficiency increase by 7.3% and the plan for further experiments is determined.     

Energy model based loss‐minimized speed control of induction motor with a full‐order observer

In this paper, a loss‐minimization algorithm is developed to achieve maximum efficiency in terms of slip frequency. The optimal value of slip frequency can be obtained by minimizing all controllable losses of the induction motor (IM). The ratio of magnetic energy converted to torque (W_T) to magnetic energy stored in the rotating field (W_q) is defined in terms of slip frequency to obtain an error function that is used to design a controller to achieve the desired speed. Since the energy model of the IM can be expressed by the multi‐input and multi‐output (MIMO) system, an MIMO optimal regulator is proposed to achieve the desired speed with maximum efficiency. To design an optimal regulator, it is necessary to measure all state quantities. But W_T and W_q cannot be measured directly. Therefore, a full‐order observer is proposed to estimate these state quantities. The gains of the observer system are calculated by using the pole placement technique. Consequently, the observer system becomes stable. The performance of the proposed controller and observer system are verified by using simulation. With regard to the simulation results, it can be concluded that the desired speed can be achieved by using the proposed controller and the unknown state quantities can be estimated properly by using the proposed observer system. © 2006 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A new variable‐speed,constant‐frequency,stand‐alone power generating system

Variable‐speed and constant‐frequency power generating systems using rotor excitation of the wound‐rotor induction machines have been used for such applications as variable‐speed pump generators and flywheel energy storage systems. However, the stand‐alone generating system of this type has only been reported and has not yet been practically used. On the other hand, the stand‐alone generating systems using diesel engines have been widely used for emergency supplies of plants or isolated islands and so on. However, in these cases, synchronous generators are usually used. If the output frequency is to be kept constant, there is the need to control the speed of the engine using a high‐performance governor. Even then, the output frequency changes in the case of a sudden load change. This paper proposes a new stand‐alone power generating system. In this system, the constant‐frequency output voltage can be obtained even though rotor speed changes by several percent. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 146(2): 75–85, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10191     

A high‐speed reclosing method to improve the stability in a power system

This paper proposes a high‐speed reclosing operating method to improve the stability in a power system. The proposed method calculates the reclosing time, taking a standard case in which the reclosing is not done using the generator phase angle δ, and the angular velocity ω, and the field system voltage ed′. Also, the execution of reclosing time is calculated, while taking into consideration the acceleration/deceleration energy of the generator during a fault. It can be expected that δ is suppressed by this optimum reclosing operation. Therefore, the system stability can be expected to improve by carrying out high‐speed reclosing when a fault occurs. At present, it has been set at a value which seems to be optimal considering various problems in the reclosing time. However, in those methods, the system stability improvement effect cannot be expected. It was demonstrated that the high‐speed reclosing method serves to depress δ in the computer simulation. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 147(2): 13–21, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10317     

A new current control method for energy‐efficient/wide‐speed‐range drive of permanent magnet synchronous motor

This paper proposes a new current control method for energy‐efficient and/or wide‐speed‐range drive of salient‐pole permanent magnet synchronous motors. The proposed method is distinguished from conventional ones by the following features. (1) The original command is a signed current norm. (2) The exact d‐axis and q‐axis current commands that perform energy‐efficient and/or wide‐speed‐range drive are analytically and simply determined from the singed current norm command. (3) For speed control mode, the system turns out to be nonlinear, but its stability can be guaranteed based on Popov's stability theorem. (4) It can be applied for a mode similar to torque control. (5) Current limitation can be carried out accurately but very simply. Concrete analytical d‐axis and q‐axis current commands are presented, which satisfy exactly one of three optimum current control codes such as maximum torque, maximum power factor, and voltage limitation. A design method for PI speed controller that guarantees system stability is also presented. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 161(3): 66–77, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20305     

FPGA‐based implementation for improved control scheme of grid‐connected PV system with 3‐phase 3‐level NPC‐VSI

The large scale penetration of renewable energy resources has boosted the need of using improved control technique and modular power electronic converter structures for efficient and reliable operation of grid‐connected systems. This study investigates the performance of a grid‐connected 3‐phase 3‐level neutral‐point clamped voltage source inverter for renewable energy integration by using improved current control technique. For medium or high‐voltage grid interfacing, the multilevel inverter structure is generally used to reduce the voltage stress across the switching device as well as the harmonic distortion. The neutral‐point clamped voltage source inverter is controlled by using decoupling technique along with the proper grid synchronization via moving average filter–based phase‐locked loop. The moving average filter–based phase‐locked loop is used to reduce the delay in grid angle estimation under balanced as well as distorted grid conditions. A Lyapunov‐based approach for analysing the stability of the system has also been discussed. In this study, the hardware‐in‐loop (HIL) simulation of the control algorithm and the grid synchronization technique is realized using Virtex‐6 FPGA ML605 evaluation kit. The performance of the system is analyzed by conducting a time‐domain simulation in the Matlab/Simulink platform and its performance is examined in the HIL environment. The simulation and the hardware cosimulation results are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.     

