Two technical WPs (WP4 and WP5) and some non-technical activities were active in this second and final period. Non-technical activities were mainly dedicated to the project management, alignment with Shift2Rail and dissemination/exploitation.
The activities of WP4 related to the development, adaptation and delivery of the on-board and trackside energy harvesting prototypes continued and finished in the second period. The prototypes designed and manufactured by WP4 used a different operating principle to convert input energy from a passing train to electrical energy for powering trackside devices. The energy conversion principles used by the devices were vibration, variable reluctance and displacement, all Trackside Energy Harvesters were made ready for test under WP5, where operation in controlled environment was analyzed.
WP5 was dedicated to organise and perform the validation and testing of the proposed prototypes: On-board Train Integrity (OTI) and Trackside Energy Harvesting prototypes. The assessment of the test’s results is a main activity of this second period which generated main project conclusions and system‘s potential for railway applications.
OTI prototype tests were performed in controlled and relevant environment. Controlled environment tests, performed in Barrow Hill, validated the communication devices (OTI nodes) performance. It was established that the system was capable of detecting a loss of train integrity, however testing of the OTI function with moving trains was not successfully achieve due to issues with the communication sub-systems. The shortfalls detected during the testing sequence of the OTI were eliminated through mitigation actions and additional improvements of the hardware/software elements of the system. All the mitigation measures were implemented prior next round of tests in relevant environment.
Relevant environment tests, performed in Athens, aimed to test OTI prototype under real operational conditions, carrying out a trip on a secondary line from the marshalling yard to the port. The tests demonstrated that prototypes were capable to monitor train integrity, detecting losses of integrity and also the insusceptibility of the communication solution to the failure of individual nodes. In addition it was demonstrated that the On-Train Vibration Energy Harvester (OT VEH) provided enough energy under certain conditions to power communications along a train related to train integrity
Finally, WP5 also performed Trackside Energy Harvesting (TEH) tests in controlled environment. The selected TEH technologies were tested in laboratory conditions to verify that, when exposed to representative energy inputs, the energy harvesting system(s) are collecting enough power to feed new Trackside Object Controllers. The power management equipment and test procedure adopted for each TEH technology was distinct from the others, as the characteristics of each TEH technology were different and thus different testing approaches were appropriate to represent the conditions relevant to the mode of energy harvesting being investigated. TEH technologies were tested in laboratory conditions to verify that, when exposed to representative energy inputs, the energy harvesting system(s) are collecting power.
