Active Control of a Pantograph Mechanism for High Speed Rail System

The reduction of vibrations in high speed rail system with pantograph mechanism is crucially important to ensure the best riding comfort for passengers. The objective of this study is to stimulate an active control of a pantograph mechanism in high speed rail system. This project presents an approach to increase the performance of high speed rail train in term of its stability, safety and riding comfort for passengers. An analysis of excessive transient motion that caused the loss of contact between the catenary and pantograph is made. Most high speed rail train is powered by electricity exerted from the catenary and the upward force generated from the lowest modeled mass should be enough to maintain the frictional motion between catenary and pantograph. The proposed method used proportional integral derivative (PID) and model predictive controller (MPC) controllers to increase the equilibrium condition of the system while coping with its transient response. The PID observed simulation is set as the benchmark and further improvements are made using MPC. An addition of notch filter is used to overcome the high frequency oscillations of the plant’s dynamic response by poles and zeros cancellation hence reducing the high vibrations. The results showed that the proposed method was able to reduce the vibration of the contact force and the desired controllers were adaptable for this type of system.