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Development of new technological concepts towards the next generation of rolling stock, applied to major subsystems such as Car body, Running Gear, Brakes, Doors, Modular interiors and HVAC - S2R-CFM-IP1-01-2019
Deadline: Jun 18, 2019  
CALL EXPIRED

 Innovation
 Industrial Manufacturing
 Transport
 Horizon Europe
 Industrial Engineering

SPECIFIC CHALLENGE

A range of key rolling stock technologies oriented at achieving the overall Shift2Rail objectives (high reliability, high capacity, low cost and improved performance) need to be developed to a point that enables the future development of the demonstrators foreseen in Shift2Rail. These high level objectives are influenced by many functional elements of the vehicle, so the fundamental challenge to be addressed is to define the specific solutions at sub-system level which will work together to produce the desired benefits at system level. The following individual challenges relating to the different subsystems can contribute to these objectives:

Car body shell

The activities of this CFM proposal will deal with the detailed design, manufacturing and testing of several composite/hybrid railway car body structure demonstrators as were defined in PIVOT (S2R- CFM-IP1-01-2017) project, they should be focused on High Speed and Urban carbodies. The high-level challenges behind this project are the following:

  1. i)  A weight reduction between 15 and 30%.

  2. ii)  Associated energy savings in operation, resulting from the weight reduction.

  3. iii)  Improvements of maintainability, coming from new concepts of material and joining methods.

  4. iv)  Introduction of a specific health monitoring system for the structures coming from S2R-OC- IP1-01-2019, for both monitoring life cycle of the structures and assessing safety coefficients for the design of the structures.

  5. v)  The behaviour of those composite/hybrid structures in a railway environment is not well known at the moment, mainly because of a lack of experience with those materials in railway application. The activities involved in this CFM will lead to the accumulation of sufficient experience in order to allow the use of these new materials for future car body structures.

Running Gear

The next generation of running gear solution needs to deliver reduced infrastructure / wheel wear and damage, whilst providing higher reliability and availability, with lower maintenance costs. This challenge is made greater by the need for increased high-speed stability, excellent curving performance, improved comfort and optimized systems for both airborne and structure-borne noise.

Brakes

The brake system of a train is a mission critical system, which ensures safety of transport of passengers and goods and also safety of humans in the environment. In order to follow the mega trends in the rolling stock development, the brake system has to take the following specific challenges:

  1. i)  Introduction of new materials (with contribution of S2R-OC -IP1-03-2019) for friction pairing to comply with the railway market demand for more economical driven solution

  2. ii)  New solutions for drive-by-wire mechatronics brake system to increase line capacity and improve maintenance performance

  3. iii)  New solutions for safe braking under all adhesion conditions, especially low adhesion situations (with contribution of S2R-OC -IP1-03-2019)

  4. iv)  Advanced Brake Control hardware/software solutions compliant with High Safety Integrated Level SIL3-SIL4 that can be integrated in the next generation of TCMS (with contribution of considering the results of S2R-OC -IP1-03-2019)

  5. v)  Development and Integration of Virtual Certification methodologies for the brake system
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Accessibility and Doors

The challenge is to provide seamless and flexible access to the train to persons with reduced mobility, while reducing the weight and the cost, improving the comfort features (noise, thermal, etc.), and adding functionalities of door and access systems with a long-term target of self-managed door. The main target is the Sub-urban / Regional market. Nevertheless, the impact on other markets like Metro, Tramway or High Speed will be measured.

Modular interiors in use

To increase attractiveness to passengers and flexibility to operators, interiors design should follow the needs and be able to evolve easily and quickly without costly process. To prepare for fully autonomous trains, interiors design should include the new use of driver’s cabin.

HVAC

Conventional “Heating, Ventilation Air conditioning and Cooling” systems (HVAC) of rail vehicles use artificial refrigerants that have a very high impact on the global warming (e.g. R134a). To limit the climatic impact from HVAC systems, the European Commission adopted in 2014 Regulation No 517/2014 which aims to reduce the use of artificial refrigerants within the EU. Rail service operators and vehicle integrators need to act quickly due to the long lifetime of the rolling stock. Hence new and redesigned trains should be equipped with eco-friendly HVAC systems using natural gases such as air or CO2.

