US 12,269,521 B2
Optimizing a driving strategy for a hybrid diesel-electric locomotive and battery-electric locomotive consist
Sammy Akif, Northlake, TX (US); Sidarta Fornari Beltramin, Curitiba (BR); Marcos Blanco Fernandes, Irving, TX (US); and Joseph M White, Lewisville, TX (US)
Assigned to Progress Rail Services Corporation, Albertville, AL (US)
Filed by Progress Rail Services Corporation, Albertville, AL (US)
Filed on Nov. 28, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/070,398.
Prior Publication US 2024/0174276 A1, May 30, 2024
Int. Cl. B61L 27/04 (2006.01); B60L 50/10 (2019.01); B60L 50/60 (2019.01); B61C 3/02 (2006.01); B61C 7/04 (2006.01)
CPC B61L 27/04 (2013.01) [B60L 50/10 (2019.02); B60L 50/60 (2019.02); B61C 3/02 (2013.01); B61C 7/04 (2013.01); B60L 2200/26 (2013.01); B61L 2201/00 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory communicatively coupled to the one or more processors, the memory storing thereon processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
generating, by an analytics engine of the system, a driving strategy for a traveling route of a train based on saved data in the system, the train comprising at least one diesel-electric locomotive (DEL) and at least one battery-electric locomotive (BEL), the saved data including expected performance levels of monitored components over the traveling route,
operating, by a locomotive control system of the system, the train according to the driving strategy,
determining that one or more components of the monitored components have failed;
utilizing one or more alternate components in place of the one or more components, the one or more alternate components having different power requirements from the one or more components;
determining current performance levels of the monitored components including the one or more alternate components,
receiving, by an energy management system of the system, update data associated with a current location of the train, the update data including the current performance levels of the monitored components,
revising, by the analytics engine, the driving strategy based on the saved data and the update data including:
determining an amount of energy for the train to traverse a segment of the traveling route associated with the current location, the amount of energy including additional power required for the monitored components to traverse the segment based on the current performance level and the expected performance levels of the monitored components, and
determining a distribution of the amount of energy between the at least one DEL and the at least one BEL based on the driving strategy and the update data, and
operating, by the locomotive control system, the train according to the revised driving strategy.