An intelligent method for controlling the ECP braking system of a heavy-haul train

Abstract

Abstract An intelligent control method is proposed for the electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) braking system of a heavy-haul train. The gradient of the ramp is estimated using a Kalman filter in real time and the braking force is adjusted by the backstepping method, so that vehicles on different gradients change their brake pressure with the change in the gradient to keep the instantaneous deceleration of each vehicle consistent, thus reducing the longitudinal impact between vehicles. The longitudinal impact of heavy-haul trains with and without intelligent control under different gradients, initial braking speeds, loads and complex terrains are simulated and analysed. The results show that when the intelligent control is applied, each vehicle can adjust its brake pressure in time according to the change of gradient. The intelligent control method can effectively alleviate the longitudinal impact of vehicles, and the reduction rate remains greater than 40% under the influence of various factors.