Battery-powered all-electric and/or hybrid locomotive and related locomotive and train configurations

• US 8,640,629 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2012
• Issued: 02/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Norfolk Southern Corporation
• Original Assignee: Norfolk Southern Corporation
• Inventors: Barbee, Gibson V, Thelen, Gerhard A., Runyon, Robert S, Vander Klippe, Derick
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, MARK T
• Application Number:
  US13/731,541
• Publication Number:
  US 20130167752A1
• Time in Patent Office: 400 Days
• Field of Search: 105/26.05, 105/35, 105/49, 105/50, 105/61, 318/52, 701/19, 320/116, 320/118, 320/119, 320/125, 320/127, 320/132, 320/134, 320/135, 320/136, 320/150, 303/152, 303/22.6, 246/182.B, 246/182.C
• US Class Current: 105/61
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/26 Rail vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/22 Balancing the charge of battery modules
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 7/24 with additional mechanical or electromagnetic braking
• CPC Class Codes: B61C 17/06 Power storing devices
• CPC Class Codes: B61C 3/00 Electric locomotives or railcars characterised by power transmission B61C9/00; electrical features B60L; H02
• CPC Class Codes: B61C 3/02 with electric accumulators
• CPC Class Codes: B61C 5/00 Locomotives or motor railcars with IC engines or gas turbines characterised by power transmission B61C9/00; engines F02
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0013 acting upon several batteries simultaneously or sequentially H02J7/1423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/64 Electric machine technologies in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/92 Energy efficient charging or discharging systems for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors specially adapted for vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 30/00 Transportation of goods or passengers via railways, e.g. energy recovery or reducing air resistance

Abstract

Designs for a battery-powered, all-electric locomotive and related locomotive and train configurations are provided. In one particular exemplary embodiment, a locomotive may be driven by a plurality of traction motors powered exclusively by a battery assembly which preferably comprises rechargeable batteries or other energy storage means. The locomotive carries no internal combustion engine on board and receives no power during operation from any power source external to the locomotive. A battery management system monitors and equalizes the batteries to maintain a desired state of charge (SOC) and depth of discharge (DOD) for each battery. A brake system may be configured to prioritize a regenerative braking mechanism over an air braking mechanism so that substantial brake energy can be recovered to recharge the battery assembly. Many locomotive or train configurations involving battery-powered or battery-toting locomotive(s) may be implemented. In one embodiment, a battery-toting locomotive is directly coupled with and positioned between two diesel-electric locomotives, wherein the batteries recover energy from regenerative braking and/or supply power to drive traction motors.

Claims

1. A locomotive comprising:

a first locomotive platform carrying no internal combustion engine on board;

a battery assembly including strings of batteries;

a plurality of traction motors powered by the battery assembly to drive the locomotive platform;

a DC bus coupling the battery assembly to the plurality of traction motors;

a battery management system that monitors and equalizes the batteries to maintain a desired state of charge (SOC) and depth of discharge (DOD) for each battery;

a motor control circuitry in cooperation with the battery management system to draw currents, within throttle-dependent limits, from the battery assembly to drive the plurality of traction motors;

a brake system that controls a regenerative braking mechanism to recover brake energy to recharge the battery assembly; and

a look-ahead system that receives spatial data, the look-ahead system coupled to the battery management system and brake system;

wherein the brake system controls the locomotive'"'"'s braking activity based on the look-ahead data and battery management system data.

2. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein the motor control circuitry draws energy from the battery management system based on look-ahead data to maintain a desired SOC or DOD.

3. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein the look-ahead data comprises track terrain, track topography, track electrification connectivity, traffic information, and locations of wayside energy storage systems.

4. The locomotive according to claim 1, further comprising an off-locomotive energy storage system, and a device that connects the battery management system to the off-locomotive energy storage system;

wherein the battery management system transfers energy to the off-locomotive energy storage system based on the look-ahead data.

5. The locomotive according to claim 1, further comprising an insulated-gate bipolar transistor chopper circuit coupling the battery assembly to the DC bus.

6. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the batteries in the battery assembly are rechargeable batteries.

7. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein the battery management system further comprises a plurality of BMS units, each said BMS unit comprising a microcontroller or microprocessor, a charge equalization circuit comprising a bi-directional DC-DC converter operatively connected to a temporary buffer for battery equalization, and at least one temperature sensor, and each said BMS unit being operatively connected with one of the strings of batteries and configured to:

(a) measure electrical parameters of said string of batteries,

(b) monitor temperatures of said string of batteries, and

(c) equalize charges among the batteries of said string to maintain a desired state of charge (SOC) and depth of discharge (DOD) for each battery.

8. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein the motor control circuitry is configured to limit a traction motor armature current to the least of:

(a) a target armature current value based on a desired throttle position;

(b) an amount needed to maintain a total current of the one or more strings based on the desired throttle position; and

(c) a temporarily reduced amount needed to limit a rate of current increase when the throttle position is advanced.

9. The locomotive according to claim 6, further comprising:

a recharging interface for coupling the battery assembly to a charging station to recharge the rechargeable batteries while they are installed on the locomotive platform.

10. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the batteries in the battery assembly are removably installed on the locomotive platform, and wherein the locomotive is re-fueled by swapping at least some of the removably installed batteries with fresh batteries.

11. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein each said each BMS unit further comprises a controller-area network (CAN) bus interface to communicate with other BMS units or microcontrollers and devices without going through a host computer.

12. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein the motor control circuitry comprises a chopper circuit module in cooperation with the regenerative braking mechanism to return current to the battery assembly.

13. The locomotive according to claim 5, wherein each of the strings comprises the same number of identical batteries, and wherein the strings are connected to the insulated-gate bipolar transistor chopper circuit.

14. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein batteries in each of the strings are equalized with one another within that string.

15. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein at least one battery external to each of the one or more strings is designated and used as a holding tank or buffer during battery equalization.

16. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein the battery management system further commands cooling or air-circulation equipment to equalize temperatures of the strings of batteries.

17. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein the motor control circuitry comprises one chopper circuit module for controlling armature current of each of the plurality of traction motors.

18. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein each battery in the battery assembly is a lead-carbon battery.

19. The locomotive according to claim 16, wherein the battery management system limits a depth of discharge of each lead-carbon battery at or below approximately 35%.

20. The locomotive according to claim 16, wherein each of the one or more strings comprises fifty-four serially-connected 12-volt lead-carbon batteries.

21. The locomotive according to claim 18, wherein the battery assembly comprises thirty-two parallel strings.

22. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein the motor control circuitry comprises one chopper circuit module for controlling a current in serially-connected field windings of the plurality of traction motors.

23. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein the battery assembly comprises batteries selected from a group consisting of:

lead-carbon batteries, zinc-bromine batteries, nickel-zinc batteries, nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries, lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, lithium polymer (Li-poly) batteries, lithium sulfur (Li—

S) batteries, lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC).

24. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein an operator cabin or compartment is located towards the rear end of the first locomotive platform or on another platform separate from the first locomotive platform.

25. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein the battery assembly is positioned in a forward position on the first locomotive platform to utilize a natural air flow during train movement to cool the battery assembly, the locomotive further comprising video and/or computer monitoring equipment for train operation from other than said forward position occupied by the battery assembly.

26. The locomotive according to claim 1, wherein the battery management system includes one sensor for every cell.

27. The locomotive according to claim 1, further connected to a second locomotive platform separate from, and coupled to, the first locomotive platform, the second locomotive platform carrying at least one diesel-electric engine.

28. A locomotive comprising:

a first locomotive platform carrying no internal combustion engine on board;

a first battery assembly, carried on the first locomotive platform, including one or more strings of batteries;

a second locomotive platform, in tandem with the first locomotive platform, carrying no internal combustion engine on board;

a second battery assembly, carried on the second locomotive platform, including one or more strings of batteries;

a plurality of traction motors powered by the first and/or the second battery assemblies to drive the first and the second locomotive platforms;

a DC bus coupling the first and the second battery assemblies to the plurality of traction motors;

a battery management system that monitors and equalizes the batteries to maintain a desired state of charge (SOC) and depth of discharge (DOD) for each battery;

a motor control circuitry in cooperation with the battery management system to draw currents, within throttle-dependent limits, from the battery assembly to drive the plurality of traction motors;

a brake system that controls a regenerative braking mechanism to recover brake energy to recharge the battery assembly; and

a look-ahead system that receives spatial data, the look-ahead system coupled to the battery management system and brake system;

wherein the brake system controls the locomotive'"'"'s braking activity based on the look-ahead data and battery management system data.

29. The locomotive according to claim 28, wherein the motor control circuitry draws energy from the battery management system based on look-ahead data, to maintain a desired SOC or DOD.

30. The locomotive according to claim 28, wherein the look-ahead data comprises track terrain, track topography, track electrification connectivity, traffic information, and locations of wayside energy storage systems.

31. The locomotive according to claim 28, further comprising an off-locomotive energy storage system, and a device that connects the battery management system to the off-locomotive energy storage system;

wherein the battery management system transfers energy to the off-locomotive energy storage system based on the look-ahead data.

32. The locomotive according to claim 28, further comprising an insulated-gate bipolar transistor chopper circuit coupling the battery assembly with the DC bus.

33. The locomotive according to claim 28, wherein the battery management system further comprises a plurality of BMS units, each said BMS unit comprising a microcontroller or microprocessor, a charge equalization circuit comprising a bi-directional DC-DC converter operatively connected to a temporary buffer for battery equalization, and at least one temperature sensor, and each said BMS unit being operatively connected with one of the strings of batteries and configured to:

(a) measure electrical parameters of said string of batteries,

(b) monitor temperatures of said string of batteries, and

(c) equalize charges among the batteries of said string to maintain a desired state of charge (SOC) and depth of discharge (DOD) for each battery.

