Tilting Control of Railway Vehicle using Electric Actuators : 1st Report, Study on the Modeling and Feedforward Control using Stepping Motors

Abstract

In order to shorten the traveling time for passengers, it is more important to increase the speed on the curved sections than that on the straight secions of the railways. However, when the train passes along the curved section at high speed, it is uncomfortable for passengers because of the over centrifugal acceleration, when the effect of the cant of the rails cannot be suppressed. In this research, the experimental set-up "Over Centrifugal Acceleration Simulator" was developed, which simulated high-speed passing through curved sections indoors, and developed electric actuators for tilting using a stepping motor which is capable of accurate-positioning control without feedback control, instead of air cylinder or hydraulic actuator which is used by the pendulum car and the test car. By the experimental set-up, high-speed passing through curved sections was simulated and a control method for the electric tilting actuator was examined, i.e., feedforward control with the track data. Experiments were carried out under some conditions to verify the effectiveness of the control method of the tilting control with a stepping motor for good ride quality.