All digital folded low‐area,low‐power maximum power point tracking chip for photovoltaic energy conversion system

In this paper, we propose and implement a 12‐bit area‐efficient folded all‐digital maximum power point tracking (MPPT) chip based on gain‐adaptive perturb‐and‐observe algorithm for photovoltaic energy conversion system. Alternative to DSP or micro controller, realizing the MPPT algorithm by using ASIC can achieve higher energy conversion efficiency, lower power consumption and smaller chip area. By using gain‐adaptive perturb‐and‐observe MPPT algorithm, overall system power consumption can be reduced by overcoming the periodic perturbation issues that occur in conventional perturb‐and‐observe MPPT algorithm. The utilization of proportional integral controller allows fast and stable tracking of the maximum power point. Under high intensity sun illumination, the gain‐adaptive perturb‐and‐observe algorithm performs three times faster than the conventional perturb‐and‐observe MPPT algorithm. Under low intensity sun illumination, the gain‐adaptive perturb‐and‐observe algorithm can provide the same power conversion efficiency as the conventional perturb‐and‐observe MPPT algorithm. By using folding VLSI architecture, the MPPT algorithm can be realized with 74% chip area saving and 77% power consumption reduction. Finally, our proposed MPPT chip is implemented in TSMC0.18‐µm process, with 0.85 mm*0.79 mm chip area and 97.9% power conversion efficiency. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydrogen production from a PV/PEM electrolyzer system using a neural‐network‐based MPPT algorithm

The electrolysis of water using a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer is a very vital and efficient method of producing hydrogen (H₂). The performance of this method can be significantly improved if a photovoltaic (PV) array, with maximum‐power‐point (MPP) tracker, is utilized as an energy source for the electrolyzer. This paper suggests a stand‐alone PV/PEM electrolyzer system to produce pure hydrogen. The paper also develops the different mathematical models for each constituent subsystem. Moreover, the paper develops the suitable maximum‐power‐point tracking (MPPT) algorithm that is based on utilizing the neural network. This algorithm is utilized together with the action of the PI controller to improve the performance of the suggested stand‐alone PV/PEM electrolyzer system through maximizing the hydrogen production rate for every instant. Finally, the suggested hydrogen production system is simulated using the Matlab/Simulink and neural network toolbox. The simulation results of the system indicate the improved relative performance of the suggested hydrogen production system compared with the traditional case of direct connection between the PV array and the PEM electrolyzer. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A 3D finite element analysis of large‐scale nonlinear dynamic electromagnetic problems by harmonic balancing and domain decomposition

The dual–primal finite element tearing and interconnecting (FETI‐DP) method is applied together with the harmonic balance method and the fixed‐point (FP) method to improve the efficiency of three‐dimensional finite element analysis of large‐scale nonlinear dynamic electromagnetic problems. The FETI‐DP method decomposes the original problem into smaller subdomains problems. Combined with parallel computing techniques, the total computation time can be reduced significantly. To account for nonlinear B‐H characteristics, the FP method is applied together with the polarization formulation. Because the FP method assumes a constant reluctivity, it decouples the systems of different harmonics. The FETI‐DP method can then be applied to speed up the simulation of each harmonic in each FP iteration. Two benchmark problems and a three‐phase inductor are simulated by the proposed method to validate the formulation and demonstrate its performance. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental investigation of a speed‐sensor‐less IM drive system under Inverter fault‐tolerant control

