Lateral Guidance Control Using Information of Preceding Wheel Pairs

Abstract

The proceeding enhancement of sensor technology, data processing and communication opens a broad field to improve the dynamics of railway vehicles by controlled systems targeting e.g. passenger comfort and wear reduction. In terms of an integrated control structure, information of leading bogies can be used for an advanced control of the trailing ones, like it is recently applied in tilting trains. Such an approach has not yet been investigated for the lateral guidance of driven independently rotating wheels (DIRW). To evaluate the potential of a control using preview information, an integrated control structure is introduced in this work. The control is based on the concept of feedback linearization and considers characteristics of track trajectory and irregularity, which are obtained at a leading wheel pair. The control performance is optimized with the help of software-in-the-loop simulations and the results show a significant improvement of the running dynamics.