SCOPE

Having regard to the Union policies and targets on decarbonisation, taking into consideration that automation and digitalization are key enablers of a drastic railway system transformation, in order to address the challenges described above, the proposals should address all of the following work streams, in line with the Shift2Rail Multi-Annual Action Plan (MAAP):

Car body shell

In line with the S2R MAAP – TD1.3 description, the scope of this CFM has been divided into groups of activities and will ensure continuation of the tasks in PIVOT (S2R CFM_IP1 AWP 2017):

  •   Assessment Methodology

  •   Design for Manufacturing

  •   Behavioural Research

  •   The activities will deal with safety, economy, sustainability, reparability and

    maintainability of the new structures.

  •   Manufacturing

  •   Validation Tests.

A comprehensive final report is expected in order to collect all the relevant tasks and findings that will lead to the validation of the demonstrators. These should include the lessons learnt during all the stages of the project and will constitute the state-of-the-art of the structure construction in railway vehicles, in order to feed into possible standardization activities for these technologies in the future.

This group of tasks should cover all the tests necessary to allow the demonstrators to reach their respective TRLs (from TRL3/4 demonstrators to TRL7 of a whole High Speed carbody).

Development of concepts & technologies towards future running gear

In line with the S2R MAAP – TD1.4 description, the scope of this CFM is the development of new/innovative technologies and technical demonstrators for running gear applications. A multi- technology approach will have to address several functions of running gear (comfort, curving, structural function, rolling components, health monitoring, etc.).

 

Proposals should address the following aspects: new sensor architectures and functionality to monitor both running gear and track, light weight and optimized materials validated and certified for the running gear environment, definition and validation of actuator technology to control running gear and wheelsets and the development of a new noise and vibration assessment methodology.

The activities are expected to prepare specific innovative solutions, but especially providing technical demonstrators for running gear applications up to TRL7, for all segments – Metro, Regional, High Speed and Freight (Loco).

Development of future noise-reduced brake system solutions

In line with the S2R MAAP – TD1.4 description, the work shall focus on the continuation of the development and test of hardware and methodologies for future brake system solutions in the following innovation areas:

  • -  High Safety Level electronic Solutions for Brake Control with High Safety Integrity Level (SIL3- SIL4), TRL 4/5

  • -  Adhesion Management, TRL 3/4

  • -  Innovative Friction Pair Solutions, for all vehicles classes TRL 4/5

  • -  Electro-Mechanic Brake for Railway Applications (Urban, Regional, High Speed), TRL 6

  • -  Certification Process incl. Virtual Certification, TRL 3.

Development of generic concepts towards new generation of door system

Based on the results of the PIVOT project (S2R-CFM-IP1-01-2017) and in line with the S2R MAAP – TD1.6 description, the proposals are expected to address the following aspects, in addition to a general target of LCC reduction:

- Continuation on research activities on door leaves technologies (TLR 3)).
- Adaptable gap filler for easier and independent access for Persons with Reduced Mobility (PRM) compatible with the two standard European station platforms (550 mm and 760 mm) and vertical gaps up to 200/250 mm compatible with existing and future station platforms: design, laboratory testing (TLR 4/5)). The assessment of the adaptable gap filler will be

performed with the contribution of S2R-OC-IP1-01-2019.
- Integration and utilization of new technologies for door entry surveillance, passenger

information and passenger safety in the direction of a self-managed access system as long term target: continuation of new technologies and product assessment, integration of selected and developed solutions in an entrance system, laboratory testing (TRL 4/5)).

