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As commuter trains brake before they approach the train station a massive amount of kinetic energy is wasted. This research proposes a system to capture otherwise wasted energy from braking commuter trains. The system will consist of rail mounted generators that would make contact with the flanges of the rail wheel. The two primary goals of this thesis are to determine the loads on the train wheel flange as it contacts the generator, and the resulting deceleration forces. A CAD model of components was created and the model was imported to the FEA software, MSC SimXpert, to determine the loads. After the loads are determined the model is imported to a motion simulation workspace to determine the kinematic forces. The amount of energy captured was determined to be a function of the train velocity and the system is exponentially more efficient at lower speeds.
Advisor: | Hamel, Joshua |
Commitee: | Hashempour, Darr, Torabzadeh, Jalal |
School: | California State University, Long Beach |
Department: | Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering |
School Location: | United States -- California |
Source: | MAI 53/06M(E), Masters Abstracts International |
Source Type: | DISSERTATION |
Subjects: | Automotive engineering, Mechanical engineering |
Keywords: | Energy harvesting, Metrolink, Rail wheel flange, Regenative braking |
Publication Number: | 1526931 |
ISBN: | 978-1-321-27731-9 |