Railroad Redundancy Control with Conditional Subsystem Deactivation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing railroad control devices with redundancy systems face challenges in efficiently managing system deactivation during normal operations to reduce costs and improve equipment usage efficiency while minimizing the impact of main system inactivity.
Innovation Solution
A redundancy system with a main and sub system control device that includes sub system activation and deactivation processes, allowing flexible switching between roles based on predefined conditions, including current state and future predictions, to optimize equipment usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the redundancy system keeps both main system and sub system active continuously, then system reliability is improved, but operation cost increases and equipment usage efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic role assignment where the sub system transitions between active and inactive states based on real-time main system status. When the main system is active, the sub system remains inactive to save resources. When the main system becomes inactive, the sub system automatically activates to maintain service continuity. This dynamic state transition resolves the contradiction by optimizing resource usage while ensuring reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the operational parameter of the sub system from a static always-on state to a dynamic state that switches between active and inactive modes. This parameter change allows the system to adjust resource consumption based on actual needs, reducing operation costs while maintaining the ability to provide reliable service when required.
2Loss of energy
If the sub system is deactivated to reduce cost, then operation cost decreases, but the ability to handle main system failures is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by maintaining the sub system in an inactive but ready state, with all necessary components pre-configured and monitored. The sub system remains dormant with minimal resource consumption but can activate immediately when needed, thus reducing operation costs while preserving failover capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous monitoring and feedback mechanisms where the main system's operational status is constantly checked. When the main system becomes inactive, this feedback triggers the sub system to activate automatically. This feedback loop ensures that cost reduction through sub system deactivation does not compromise reliability, as the system can rapidly respond to failures.
3Device complexity
If the system uses cloud environment for control devices, then equipment consolidation is achieved, but additional costs for network usage and security measures are incurred
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by implementing redundancy only where absolutely necessary - the sub system remains inactive most of the time and only activates when the main system fails. This partial redundancy approach achieves equipment consolidation benefits while minimizing the additional costs associated with maintaining full-time redundant cloud infrastructure, network usage, and security measures.
Data Source
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AI summary
In a railroad control device using a redundancy, a technology is provided in which, when an influence in an inactive state of a main system is small, a sub system is deactivated. As a redundancy system including the main system control device and one or more sub system control devices for cost reduction and improvement in efficiency of use of equipment, when state information about a control target facility controlled by the main system control device or the sub system control device satisfies a predetermined condition, a sub system process by the sub system control device is deactivated.