Regenerative breaking - improving energy efficiency in trains

[EnergHumanParticipant]

Yes, of course Gabriela,

Here is a summary of what happens in this situation. The full paper can be found here

Most recent rail vehicles have the ability to brake electrically using regenerative braking techniques. In that case, the electric motor works as a generator recovering the vehicle’s kinetic energy and converting it into electricity. In these vehicles, while a small portion of this kinetic energy can be reused by auxiliary equipments like air conditioning or lighting, the remaining energy can be sent back to the network and hence recovered only if another vehicle is accelerating nearby. In this case, the accelerating vehicle takes advantage of this energy transfer. If that is not the case, the network voltage increases due to the energy surplus and this extra energy has to be dissipated in braking resistors.
<p class=”MsoNormal”><span lang=”EN-GB”>These energy transfers between vehicles depend on parameters such as the traffic density, distances between the stations and slopes. In a metro network, these transfers usually amount to 20-30% of the total consumption. However, in many situations, the energy cannot be recovered on the network because no vehicle is accelerating exactly when another is braking. This represents an interesting opportunity to integrate braking energy recovery technologies.</span></p>

[EnergHumanParticipant]

NeoGreen is an Energy Saver developped by ADETEL using EDLC technology

[Gabriela EhrlichKeymaster]

Thank you. This sounds really interesting. I guess its a bit like what piezo electrics is trying to achieve for example with heart stimulator batteries that are charged from human movements or body temperature and don’t require replacement during life-time of wearer. I love your image too !

[EnergHumanParticipant]

The image is part of a movie done by the graphic design school ecole-ecran.fr

[Author]

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