The Study of Carbody Control for Conventional Train

초록

Tilting is the technology that makes the train tilted inward when the train negotiates a curve as in Figure 1. The lateral element of centrifugal acceleration generated by running a curve is countered by the lateral element of the acceleration of gravity, decreasing the lateral acceleration felt by passengers as a result. With such a tilting technology applied to the train, the riding comfort will increase and the speed at which the train negotiates a curve can also be increased, shortening the travel time. With the decreased deceleration frequency in negotiating curves, energy consumption can also be decreased. Tilting makes it possible to improve the train speed by 30% at curves. Generally the decreased train speed at curves is to prevent the decreased riding comfort rather than to adapt to the track conditions or train performance. That is, the speed limit is set for the lateral acceleration felt by passenger not to exceed a set value (0.08g for Korail) when the train negotiates a curve. According to the principles above, the tilting train is highly effective on tracks that have lots of curves. In newly laid tracks with almost no curves, the effectiveness of the tilting train is not very noticeable. As tilting trains round curves at high speed compared with normal trains, increasing the centrifugal force in proportion to the train speed squared increases the risk of overturning. Depending on the tilting method, as the center of gravity moves outward as the train tilts, the counter overturning force is decreased compared with normal trains.