- Development of new leaves architecture with integration of new metallic and composite technologies for weight, comfort and energy optimization with a modular approach (TRL 4/5). - Demonstration: integration in the technical demonstrator – Regional train (TRL 6/7). The demonstrator will integrate as far as possible the solutions developed in the others tasks: solutions for accessibility, safety and door entry surveillance, metallic based leaves and composite leaves. The acoustic and thermal solutions developed within S2R-OC-IP1-01-2019 will be also integrated and tested as far as feasible. Solution for other segments could also be

integrated with a lower TRL.

Development of concepts towards new generation of interiors modularity: In line with the S2R MAAP – TD1.7 description, the scope of this CFM is:

i) For INTERIORS: Studies and functional mock-ups of a full plug-and-play interiors design allowed by new fixation systems for floor, wall and roof following the pre-studies of PIVOT. The aim is to show the capabilities of reconfiguration to suit customer requirements and to demonstrate the quick change of elements. Following the economic studies of PIVOT, the action should identify the market and the time to market.

The functional mock-up will represent a part of a consist with the main interiors panels: floor, wall panel and roof to see how the new concept of fixation system is made and to test it. Expected TRL 5/6.

ii) For CABIN: pre-studies and business cases to develop ideas from PIVOT by new technologies and new uses of the driver’s cabin and allow the design of Cabin & Driving 2030: technologies, requirements and partners. A virtual mock-up with immersive technologie will be done. Expected TRL: 4/5

The concepts from INTERIORS and CABIN should allow the possibilities to be easily modified. A mixed virtual and physical mock-up will be proposed at Innotrans 2022.

The new concepts resulting from any of the proposed activities will be supported by cost-benefit analyses that will be used as the basis to justify higher TRL developments in future Calls. The activities will consider, when applicable, suitable work to prepare for future technical standardisation related to the proposed innovations.

Development of HVAC

There are two different eco-friendly HVAC solutions in discussion, using the natural gases air or CO2. In contrast to conventional HVAC solutions HVACs with natural gases open the opportunity to integrate a heat pump for increasing the efficiency for heating. Natural gases allow the operation of the heat pump within a larger temperature range (, CO2 up to -20°C, Air no limit, R134a up to -5°C). The increasing efficiency is especially very important for hybrid vehicles with batteries, where the reduced HVAC-energy consumption reduces the operating km-range of the vehicle.

In line with the S2R MAAP – TD1.8 description, the following actions should be taken:

  •   Preliminary studies on Pre-standardization of interfaces and functions of HVAC subsystems.

  •   Evaluation of requirements for HVACs with natural gases for application in high speed and regional trains.

  •   Analysing existing HVAC-prototypes with CO2 refrigerant with respect to the fulfilment of the requirements and identification of further research and adoptions to that has to be carried out.

  •   Further development and adoption of existing prototypes of HVAC.

The work in these innovation areas will result in TRL3.

Work Streams results should be placed in the context of the demo plans, which are developed in conjunction with MAAP part B. In addition, the demo plans should be accompanied with integration and migration plans to implement produced solutions in the rail environment to support and speed up deployment.

Considering the “18C044-0C WHITE PAPER REFERENCE CCS ARCHITECTURE (RCA) BASED ON ERTMS” developed by the ERTMS Users Group and the EULYNX consortium and provided to S2R in July 2018, and following the ongoing collaboration initiated with the promoters of such initiative for the integration of the RCA in the S2R Programme, a final high level decomposition of RCA is expected be delivered to S2R by April 2019. The S2R Members should firstly verify the impact that the RCA would have or potentially have on the content of each work streams activities and subsequently each CFM proposal should be aligned, as far as possible, against the latest progress on the Reference CCS Architecture, in particular the system approach and interoperability of solutions must be ensured across S2R IP/CCA activities and for future developments.

COMPLEMENTARITY

As specified in section 2.3.1 of S2R AWP for 2019, in order to facilitate the contribution to the achievement of S2R objectives, the options regarding 'complementary grants' of the S2R Model Grant Agreement and the provisions therein, including with regard to additional access rights to background and results for the purposes of the complementary grant(s), will be enabled in the corresponding S2R Grant Agreements.