This paper proposes an algorithm for fault tolerance of three‐phase, inverter‐fed, speed‐sensor‐less control of a three‐phase induction motor drive system. The fault tolerance of the inverter when one switch is open or one leg of six‐switch inverter is lost is considered. The control of the drive system is based on indirect rotor field‐oriented control theory. Also, the speed estimator is based on model reference adaptive system (using stator current and rotor flux as state variables for estimating the speed). The fault‐tolerant algorithm is able to adaptively change over from a six‐switch inverter to a four‐switch inverter topology when a fault occurs; also, it makes a smooth transition of the motor speed, torque, and current when changing over from a faulty condition to a new healthy status, which is four‐switch three‐phase inverter (FSTPI) topology; thus, the six‐switch three‐phase inverter (SSTPI) topology (pre‐fault status) is almost retained for the medium‐power range of induction motor applications. The proposed algorithm is simulated by using the MATLAB/SIMULINK package. Also, the proposed control system is tested experimentally using a digital signal processor (DSP1104). The obtained results from the simulation model and experimental system demonstrate the performance enhancement and good validity of the fault‐tolerance control for the speed‐sensor‐less induction motor drive system. © 2016 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Optimal current control methods of a non‐salient pole hybrid field‐synchronous motor for energy‐efficient and wide speed‐range operation

This paper proposes new practical optimal current control methods for a newly emerging class of non‐salient pole synchronous motors with hybrid rotor fields by both permanent magnet and winding. In practical situations with limited voltage, the extensively used permanent magnet synchronous motor hardly achieves an ideal performance that allows simultaneously both low‐speed high‐torque and wide speed‐range operations, due to its constant magnet field. Hybrid field synchronous motors (HFSM) have recently emerged to achieve ideal performance as practical motors with controllable hybrid rotor field. For HFSM, the same torque can be produced by a variety of currents due to nonlinearity between torque and currents. Consequently, appropriate determination of a set of stator and rotor current commands plays a key role in achieving possible energy‐efficient and wide speed‐range operation. Proposed methods determine the current commands corresponding to a given torque command such that total winding copper loss due to stator and rotor currents can be minimized if the exact solution exists; the best approximate torque can be produced if no exact solution exists. The determined current commands are optimal in the sense of energy efficiency or degree of approximation in wide speed‐range operation under voltage limit. New real‐time recursive algorithms searching the optimal current solution are also given. The proposed methods are analytical but practical, and their usefulness is verified through experiments. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 156(1): 70–83, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience. wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20156     

Parallelization of the Scale‐Changing Technique in Grid Computing environment for the electronmagnetic simulation of multi‐scale structures

A parallel computing approach to run fast and full‐wave electromagnetic simulation of complex structures in Grid Computing environment is presented. In this study, we show how Grid Computing improves speed and/or reliability over that provided by a single computer, while typically being much more cost‐effective than single computers of comparable speed or reliability. An efficient monolithic (unique) formulation for the electromagnetic modelling of complex (multi‐scale) structures, i.e. structures that exhibit multiple metallic patterns whose sizes cover a large range of scales, is used here. This approach, named the Scale‐Changing Technique, is based on the cascade of multi‐modal Scale‐Changing Networks, each network modelling the electromagnetic coupling between two successive scale levels. These networks can be first computed separately, in an adaptive use of Grid Computing architecture nature, and then cascaded for the global electromagnetic simulation. Based on this technique, a fast computer algorithm was developed and tested in the Grid‐Computing environment. For illustration purposes, the electromagnetic analysis of multi‐scale structures, applied to phase‐shifter elements and an example of infinite passive reflectarray, was carried out. The obtained results have confirmed the effectiveness of such an approach compared with sequential computing. This approach shows very good computation performance while keeping the same accuracy. Besides, this method is very promising for optimizing circuit with multiple design parameters to handle and for the global electromagnetic simulation of multi‐scale and/or oer‐sized structures. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Environmentally‐friendly Aspects and Innovative Lightweight Traction System Technologies of the Shinkansen High‐speed EMUs

In 1964, the Tokaido Shinkansen marked the start of the world's first commercial service high‐speed railway that operates at over 200 km/h. Since then, the Tokaido Shinkansen has demonstrated successful business and technological advancement. With the speeding‐up of the Shinkansen, environmental matters such as noise and vibration have become critical issues. Measures taken to counter noise and vibration—such as weight reduction and aerodynamics—also effect global environmental measures to reduce energy consumption and CO₂ emission. With the introduction of the Series 300, there was a system change of applying an AC drive system, and the lightweight body realized performance improvement over the earlier Series 0. The high‐speed EMUs have readily taken advantage of technological innovation such as those achieved in electronics technology. In particular, an innovative AC drive system comprising a power converter with a GTO thyristor and asynchronous motors realized a high‐performance and lightweight traction system for high‐speed EMUs in the 1990s. Furthermore, recent innovations in electronics technology, such as low switching loss power devices and high‐power permanent magnets, have improved the AC drive systems of the high‐speed EMUs of the 21st century. This article starts out by introducing environmentally friendliness of the Shinkansen trains in terms of low energy consumption by means of traction system change, and then proceeds to describe the recent technological innovations that have given birth to lightweight traction systems, such as the Permanent Magnet Synchronous traction Motor (PMSM) and power converters with train‐draft‐cooling systems. The article concludes by summing up the environmentally friendly aspects of the Tokaido Shinkansen. Copyright © 2008 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Current Control Method of Achieving Wide‐Range Power Driving for Linear Synchronous Motor with Half‐Wave‐Rectified Self‐Excitation

