Recent Development in Active Steering of Railway Vehicles

Summary This paper presents the recent development on active steering for railway vehicles, and carries out a technical appraisal of different actuation schemes and control approaches. It brings together the latest research activities and findings for the full active steering techniques for rail vehicles with the solid-axle wheelsets, independently-rotating wheelsets and wheel-pairs without axles, but relevant work on passive and semi-active solutions is also briefly described. Potential benefits of the use of a combination of modern control technology and mechatronic approach are evaluated, and in particular solutions for the difficult design trade-off between the stability and the curving performance are presented. Various actuation configurations are discussed, and advantages and drawbacks of those schemes are investigated. The outline design using a number of control methods is analysed, and measurement requirement and state estimation techniques essential for implementation of the active steering schemes are also explored. In addition the issue of safety criticality is highlighted and a possible approach for developing fault-tolerant systems is proposed. Overall the paper provides an authoritative assessment of the major advances in actively-steered wheels and addresses outstanding critical issues.     

变频调速电机绝缘的初步评估

变频调速电机产生冲击电压或电压尖峰,这与开关冲击电压等效。尽管加在每一单元上的冲击电压幅值比开关冲击电压的低,但是它们是连续发生的,因此能加速电机绝缘系统的老化。为了降低冲击电压的长期影响,必须采用能耐受局部放电(PD)或电晕的绝缘材料,已知的对局部放电敏感的材料必须尽量减少用或不采用。     

A Method to Analyse the Dynamic Behavior of a Motorcycle Front Suspension Equipped with Sequential Dampers

This work analyses the dynamic behavior of a motorcycle front suspension equipped with passive sequential hydraulic dampers, in some operative situations. The dampers, with non-linear and asymmetric characteristics, may be regulated in six different ways. Using experimental elasticity and damping data as reference parameters, and a simplified two-degrees-of-freedom model, some dynamic simulations were carried out in order to define damping parameters for optimal comfort and safety.     

Tyre-force estimation by Kalman inverse filtering: applications to off-highway mining trucks

Kalman inverse filtering is used to develop a methodology for real-time estimation of forces acting at the interface between tyre and road on large off-highway mining trucks. The system model formulated is capable of estimating the three components of tyre-force at each wheel of the truck using a practical set of measurements and inputs. Good tracking is obtained by the estimated tyre-forces when compared with those simulated by an ADAMS virtual-truck model. A sensitivity analysis determines the susceptibility of the tyre-force estimates to uncertainties in the truck's parameters.     

Ability of a “minimum” microbial food web model to reproduce response patterns observed in mesocosms manipulated with N and P, glucose, and Si

We compared an idealised mathematical model of the lower part of the pelagic food web to experimental data from a mesocosm experiment in which the supplies of mineral nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous), bioavailable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC, as glucose), and silicate were manipulated. The central hypothesis of the experiment was that bacterial consumption of BDOC depends on whether the growth rate of heterotrophic bacteria is limited by organic-C or by mineral nutrients. In previous work, this hypothesis was examined qualitatively using a conceptual food web model. Here we explore the extent to which a “simplest possible” mathematical version of this conceptual model can reproduce the observed dynamics. The model combines algal–bacterial competition for mineral nutrients (phosphorous) and accounts for alternative limitation of bacterial and diatom growth rates by organic carbon and by silicate, respectively. Due to a slower succession in the diatom–copepod, compared to the flagellate–ciliate link, silicate availability increases the magnitude and extends the duration of phytoplankton blooms induced by mineral nutrient addition. As a result, Si interferes negatively with bacterial consumption of BDOC consumption by increasing and prolonging algal–bacterial competition for mineral nutrients. In order to reproduce the difference in primary production between Si and non-Si amended treatments, we had to assume a carbon overflow mechanism in diatom C-fixation. This model satisfactorily reproduced central features observed in the mesocosm experiment, including the dynamics of glucose consumption, algal, bacterial, and mesozooplankton biomass. While the parameter set chosen allows the model to reproduce the pattern seen in bacterial production, we were not able to find a single set of parameters that simultaneously reproduces both the level and the pattern observed for bacterial production. Profound changes in bacterial morphology and stoichiometry were reported in glucose-amended mesocosms. Our “simplest possible” model with one bacterial population with fixed stoichiometry cannot reproduce this, and we suggest that a more elaborate representation of the bacterial community is required for more accurate reproduction of bacterial production.     

The design of tram priority at traffic signals

This paper outlines the guidelines being used to introduce tram priority at traffic signals in Melbourne. Where techniques being used to meet the guidelines are of interest they are briefly outlined. Similarly, where it has been found that it is not possible to meet the full requirements of the guidelines, the deficiencies of current techniques are outlined and areas for further investigation put forward.     

An experimental testbed for mobile offshore base control concepts

 The concept of a mobile offshore base (MOB) reflects the need to stage and support military and humanitarian operations anywhere in the world. A MOB is a self-propelled, modular, floating platform that can be assembled into lengths of up to 2 km, as required, to provide logistic support to US military operations where fixed bases are not available or adequate. It accommodates the take-off and landing of C17 aircraft, and can be used for storage, as well as to send resources quickly to shore. In most concepts, the structure is made of three to five modules, which have to perform long-term station-keeping in the presence of winds, waves, and currents. This is usually referred to as dynamic positioning (DP). In the MOB, the alignment is maintained through the use of thrusters, connectors, or a combination of both. In this paper, we consider the real-time control of scaled models of a MOB. The modules are built at the 1 : 150 scale, and are kept aligned by rotating thrusters under a hierarchical hybrid control scheme. This paper describes a physical testbed developed at the University of California, Berkeley, under a grant from the US Office of Naval Research, for the purpose of evaluating competing MOB control concepts. Received: June 4, 2002 / Accepted: October 30, 2002 Acknowledgments. This material is based on work supported by the MOB Program of the US Office of Naval Research under grant N00014-98-1-0744. The authors would like to thank the Link Foundation for its support. Many thanks go to Stephen Spry for his experimental work. The photographs are courtesy of Bill Stone, Gerald Stone, and Jay Sullivan of the PATH Publications staff. Address correspondence to: A.R. Girard (e-mail: anouck@eecs.berkeley.edu)     

Steel product flows: works-to-port: an application of the 'transportation problem'

The pattern of landward flows of steel products between manufacturing works and ports in the United Kingdom used for export is examined, and the spatial implications of various levels of hypothetical rationalization in the distribution of port facilities discussed. While extreme spatial concentration of port facilities for handling general steels would seem both impracticable and undesirable, the analysis suggests that a greater degree of rationalization than at present could be achieved without increasing overall landward transport costs.