Design of On-Board Energy Storage Systems for Regenerative Braking Energy Recovery in Urban Rail Transit

Installing on-board energy storage systems (OESSs) is an effective way to recover the regenerative braking energy of urban rail trains due to its benefits of no line loss and catenary free operation. However, it is a sticky business to find suitable installation space for OESSs on the train. This paper proposes to replace the original on-board braking resistors with OESSs, and then conducts capacity configuration and system design for OESSs with weight and space constraints. What's more, considering the low utilization rate of original on-board accumulators (lead-acid or nickel-cadmium battery), this paper proposes to develop the function of braking energy recovery for on-board accumulators through circuit modification and technique upgrade without affecting their original function in emergency. Finally, a case study is carried out to design OESSs for urban rail trains of Batong Line in Beijing.