In a previous paper, we proposed a novel linear synchronous motor with half‐wave‐rectified self‐excitation. A long‐stator‐type linear synchronous motor was built and its performance was verified by experiments. This paper presents a new current control method for the linear synchronous motor in order to achieve a wide range of speeds and high‐power operations. First, we propose a current control method for high‐thrust operation in the constant‐thrust region. This operation is realized by using the reluctance thrust resulting from the saliency of the linear synchronous motor. We also propose a control method that maximizes the ratio of the thrust to the voltage; this method can be used to expand the operating range. Wide‐range‐speed operation can be achieved by applying this new control method along with field‐weakening control. The thrust and operating characteristics of the proposed control methods are estimated by performing experiments and coupled electric and magnetic analysis.     

A matrix‐exponential decomposition‐based time‐domain method for band structure calculation of one‐dimensional periodic structures

A time‐domain method for calculating the band structure of one‐dimensional periodic structures is proposed. During the time‐stepping of the method, the column vector containing the spatially sampled field data is updated by multiplying with an iteration matrix. The iteration matrix is first obtained by using the matrix‐exponential decomposition technique. Then, the small nonzero elements of the matrix are pruned to improve its sparse structure, so that the efficiency of the matrix–vector multiplication involved in each time‐step is enhanced. The numerical results show that the method is conditionally stable but is much more stable than the conventional finite‐difference time‐domain (FDTD) method. The time‐step with which the method runs stably can be much larger than the Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy (CFL) limit. And moreover, the method is found to be particularly efficient for the band structure calculation of large‐scale structures containing a defect with a very high wave speed, where the conventional FDTD method may generally lose its efficiency severely. For this kind of structures, not only the stability requirement can be significantly relaxed, but also the matrix‐pruning operation can be very effectively performed. In the numerical experiments for large‐scale quasi‐periodic phononic crystal structures containing a defect layer, significantly higher efficiency than the conventional FDTD method can be achieved by the proposed method without an evident accuracy deterioration if the wave speed of the defect layer is relatively high. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A systematic procedure for synthesizing two‐terminal devices with polynomial non‐linearity

In this paper, a systematic procedure for synthesizing two‐terminal devices with polynomial non‐linearity is proposed. A two‐terminal, or one‐port, device with an arbitrary polynomial non‐linearity can be designed using the proposed procedure in a step‐by‐step systematic manner. A variety of driving‐point characteristics of two‐terminal devices with synthesized polynomial non‐linearity, both numerically calculated and experimentally measured, are demonstrated. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new generalized high‐frequency voltage injection method and mirror‐phase estimation method for sensorless drive of salient‐pole PMSMSs

This paper proposes a new generalized high‐frequency voltage injection method for sensorless drive of salient‐pole permanent‐magnet synchronous motors. The injected high‐frequency voltage has a unique spatially‐rotating elliptical shape, with the amplitudes of both the major and minor axes varying with the motor speed, and can be designed by selecting a design parameter. The high‐frequency current caused by the injected voltage, which has information on the rotor phase to be estimated, is speed‐independent, that is, is not affected by the motor speed at all. Consequently, the rotor phase can be estimated in a wide speed range from zero to the rated speed. By selection of the design parameter, the properties of the high‐frequency current can be adjusted appropriately to the associated motor‐drive system consisting of a motor and an inverter. As a versatile phase estimation method for estimating rotor phase using the high‐frequency current, the “mirror‐phase estimation method” is reconstructed and reproposed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 168(3): 67–82, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20803     

Proposal of current control method of high‐speed AC motor system

In this paper, a current control method for a high‐speed AC motor system is proposed. In high‐speed driving operation, the current controller tends to lose stability because of the dead time caused by computational delay and electromagnetic coupling included in the AC motor model. The main purpose of the proposed method is reduction of the dead time on the current controller. The proposed method is based on model predictive control and optimization of the start timing. The effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed by simulation results. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 176(1): 37–45, 2011; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.21083