Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RECET4Rail (Reliable Energy and Cost Efficient Traction system for Railway)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2020-12-01 al 2022-05-31
Rail is a fundamental service for modern societies and the backbone of a sustainable transport system. About the challenges, on top comes the pressure to reduce energy consumption, pollution and the consumption of other resources. Mastering the breakthrough developments of new technologies is of capital importance for the railway industry to deliver smart and efficient solutions.Indeed essential to the growth of the rail industry is the reduction of the overall life cycle exploitation costs of all rail sub-systems.
The EU-funded RECET4Rail Project is important for the society because it will provide essential knowledge and competence that can lead the improvement to high technology readiness levels of Shift2Rail traction demonstrations on trains developed by Shift2Rail members. This collaboration paves the way for future key developments in fields such as digitalisation applied to traction, environmental sustainability (especially devising carbon-free traction systems) and reinforcement of standardisation to lower complexity and costs.
Moreover, the Project will provide essential knowledge that will lead to future improvement of the high TRL level S2R traction demonstrations on trains done by the S2R Members, preparing future S2R key work on domains as digitalisation applied to Traction, environmental sustainability (especially devising carbon free traction systems) or reinforcement of standardisation to lower complexity and costs.
The global rail sector must increasingly rely on the emerging disruptive technologies such as advanced robotics, 3-D printing, high computing power and connectivity, etc., which are integrated with analytical and cognitive technologies that enable machine-to-machine (M2M) and machine-to-human (M2H) communication. In addition comes the pressure to reduce energy consumption, pollution and the consumption of other resources. Therefore, mastering the breakthrough developments of new technologies is of capital importance for the railway industry to deliver smart and efficient solutions that improve safety, security, punctuality, availability, accessibility, seamless operation, capacity, connectivity, sustainability and other performances, while remaining economically affordable for everybody in countries all around the world. Indeed, essential to the growth of the rail industry is the reduction of the overall life cycle exploitation costs of all rail sub-systems, the minimisation of the effects of obsolescence and the effective migration of emerging technological innovation.
The EU-funded RECET4Rail Project is important for the society because it will provide essential knowledge and competence that can lead the improvement to high technology readiness levels of Shift2Rail traction demonstrations on trains developed by Shift2Rail members. This collaboration paves the way for future key developments in fields such as digitalisation applied to traction, environmental sustainability (especially devising carbon-free traction systems) and reinforcement of standardisation to lower complexity and costs.
Moreover, the Project will provide essential knowledge that will lead to future improvement of the high TRL level S2R traction demonstrations on trains done by the S2R Members, preparing future S2R key work on domains as digitalisation applied to Traction, environmental sustainability (especially devising carbon free traction systems) or reinforcement of standardisation to lower complexity and costs.
The global rail sector must increasingly rely on the emerging disruptive technologies such as advanced robotics, 3-D printing, high computing power and connectivity, etc., which are integrated with analytical and cognitive technologies that enable machine-to-machine (M2M) and machine-to-human (M2H) communication. In addition comes the pressure to reduce energy consumption, pollution and the consumption of other resources. Therefore, mastering the breakthrough developments of new technologies is of capital importance for the railway industry to deliver smart and efficient solutions that improve safety, security, punctuality, availability, accessibility, seamless operation, capacity, connectivity, sustainability and other performances, while remaining economically affordable for everybody in countries all around the world. Indeed, essential to the growth of the rail industry is the reduction of the overall life cycle exploitation costs of all rail sub-systems, the minimisation of the effects of obsolescence and the effective migration of emerging technological innovation.
WP1 has reached all its main objectives for the RP1 reporting period. The manufacturing feasibility of complex lattice shapes by AM were validated and geometrical deviations and design constraints related to the manufacturing process were assessed. A first performance trade-off on several unitary lattice cells was achieved by thermal-CFD calculations and several experimental-simulation comparisons of thermal resistance and pressure losses were done for machine and AM pin-fin heatsinks and for lattice structure heatsinks.
WP2 is evolving as expected. Within the first task “Infrastructure and on-board energy storage system analysis” the main objective of gathering all the necessary data to have enough criteria to give a clear assessment of Opportunistic Wireless Charging in a real tram profile has been achieved. Moreover, the real Eoff of various SiC semiconductors have been determined as well as the Coss-V characteristic and the channel current through the semiconductors.
WP3 has reached all its main objectives for the RP1 reporting period. Some tasks of WP3 picked up considerable delay due to late delivery of semiconductor devices. While some tasks could be started or even finished on alternative samples, others have to be done with specific and tailor-made devices, which became only available early in 2022. Depending on the reliability level of the devices, finishing WP3 seems to be realistic. Furthermore, the semiconductor devices confirmed being adequate in performance and number to perform all planned reliability tests, so there is no risk of inappropriate samples any longer and all tasks are on their way.
