Charging Electric Vehicles Using Regenerated Energy from Urban Railways
Nowadays transport system is one of the most important producers of air pollution in cities. Urban railways and electric vehicle will play a fundamental role to accomplish the sustainability of cities. Urban railways are right now an efficient mode of transport. However it is necessary to continue improving its energy efficiency in view of the demand growth. On the other hand, electric vehicles need a charging infrastructure to support their market penetration. In this context, the use of the railway electrical infrastructure to charge electric vehicles could bring several benefits. First of all, there is a cost reduction effect because of the use of an existing installation. Besides, part of the regenerated energy that cannot be accepted by other trains can be used to charge electric vehicles, improving the efficiency of the global system. In this paper, a new system for the global energy management between the railway infrastructure and the electric vehicles is proposed. Besides, the global energy savings that can be obtained using railway electrical infrastructure to charge electric vehicles has been assessed.
Recuperation of Regenerative Braking Energy in Electric Rail Transit Systems
Electric rail transit systems are the large consumers of energy. In trains with regenerative braking capability, a fraction of the energy used to power a train is regenerated during braking. This regenerated energy, if not properly captured, is typically dumped in the form of heat to avoid overvoltage. Finding a way to recuperate regenerative braking energy can result in economic as well as technical merits. In this comprehensive paper, the various methods and technologies that were proposed for regenerative energy recuperation have been analyzed, investigated, and compared. These technologies include: train timetable optimization, energy storage systems (onboard and wayside), and reversible substations.
Cooperative Collection Development
The author discusses cooperative collection development from an historical perspective and examines some of the projects conceived and implemented during the past forty years. In many cases the projects failed even after years of concentrated effort. However, more important than these failures are new efforts that are being made. The major focus of this article is on both current regional projects and the more broadly based ARL-sponsored North American Collections Inventory Project. The author discusses these efforts and offers some specific judgments regarding the possibility that these projects will lead to a truly successful coordinated collection development project on a national basis.