Pantograph Contact Pressure Control for Road-Guided Vehicles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Bumps in the road or damage to the roadway can cause the contact between the power collector and the overhead line to break, leading to increased abrasion and wear, and existing solutions either increase contact pressure, exacerbating wear or fail to optimize contact pressure effectively.
Innovation Solution
A road-guided motor vehicle equipped with an actuator arrangement to control the power collector's position and a sensor system to detect contact pressure, allowing for optimized contact pressure adjustment based on road conditions, learned through self-learning algorithms and data sharing, minimizing wear while maintaining consistent contact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If contact pressure is increased to prevent contact breaks, then reliability is improved, but wear increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the contact pressure adjustable and adaptive rather than fixed. The actuator arrangement dynamically modifies the contact pressure based on detected road conditions (bumps, damages) to maintain reliable contact while minimizing wear. This resolves the contradiction by allowing the system to use higher pressure only when necessary for contact continuity and lower pressure during normal conditions to reduce abrasion.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of contact pressure from a constant value to a variable that adapts to road conditions. By detecting features like bumps and damages and adjusting the contact pressure accordingly, the system optimizes the balance between maintaining contact (reliability) and reducing wear. This parameter adaptation directly addresses the technical contradiction.
2Reliability
If contact pressure is increased to maintain contact over damaged roadways, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies self-service by using the vehicle's existing sensor systems to detect road conditions and automatically adjusting the contact pressure without requiring complex external control infrastructure. The control device uses data from available sensors to autonomously determine optimal contact pressure, reducing the need for additional complex control mechanisms while maintaining contact stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies universality by utilizing existing multi-functional sensor systems already present in the vehicle for other purposes (position detection, navigation) and repurposing them for contact pressure optimization. This approach avoids adding dedicated complex sensing systems while still achieving reliable contact maintenance through the actuator arrangement controlled by the existing control device.
3Loss of substance
If contact pressure is reduced to minimize wear, then loss of substance is reduced, but contact breaks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies preliminary action by detecting road features (bumps, damages) in advance using sensor systems and pre-adjusting the contact pressure before the vehicle reaches problematic sections. This allows the power collector to maintain optimal contact through damaged areas without excessive wear during normal sections, as the increased pressure is applied only when and where necessary based on prior detection.
Solution Approach 2:
The dynamic adjustment of contact pressure based on real-time road condition detection allows the system to minimize wear during normal operation while automatically increasing pressure when contact breaks are detected or predicted. This dynamic response resolves the contradiction by making contact pressure adaptive rather than statically high or low.
Data Source
AI summary
A road-guided motor vehicle includes a power collector for an overhead line and an actuator arrangement. The power collector is controlled by the actuator arrangement from a first, pantograph-lowered into a second, pantograph-raised position or vice versa. The power collector is assigned a sensor arrangement having a data connection to a control unit of the actuator arrangement. The control unit is configured such that a contact pressure of power collector against overhead line is detected or determined using sensor arrangement data, a memory with spatially resolved contact pressures for the power collector and a position ascertaining unit. At a motor vehicle position determined by the position ascertaining unit, an associated contact pressure is read out from the memory and automatically set by the control unit or signaled to a motor vehicle driver. A method for raising a power collector pantograph onto an overhead line is also provided.