Dynamic Load Management for Roadside Electric Vehicle Catenary Networks
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing infrastructure for electrified individual transport, such as electric or diesel-electric trucks powered by roadside overhead lines, faces challenges in predicting load absorption due to fluctuations in traffic volume, leading to oversized or undersized energy generation and transmission systems, resulting in inefficient operation.
Innovation Solution
A traffic control system that forecasts load requirements using roadside detectors and vehicle data, influencing vehicle behavior and infrastructure management to maintain load balance within designed limits, including driver instructions, automatic control interventions, and energy management strategies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the electrical infrastructure is designed for maximum power consumption, then the load limits are guaranteed to be sufficient, but the infrastructure becomes significantly oversized and operates inefficiently during low-demand periods
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic load management by continuously monitoring actual traffic volume and power consumption in real-time, then adjusting the operational status of feed sections accordingly. The control center dynamically reconfigures the catenary network by switching feed sections on or off based on current demand, transforming the static infrastructure into a dynamic system that adapts to varying load conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes operational parameters (specifically the active status of feed sections) based on real-time load conditions. By monitoring actual power consumption and comparing it against thresholds, the control center adjusts which feed sections are active, thereby changing the operational parameters of the infrastructure to match actual demand rather than maintaining fixed maximum capacity settings.
2Reliability
If the infrastructure is designed to handle peak traffic volumes, then sufficient power supply is guaranteed during high-demand periods, but the system operates economically inefficiently during low-demand periods
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from static peak-based design to dynamic real-time adaptation. The control center continuously monitors actual power consumption and traffic volume, then dynamically adjusts the activation status of feed sections to match current demand, ensuring sufficient power supply during peaks while avoiding energy waste during low-demand periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a closed-loop feedback system where the control center continuously receives data on actual power consumption and traffic volume from monitoring systems, evaluates this information against predefined thresholds, and automatically adjusts feed section activation accordingly. This feedback mechanism ensures the infrastructure responds appropriately to actual conditions rather than operating based on static peak-demand assumptions.
3Productivity
If more feed sections are activated simultaneously, then more vehicles can be served, but the load balance becomes difficult to control and infrastructure limits may be exceeded
Solution Approach 1:
The control center implements continuous monitoring of power consumption in each feed section and automatically adjusts activation based on real-time feedback. When power consumption approaches predefined thresholds, the system automatically deactivates or reduces power to specific feed sections, maintaining load balance without requiring complex manual control of multiple simultaneous feed sections.
Solution Approach 2:
The control center acts as an intermediary between the infrastructure and vehicles, managing the complexity of coordinating multiple feed sections. Rather than directly controlling each feed section's power distribution, the control center mediates by making centralized decisions about which feed sections to activate based on overall system load conditions, simplifying the control problem.
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
The invention relates to a system (10) for performing traffic control of electrically driven vehicles (20) in a road network. In this context, for the transmission of energy the vehicles (20) can be coupled during travel to a contact line network which is arranged on the road. The contact line network has feed sections (12) which are supplied separately from one another and have configurable load limits. According to the invention, the system (10) comprises prediction means for predicting a load requirement in a feed section (12), influencing means for influencing a load take-up of vehicles (20) in the feed section (12), and control means (60) for evaluating the predicted load demand with respect to the load limit of the feed section (12) and for selecting possibly necessary control interventions for influencing means. As a result, a contact line network which is arranged on the road and to which road vehicles of the individual traffic can be coupled in order to transmit energy during travel can be operated within the configured load limits.