METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING THE OPERATION OF A REVERSIBLE TRACTION SUBSTATION AND ASSOCIATED DEVICES

• US 20140182991A1
• Filed: 12/26/2013
• Published: 07/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alstom Transport Technologies
• Original Assignee: Alstom Transport SA (Alstom SA)
• Inventors: Cornic, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 9,038,794 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 191/4
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/26 Rail vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/53 in combination with an external power supply, e.g. from overhead contact lines
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 9/00 Electric propulsion with power supply external to the vehicle electric propulsion for monorail vehicles, suspension vehicles or rack railways B60L13/00; in combination with batteries or fuel cells within the vehicle B60L50/53
• CPC Class Codes: B60M 3/06 Arrangements for consuming regenerative power
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries

Abstract

The method according to the invention aims to optimize the operation of a reversible traction substation (Sk) of a power supply system (4) for railway vehicles, said reversible substation being able to be commanded in a traction operating mode or a braking mode.

This method includes:

• • determining a current value (Mc) of a favored operating mode;
  • maximizing at least one optimization function (F) that depends on the current value of the favored operating mode, based on instantaneous values (G(t)) of multiple operating properties of the substation (Sk);
  • computing optimized values (Popt(t)) for multiple configuration parameters of the substation (Sk) from maximized values (Gmax(t)) of the operating properties.

Claims

1. A method for optimizing the operation of a reversible traction substation (Sk) of a power supply system (4) for railway vehicles, the system being situated at the interface between a power supply grid (20) and a DC power line (6), positioned along a track and to which a railway vehicle (46) can be electrically connected, said reversible substation being able to be commanded, in traction operating mode, to transfer electricity delivered by the grid to the line, and, in braking operating mode, to transfer excess recovery electricity captured on the line to the grid, characterized in that the method includes:

determining (114, 122, 124, 126) a current value (Mc) of a favored operating mode from instantaneous values of multiple operating parameters (H, Vn) of the substation (Sk);

maximizing (150) at least one optimization function (F) that depends on the current value (Mc) of the favored operating mode, based on instantaneous values (G(t)) of multiple operating properties of the substation (Sk), so as to obtain maximized values (Gmax(t)) of the operating properties;

computing (160) optimized values (Popt(t)) for multiple configuration parameters of the substation (Sk) from maximized values (Gmax(t)) of the operating properties, said optimized values (Popt(t)) of said configuration parameters being saved as current values of the configuration parameters (Pc(t)) to control the substation (Sk).

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the favored operating mode assumes a current value (Mc) in the set including the value +1 when the favored mode corresponds to the traction operating mode, the value −

1 when the favored mode corresponds to the braking operating mode, optionally the value 0 when no operating mode is to be favored among the traction operating mode and the braking operating mode, and optionally the value −

2 when the favored mode is a standby mode, in which mode no energy is exchanged between the grid and the line, the substation then being controlled to minimize its electricity consumption.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that the determination of the current value (Mc) of an operating mode comprises a decision step (114) that implements an algorithm of the decision tree type to determine an instantaneous value (M(t)) from the instantaneous values of the multiple operating parameters (H, Vn) of the substation (Sk) and update (122, 124, 126) the current value (Mc) with the instantaneous value (M(t)).

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that said algorithm of the decision tree type uses, as input, the instantaneous values of the operating parameters from among an operating interval (H) of the railway vehicles on said track, an AC voltage (Vn) delivered by the grid, and, when the system includes at least two reversible substations, the distance (D) between said at least two substations.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the method includes a step (126) for selecting the optimization function (F) to be maximized, based on the current value (Mc) of the favored operating mode.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that the optimization function (F) is a weighted sum of multiple elementary functions.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that the selection step (126) uses an algorithm for estimating weights used to weight each elementary function in the optimization function.

8. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that the selection step (126) uses an adaptation algorithm serving to cause the elementary functions included in the definition of the optimization function to evolve over the course of the use of said substation.

9. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the maximization (150) includes determining (144) the instantaneous value (F(t)) of the selected optimization function as a function of the values (Ĝ

(t)) of the operating properties, the modification (146) of the instantaneous values (Δ

G(t)) of the operating properties, the determination (148) of the modified value (Δ

F(t)) of the optimization function as a function of the modified values of the operating properties, the comparison (150) of the modified value and the instantaneous value of the constraint function, and, when the modified value is greater than the instantaneous value, allocating the modified values as maximized values (Gmax(t)) of the operating properties.

10. A reversible traction substation for a power supply system (4) for railway vehicles, said system being situated at the interface between an AC supply grid (20) and a DC supply line (6) arranged along a track and to which a railway vehicle (46) can be electrically connected, said reversible substation being controllable in braking operating mode to transfer electricity captured on the line to the grid;

and in traction operating mode to transfer electricity delivered by the grid to the line, the substation including a converter (30) and a computer (29) controlling the converter, characterized in that the computer is programmed to carry out an optimization method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.