34. The locomotive according to claim 28, wherein the motor control circuitry is configured to limit a traction motor armature current to the least of:

(a) a target armature current value based on a desired throttle position;

(b) an amount needed to maintain a total current of the one or more strings based on the desired throttle position; and

(c) a temporarily reduced amount needed to limit a rate of current increase when the throttle position is advanced.

35. A train comprising:

two or more battery-powered, all-electric locomotives in coordination with one another, each of the two or more battery-powered, all-electric locomotives comprising;

a locomotive platform carrying no internal combustion engine on board;

a battery assembly including one or more strings of batteries;

a plurality of traction motors that can be powered by the battery assemblies of the two or more locomotives to drive the locomotive, the plurality of traction motors receiving no power supplied from any power source external to the train during operation;

a DC bus coupling the battery assembly to the plurality of traction motors;

a battery management system that monitors and equalizes the batteries to maintain a desired state of charge (SOC) and depth of discharge (DOD) for each battery;

a motor control circuitry in cooperation with the battery management system to draw currents, within throttle-dependent limits, from the battery assembly to drive the plurality of traction motors;

a brake system that controls a regenerative braking mechanism to recover brake energy to recharge the battery assembly; and

a look-ahead system that receives spatial data, the look-ahead system coupled to the battery management system and brake system;

wherein the brake system controls the locomotive'"'"'s braking activity based on the look-ahead data and battery management system data.

36. The locomotive according to claim 35, wherein the motor control circuitry draws energy from the battery management system based on look-ahead data, to maintain a desired SOC or DOD.

37. The locomotive according to claim 35, wherein the look-ahead data comprises track terrain, track topography, track electrification connectivity, and locations of wayside energy storage systems.

38. The locomotive according to claim 35, further comprising an off-locomotive energy storage system, and a device that connects the battery management system to the off-locomotive energy storage system;

wherein the battery management system transfers energy to the off-locomotive energy storage system based on the look-ahead data.

39. The locomotive according to claim 35, wherein the battery management system further comprises a plurality of BMS units, each said BMS unit comprising a microcontroller or microprocessor, a charge equalization circuit comprising a bi-directional DC-DC converter operatively connected to a temporary buffer for battery equalization, and at least one temperature sensor, and each said BMS unit being operatively connected with one of the strings of batteries and configured to:

(a) measure electrical parameters of said string of batteries,

(b) monitor temperatures of said string of batteries, and

(c) equalize charges among the batteries of said string to maintain a desired state of charge (SOC) and depth of discharge (DOD) for each battery.

40. The locomotive according to claim 35, wherein the motor control circuitry is configured to limit a traction motor armature current to the least of:

(a) a target armature current value based on a desired throttle position;

(b) an amount needed to maintain a total current of the one or more strings based on the desired throttle position; and

(c) a temporarily reduced amount needed to limit a rate of current increase when the throttle position is advanced.

41. A train comprising:

at least one diesel-electric locomotive, each of the at least one diesel-electric locomotive comprising;

one or more diesel engines driving an electric generator, and

a first plurality of traction motors powered by the one or more diesel engines through the electric generator;

at least one all-electric locomotive coupled with the at least one diesel-electric locomotive, each of the at least one all-electric locomotive comprising;

a locomotive platform carrying no internal combustion engine on board,

a battery assembly including one or more strings of batteries,

a second plurality of traction motors powered exclusively by the battery assembly to drive the locomotive platform, the second plurality of traction motors receiving no power supplied from any power source external to the train during operation,

a DC bus coupling the battery assembly to the second plurality of traction motors, and

a battery management system that monitors and equalizes the batteries to maintain a desired state of charge (SOC) and depth of discharge (DOD) for each battery;

a motor control circuitry in cooperation with the battery management system to draw currents, within throttle-dependent limits, from the battery assembly to drive the plurality of traction motors;

a brake system having a regenerative braking mechanism to recover brake energy from the first and/or the second plurality of traction motors to recharge the battery assembly; and

a look-ahead system that receives spatial data, the look-ahead system coupled to the battery management system and brake system;

wherein the brake system controls the locomotive'"'"'s braking activity based on the look-ahead data and battery management system data.

42. The train according to claim 41, wherein the DC bus couples the at least one all-electric locomotive with the at least one diesel-electric locomotive.

43. The train according to claim 41, wherein:

the at least one all-electric locomotive consists of a single all-electric locomotive;

the at least one diesel-electric locomotive consists of a first diesel-electric locomotive and a second diesel-electric locomotive; and

the single all-electric locomotive is directly coupled with and positioned between the first diesel-electric locomotive and the second diesel-electric locomotive.

44. The locomotive according to claim 41, wherein the motor control circuitry draws energy from the battery management system based on look-ahead data, to maintain a desired SOC or DOD.

45. The locomotive according to claim 41, wherein the look-ahead data comprises track terrain, track topography, track electrification connectivity, and locations of wayside energy storage systems.

46. The locomotive according to claim 41, further comprising an off-locomotive energy storage system, and a device that connects the battery management system to the off-locomotive energy storage system;

wherein the battery management system transfers energy to the off-locomotive energy storage system based on the look-ahead data.