A Review of Developments in Electrical Battery, Fuel Cell and Energy Recovery Systems for Railway Applications: a Report for the Scottish Association for Public Transport

Murray-Smith, D. (2019) A Review of Developments in Electrical Battery, Fuel Cell and Energy Recovery Systems for Railway Applications: a Report for the Scottish Association for Public Transport. Technical Report. Scottish Association for Public Transport, Glasgow.

Abstract

This report outlines the current status of batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and short-term energy storage systems for railway and tramway applications. The report includes discussion of issues associated with regenerative braking and the recovery of energy that would otherwise be dissipated as heat during braking. As well as feeding energy back to the supply grid, as in the case of conventional electrified rail systems, energy recovery may also be achieved using batteries, supercapacitors, flywheels or hydraulic devices and developments in each of these areas are reviewed. The advantages of hybrid systems that involve combinations of different power sources and energy storage methods are emphasised and some associated design optimisation issues are discussed. For each of the developments mentioned, there is a brief account given of some transport applications in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. This is a rapidly developing field and operating experience with vehicles currently entering service in various countries will provide important additional insight within the next two or three years.

• Item Type: Research Reports or Papers (Technical Report)
• Keywords: Railways, emissions, battery, hydrogen, short-term energy storage, flywheel, hydraulic systems, supercapacitor, ultracapacitor.
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Murray-Smith, Professor David
• Authors: Murray-Smith, D.
• Subjects: T Technology > TF Railroad engineering and operation; T Technology > TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery; T Technology > TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering
• Publisher: Scottish Association for Public Transport
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 The Author
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced with the permission of the Author