Railroad vehicle with energy regeneration

Abstract

A railroad vehicle (1500) for carrying freight is described. The railroad vehicle (1500) comprises power regeneration capability through a traction motor (1530) linked to a driving wheel (1520D), an electrical energy storage system (1550), a controller (1570) that may selectively operate the traction motor (1530) in a motoring mode, a coasting mode, or a dynamic braking mode. In the dynamic braking mode electrical energy from the traction motor (1530) is transmitted to the electrical energy storage system (1550). The controller (1570) is in communication with a communication link (1580) that receives control commands from an external control source (1595), and those control commands indicate the operating mode for a particular period of time.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] The invention of the present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 435,261, filed May 9, 2003, entitled Multimode Hybrid Energy Railway Vehicle System and Method, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 032,714, filed on Dec. 26, 2001, entitled Locomotive Energy Tender, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,612,245 (issued Sep. 2, 2003), which claims priority based on U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 278,975, filed on Mar. 27, 2001, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. [0002] The following commonly owned, co-pending applications are related to the present application and are incorporated herein by reference: [0003] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 033,172, filed on Dec. 26, 2001, and entitled “HYBRID ENERGY POWER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD”; [0004] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 033,347, filed on Dec. 26, 2001, and entitled “HYBRID ENE...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

In other words, electric energy generated in the dynamic braking mode is typically wasted.

As indicated above, prior art locomotives typically waste the energy generated from dynamic braking.

Attempts to make productive use of such energy have been unsatisfactory.

Such systems are not suited for recovering energy to propel the locomotive itself.

Among the disadvantages of such a system are the safe storage of the hydrogen gas and the need to carry water for the electrolysis process.

Still other prior art systems fail to recapture the dynamic braking energy at all, but rather selectively engage a special generator that operates when the associated vehicle travels downhill.

One of the reasons such a system is unsatisfactory is because it fails to recapture existing braking energy.

Such prior art hybrid energy railway vehicles fail to recapture dynamic braking energy generated by the traction motor of the hybrid energy railway vehicle and is required to turn on and off the turbine engine and generator as required by the level of charge of the hybrid energy railway vehicle storage system.

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