Optimal Sizing of On-Board Energy Storage Systems and Stationary Charging Infrastructures for a Catenary-Free Tram

• Main Authors: Ying Yang, Weige Zhang, Shaoyuan Wei, Zhenpo Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-11-01
• Series: Energies
• Subjects: catenary-free tram; on-board energy storage system; charging infrastructure; optimal sizing; economic operation
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/23/6227

This paper introduces an optimal sizing method for a catenary-free tram, in which both on-board energy storage systems and charging infrastructures are considered. To quantitatively analyze the trade-off between available charging time and economic operation, a daily cost function containing a whole life-time cost of energy storage and an expense of energy supplies is formulated for the optimal sizing problem. A mixed particle swarm optimization algorithm is utilized to find optimal solutions for three schemes: (1) ultracapacitors storage systems with fast-charging at each station; (2) battery storage systems with slow-charging at starting and final stations; (3) battery storage systems with fast-swapping at swapping station . A case study on an existing catenary-free tramline in China is applied to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. Results show that a daily-cost reduction over 30% and a weight reduction over 40% can be achieved by scheme 2, and a cost saving of 34.23% and a weight reduction of 32.46% can be obtained by scheme 3.