A Systemic Approach Integrating Driving Cycles for the Design of Hybrid Locomotives

Driving cycles are essential in hybrid locomotive design by conditioning their size and performance. This paper introduces a new systemic approach to hybrid locomotive design, taking real-world driving cycles into account. The proposed approach first exploits clustering analysis with the aim of identifying classes corresponding to particular sets of driving cycles. Then, a synthesis process of a reduced and representative profile from each class of driving cycles is presented. Both approaches are applied to the integrated optimal design of an autonomous hybrid (Diesel-electric) locomotive devoted to shunting and switching operations in nonelectrified areas.