WP4 has reached all its main objectives for the M1-M18 reporting period. The economic benefit of predictive maintenance are being investigated through the development of two different models: one model develops metrics to assess the performance of Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) algorithms and link these metrics to economic KPIs, whereas the second model estimates the benefits of the optimization of opportunistic maintenance approaches enabled by PHM algorithms. Transfer learning-based methods for fault diagnostics in fleets of similar systems have been developed, whereas the investigation of text mining algorithms to extract useful information from reports written by maintenance operators is on-going. Finally, Machine Learning algorithms to detect, diagnose and prognose anomalies in the train traction signals are under development.
Regarding the WP5, UNIFE, together with all the partners,specifically UBREMEN, IKERLAN, ARAMIS, RISE, IRT, has developed a multi-channel dissemination and communication strategy and a comprehensive CDEP. The deliverable has been approved by the PO. This task is carrying out communications and knowledge sharing activities to promote widespread awareness on the project at European level. The knowledge produced by the project partners is being promoted through different dissemination channels in compliance with publication rules of the Grant Agreement and the Consortium Agreement as well as additional policies agreed by the Consortium and documented in the Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation Plan.
The overall objective of WP6 is to ensure effective project management and coordination of technical activities.Activities conducted in this task focused on the overall project management and coordination. Several periodic internal and external meetings (with the S2R JU) were held. In addition, technical cooperation of RECET4Rail beneficiaries with PINTA 3 partners was facilitated.
WP2 is evolving as expected. Within the first task “Infrastructure and on-board energy storage system analysis” the main objective of gathering all the necessary data to have enough criteria to give a clear assessment of Opportunistic Wireless Charging in a real tram profile has been achieved. Moreover, the real Eoff of various SiC semiconductors have been determined as well as the Coss-V characteristic and the channel current through the semiconductors.
WP3 has reached all its main objectives for the RP1 reporting period. Some tasks of WP3 picked up considerable delay due to late delivery of semiconductor devices. While some tasks could be started or even finished on alternative samples, others have to be done with specific and tailor-made devices, which became only available early in 2022. Depending on the reliability level of the devices, finishing WP3 seems to be realistic. Furthermore, the semiconductor devices confirmed being adequate in performance and number to perform all planned reliability tests, so there is no risk of inappropriate samples any longer and all tasks are on their way.
WP4 has reached all its main objectives for the M1-M18 reporting period. The economic benefit of predictive maintenance are being investigated through the development of two different models: one model develops metrics to assess the performance of Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) algorithms and link these metrics to economic KPIs, whereas the second model estimates the benefits of the optimization of opportunistic maintenance approaches enabled by PHM algorithms. Transfer learning-based methods for fault diagnostics in fleets of similar systems have been developed, whereas the investigation of text mining algorithms to extract useful information from reports written by maintenance operators is on-going. Finally, Machine Learning algorithms to detect, diagnose and prognose anomalies in the train traction signals are under development.
Regarding the WP5, UNIFE, together with all the partners,specifically UBREMEN, IKERLAN, ARAMIS, RISE, IRT, has developed a multi-channel dissemination and communication strategy and a comprehensive CDEP. The deliverable has been approved by the PO. This task is carrying out communications and knowledge sharing activities to promote widespread awareness on the project at European level. The knowledge produced by the project partners is being promoted through different dissemination channels in compliance with publication rules of the Grant Agreement and the Consortium Agreement as well as additional policies agreed by the Consortium and documented in the Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation Plan.
The overall objective of WP6 is to ensure effective project management and coordination of technical activities.Activities conducted in this task focused on the overall project management and coordination. Several periodic internal and external meetings (with the S2R JU) were held. In addition, technical cooperation of RECET4Rail beneficiaries with PINTA 3 partners was facilitated.
A state-of-the-art of the current use cases of additive manufactured parts for railway industry was realised, allowing to highlight that most of the applications were on comfort/cosmetic parts, far from the traction drive system scope of the call. In consequence, the state-of-the art was enlarged to present the different additive manufacturing process and materials, with its advantages and drawbacks. The main outcome of this literature review was to choose the most promising combination of additive manufacturing technology and material with regards to their actual maturity level in industry and the specific use case that would be addressed in the project.
The state of art review of Additive Manufacturing (AM) heat exchangers has been completed. These works will contribute to the reduction of the Traction Capital Cost KPIs thanks to the use of AM technology to enhance the power module converters cooling performances and lifetime; the target will be to reach at least a 95% transfer efficiency of the proposed DWPT charging solution in all the route. Transfer distances of up to 250mm will be posible; the results will provide the system designers with validated lifetime models for SiC devices, such that they can reduce design margins and optimise the systems towards even higher efficiency, compactness, cost and reliability.
The state of art review of Additive Manufacturing (AM) heat exchangers has been completed. These works will contribute to the reduction of the Traction Capital Cost KPIs thanks to the use of AM technology to enhance the power module converters cooling performances and lifetime; the target will be to reach at least a 95% transfer efficiency of the proposed DWPT charging solution in all the route. Transfer distances of up to 250mm will be posible; the results will provide the system designers with validated lifetime models for SiC devices, such that they can reduce design margins and optimise the systems towards even higher efficiency, compactness, cost and reliability.