Energy-saving operating strategy of a catenary free Light Rail Transit

Now, electric railway which is higher transport efficiency, punctuality, safety and rapidity than other transportation is developing in traffic society. Furthermore, the streetcar which is closer than a railway and more environmental than bus is attracted attention in an aging society. Light Rail Transit (LRT) called next generation type streetcar has low-floor vehicles which is easy to get on and off, and is introduced in many cities. Furthermore, it is possible to use energy storage for the main power supply of LRT by technological advancement of electrical storage device, and movement toward realization of catenary free LRT is becoming active. So, this research aimed at realizing energy-saving operation by changing the running time and charging time while catenary free LRT runs in the catenary free section. As a result of performing a simulation at MATLAB, in charging briskly at each station, consumption energy increases as running time becomes short. In this case, the increase in the charge loss by charge time becoming short is very small compared with the influence which running time has on consumption energy. Moreover, when the case where charge became impossible among 4 stations in some sections was assumed, 1.07% of consumption energy reduction was possible by charging to the capacitor voltage appropriate for the condition instead of full charge.