Towards the realization of an innovative rail vehicle — active ride comfort control. (December 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Giossi, Rocco Libero; Shipsha, Anton; Persson, Rickard; Wennhage, Per; Stichel, Sebastian
• Is Part Of: Control engineering practice. Volume 129(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-12
• Subjects: Two-axle vehicle -- Modal control -- Blended control -- Comfort evaluation -- Structural modes -- Hydraulic actuator modelling; Automatic control -- Periodicals; 629.89
• DOI: 10.1016/j.conengprac.2022.105346
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0967-0661

Abstract

Abstract: The Shift2Rail project Pivot2 introduces an innovative metro vehicle with two single axle running gears with only one suspension step to reduce the vehicle's weight. A U-shaped connection frame is designed in Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer to further reduce weight and incorporate the anti-roll bar. Due to the poor ride comfort of the vehicle with standard passive dampers, all six dampers are replaced by hydraulic actuators. Modal control is applied and optimized with genetic algorithms. Despite the good improvements obtained, the weighted vertical acceleration remains above the acceptance level. Two modifications of modal control are studied, i.e., modal control with additional sensor, and blended control. Based on the frequency response of the results, it is proposed a low-pass filtered blended controller to neglect frame accelerations high frequency content. This last improves vertical comfort at the expenses of a more complex control system in comparison to modal control. Highlights: A mechatronic two axle rail vehicle is introduced to reduce the vehicle weight. Wheelset and carbody are connected by a Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer frame. Hydraulic actuators are used to control the carbody vibrations and ride comfort. Modal control is compared with three modal-based control alternatives. Improves in comfort are achieved at the expense of a more complex control system.