Control of Tilting using PD controller

The Centrifugal Forces in Trains

The passengers experience the centrifugal powers as the trains turn corners. To combat this, train companies have decided to construct tilting trains or railway lines with high radii curves. In the case of trains navigating corners, centrifugal force is a key function of velocity and radius, i.e. ‘v2/r'. The centrifugal force increases as the velocity increases and the radius of curvature decreases. Sitting in the corner of a moving train, one is subjected to both centrifugal and gravitational forces, resulting in a force that drives one to one side. If the train is tilting, the resultant force is countered ensuring that there is no change in the contact force. The carriages can have mechanism of tilting for instance the bogies do not tilt but the coaches in it tilt with the bogies acting as the fulcrum (Zhou, Zolotas, & Goodall 2010).

The PD Controller for Train Tilting

The PD controller is designed to help in the train’s tilting process by controlling suspensions through optimization. The framework presents a simplified kind of control consisting of a single input and a single output. The controller factors in different characteristics of the tracks which include the curves and irregularities. The selected controller is crucial for its robustness in terms of bounds and the stability margins. The PD control can easily be followed for the suspensions that are active and similar. The cost function is crucial with the control thus PD proves handy. The PD control utilizes the sensor information derived from the tilt angle and lateral acceleration. The feedback received is a product of the sensor information and dynamic interactions of the suspensions. The PD controls are designed in such a manner that they are able to showcase the diverse tilt performances due to the stochastic quality and deterministic response with regards to the accelerations in the curves (Hassan, Zolotas & Margetts 2017).

Work Cited

Hassan, Zolotas & Margetts (2017) Optimized PID control for tilting trains, Systems Science & Control Engineering, 5:1, 25-41, DOI: 10.1080/21642583.2016.1275990 retrieved online from: https://doi.org/10.1080/21642583.2016.1275990

Ozana, S., & Docekal, T. (2016). PID controller design based on global optimization technique with additional constraints. Journal of Electrical Engineering, 67(3), 160–168.

Zhou, R., Zolotas, A., & Goodall, R. (2010). LQG control for the integrated tilt and active lateral secondary suspension in high speed railway vehicles. Control and automation (ICCA). Paper presented at the 8th IEEE international conference, Xiamen, China (pp. 16–21)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35061511