Amine Jaafar

Sizing and Energy Management of a Hybrid Locomotive Based on Flywheel and Accumulators

The French National Railways Company (SNCF) is interested in the design of a hybrid locomotive based on various storage devices (accumulator, flywheel, and ultracapacitor) and fed by a diesel generator. This paper particularly deals with the integration of a flywheel device as a storage element with a reduced-power diesel generator and accumulators on the hybrid locomotive. First, a power flow model of energy-storage elements (flywheel and accumulator) is developed to achieve the design of the whole traction system. Then, two energy-management strategies based on a frequency approach are proposed. The first strategy led us to a bad exploitation of the flywheel, whereas the second strategy provides an optimal sizing of the storage device. Finally, a comparative study of the proposed structure with a flywheel and the existing structure of the locomotive (diesel generator, accumulators, and ultracapacitors) is presented.

A Systemic Approach Integrating Driving Cycles for the Design of Hybrid Locomotives

Driving cycles are essential in hybrid locomotive design by conditioning their size and performance. This paper introduces a new systemic approach to hybrid locomotive design, taking real-world driving cycles into account. The proposed approach first exploits clustering analysis with the aim of identifying classes corresponding to particular sets of driving cycles. Then, a synthesis process of a reduced and representative profile from each class of driving cycles is presented. Both approaches are applied to the integrated optimal design of an autonomous hybrid (Diesel-electric) locomotive devoted to shunting and switching operations in nonelectrified areas.

Sizing of a hybrid locomotive based on accumulators and ultracapacitors

In this paper, hybridization of a BB460000 locomotive is proposed integrating a reduced power diesel generator, batteries and ultracapacitors as storage elements. The power mission of the BB460000 locomotive is studied in order to analyze its ability to be hybridized and to identify the most critical mission. An energy management strategy based on a frequency sharing is proposed. It allows strongly decreasing the nominal power of the diesel generator. Then, through a power flow sizing model, the hybrid locomotive is sized with Ni-Cd batteries and ultracapacitors. The uselessness of ultracapacitors on energetic, geometrical, financial and lifetime plans is shown.

Clustering analysis of railway driving missions with niching

Purpose – A wide number of applications requires classifying or grouping data into a set of categories or clusters. The most popular clustering techniques to achieve this objective are K‐means clustering and hierarchical clustering. However, both of these methods necessitate the a priori setting of the cluster number. The purpose of this paper is to present a clustering method based on the use of a niching genetic algorithm to overcome this problem.Design/methodology/approach – The proposed approach aims at finding the best compromise between the inter‐cluster distance maximization and the intra‐cluster distance minimization through the silhouette index optimization. It is capable of investigating in parallel multiple cluster configurations without requiring any assumption about the cluster number.Findings – The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated on 2D benchmarks with non‐overlapping and overlapping clusters.Originality/value – The proposed approach is also applied to the clustering an...

Signal synthesis by means of evolutionary algorithms

In this article, we investigate a procedure for generating signals with genetic algorithms. Signals are obtained from elementary patterns characterized by different degrees of freedom. These patterns are repeated and combined in order to reach specific signal shapes. The whole signal parametrization has to be determined by solving a difficult inverse problem of high dimensionality and strong multimodality. This can be carried out using evolutionary algorithms with the aim of finding all pattern configurations in the signal. The different signal synthesis schemes are evaluated, tested and applied to the generation of particular railway driving profiles.

Synthesis of a compact wind profile using evolutionary algorithms for wind turbine system with storage

In this paper, the authors investigate two methodologies for synthesizing compact wind speed profiles by means of evolutionary algorithms. Such profile can be considered as input parameter in a prospective design process by optimization of a passive wind system with storage. Compact profiles are obtained by aggregating elementary patterns in order to fulfil some target indicators. The main difference between both methods presented in the paper is related to the choice of these indicators. In the first method, they are related to the storage system features while they only depend on wind features in the second.

Contribution to the modelling of a low temperature PEM fuel cell in aeronautical conditions by design of experiments

Abstract Nowadays, fuel cells are regarded as a promising solution in the context of development of a “More Electrical Aircraft”. Indeed, the integration of fuel cell systems in aircraft allows generating electrical energy with high efficiency and low environmental impact. However, there are still many questions about the functioning and the performance of these systems in typical aeronautical conditions. The present work is focused on aeronautical conditions linked to cabin applications. Therefore, a particular attention is paid to low pressure operation, with experimental investigations carried out at subatmospheric pressures. Given the complexity of the possible interactions, an experimental database was created using the Design of Experiments method. The experimental results are first presented and discussed, then exploited via a modelling approach. The objective is to define a model for the polarization curve able to describe its evolution when the operating conditions change. The methodology used to construct the model is introduced step-by-step as well as the modelling results for the various involved phenomena. At the end, the predictive behaviour of the model is investigated with polarization curves carried out at operating conditions taken outside the definition range of the DoE.

Synthesis of compact wind profiles using evolutionary algorithms

In this paper, the authors face the problem of wind speed processing as environmental variable of a wind turbine system. Generally, the information on wind speed measurements is processed over long periods of time to be relevant with respect to the site characteristics (average and maximum speeds, statistics). Subsequent large scale profiles of wind speed lead to long processing time for simulation analysis and especially for optimization design that penalises the search of optimal solutions. An original synthesis approach of a compact and representative wind speed profile using an Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) is proposed. This approach is compared to a purely statistical approach based on random number generators. It allows reducing the actual wind profile duration with compression ratios greater (two months of wind speed measurements are compressed in only 1 h). Then, the synthesis approach by EA is applied to the sizing of an autonomous hybrid system based on wind turbine with battery storage for stand-alone energy systems. It has proven its effectiveness in reducing 200 days of wind speed measurements in only 10 days, allowing sizing the storage system with a significant gain in terms of computing time in the framework of the optimization process.

From an integrated optimal design to a systemic optimization of a stand alone passive wind turbine system with storage

In this paper, the authors report the development of a Systemic Optimization Process (SOP) devoted to a passive wind turbine system with electrochemical storage bank. Aim of the SOP is to find the optimal combination and sizing among sets of system components, that meets the desired system requirements; with the lowest system owning cost. The passive wind system associated to the storage bank interacts with wind and load cycles (deterministic data). Sets of passive wind turbines are obtained through an Integrated Optimal Design (IOD) process. The system cost model is inspired from constructor data for the wind turbines and related to the battery cycles for the storage bank. An optimization problem is developed and performed using an exhaustive research. The optimization results are finally exposed and discussed.