Design of a Stationary Energy Recovery System in Rail Transport

Giuliano Cipolletta, Antonio Delle Femine, Daniele Gallo, Mario Luiso and Carmine Landi
Additional contact information
Giuliano Cipolletta: Engineering Department, Università Degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 81031 Aversa, Italy
Antonio Delle Femine: Engineering Department, Università Degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 81031 Aversa, Italy
Daniele Gallo: Engineering Department, Università Degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 81031 Aversa, Italy
Mario Luiso: Engineering Department, Università Degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 81031 Aversa, Italy
Carmine Landi: Engineering Department, Università Degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 81031 Aversa, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-16

Abstract: Although rail is one of the most sustainable transport systems, there is still room to reduce its energy demand. In particular, during the braking of DC powered trains, a significant amount of energy is wasted. The recent developments in energy storage system technologies, combined with the widely used technique of regenerative braking, can considerably increase energy saving. This paper explores this theme, quantifying the amount of braking energy that can be potentially recovered in a real case study, starting from the experimental data measured on-board train. A simplified numerical model of the recovery process has been implemented. Adopting it, the energy that can be saved, with one or two energy storage systems, has been quantified for each possible position along the track. The procedure allows to determine the optimal position. Further findings about the impact of voltage level on the efficiency of the recovery process have been reported. The optimal level of voltage has been determined, also considering the additional losses in the catenary, both during the traction and braking phase of the train. Moreover, it allows dimensioning of stationary storage systems considering two different energy management strategies and their impact on the peak of stored energy. The proposed approach will be presented with reference to the concrete case of a specific route on the Italian rail network, analyzing a train in normal commuter service and the obtained results will be discussed. In the best situation, about the 73% of the braking energy can be recovered.

Keywords: railway system; regenerative braking; stationary energy storage system; energy and power measurement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/9/2560/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/9/2560/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:9:p:2560-:d:546401

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().