Optimizing of Speed Profile in Electrical Trains for Energy Saving with Dynamic Programming

Abstract

Nowadays, the use of electric trains has been increasing in transportation and the rail networks has been expanding with the increasing needs. Therefore, energy efficiency in electric trains has become one of the notable issues. This study investigates the driving style of trains and the effects of driving styles on energy consumption and travel time and proposes a new speed profile to reduce energy consumption. Dynamic Programming and Bellman's Backward Approach have been applied to develop this speed profile and discretization of time, speed and distance parameters has been used for energy calculations. In the study, in order to test speed profiles, two different test lines with different characteristics such as slope, curve and speed limit have been formed. The comparison of the actual driving style and the proposed style has been examined in terms of operating time and energy consumption in these lines. In addition, the error of the distance and speed have been found and RMSE values have been calculated for these methods. The results of the study have been found to be successful because of the small error rates, the small increase in operating time and the significant reduction in energy consumption. © 2019 IEEE.