The action that is expected to be funded under this topic will be complementary to the actions that are expected to be funded under the following topics:

  •   S2R-OC-IP1-01-2019: Advanced Car body shells for railways and light material and innovative doors and train modularity

  •   S2R-OC-IP1-02-2019: Tools, methodologies and technological development of next generation of Running Gear .

  •   S2R-OC-IP1-03-2019: Support to the development of technical demonstrators for the next generation of brake systems.

    The action stemming from this topic will also be complementary to actions carried out within the following project of IP1:

  •  PIVOT (GA 777629)

The action shall actively contribute to the S2R standardisation rolling development plans wherever relevant.

The action shall actively contribute to the S2R KPIs development. This shall lead to publicly available deliverable, quantified indicatively on a semi-annual basis.

The planned activities of the action should take into account the revised MAAP part A. The S2R JU will only fund one proposal under this topic.

EXPECTED IMPACT

The most significant benefits expected from these actions, once the developed technologies are fully implemented and deployed, are for the different users. The expected impacts are the following:

Car body shell

The outcome of the above mentioned groups of tasks will have impact in the following strategic aspects linked to LCC at carbody and railway level according the MAAP:

  • -  Weight reduction: A lighter structure (between 15% and 30%) will allow an increase of the

    payload or technical equipment weight up to the TSI limits. While keeping the price of maintenance steady, an increased train capacity will allow the division of the maintenance cost between more passengers per train, thus increasing profitability per passenger.

  • -  Energy savings in operation, resulting from the weight reduction.

  • -  Improvements in manufacturing technologies: It is also expected that replacement of some

    composite parts within the car body could be quicker and less costly than welded metallic parts (repairing certain metallic structures can be complex). Depending on the chosen raw materials, it is expected that processes used for forming composites can compete with those use for metals.

  • -  Integrating functions in the parts made of new materials: train functions such as , e.g. thermal isolation, can be integrated in a car body made of several materials, mainly composites, thus saving space and weight. Additionally, integrating functions like air conduction, piping , etc. can make the whole car body system less prone to corrective maintenance.

  • -  More attractive products: Vehicle structures made with these new materials will benefit from improved space within the vehicle and therefore passenger comfort. A reduction of the time- to-market in both manufacturing and operation (repairs) periods is also expected.

  • -  Development of new skills in the Railway Industry: These technologies will have an impact on the way railway vehicles are produced and maintained, keeping the value added by the conventional metal constructions and adding the new value coming from industries that are already producing systems for the aerospace and automotive industry.

  • -  More attractive products: Vehicle structures made with these new materials will benefit from an improved space within the vehicle and therefore passenger comfort. Also reductions in the time-to-market of both manufacturing and operation (repairs) periods are expected.

  • -  Positive side effects for suppliers and research institutes: The need for the physical characterization of composite material systems will bring activity for industries and research centres specialized in composite materials that are already working for other sectors, now gaining experience in composite railway structural applications.

Running Gear

The main expected impacts are:

  •   Weight reduction, considering material-specific design and structural optimisation (up to 5% on High Speed and Regional platform))

  •   Lower unsprung mass: this will help reduce track damage, wear and vibrations, which will contribute to a reduction in system cost (weight reduction up to 10% on metro application)

  •   Lower unsprung mass: increase the critical stability speed of the vehicle

  •   Reduction in wheel & rail wear (especially RCF) through improved (controlled) performance

    on straight as well as curved track including wear-resistant materials, which will contribute to a cost reduction (maintenance cost reduction up to 15% for running gear, up to 10% for track – Regional and High Speed segments)

  •   Improved ride conditions through the usage of active/semi-active suspension systems

  •   Reduction of LCC, inspection and maintenance by monitoring which will contribute to a maintenance cost reduction (maintenance cost reduction up to 20% for running gear, up to

    10% for track)

  •   Reduction of costs for running gear sensor equipment (to soften the increase of capital costs for additional equipment)

  •   Development of standards that support the introduction of advanced materials, sensors and monitoring and active control systems (to soften the increase of capital costs for additional equipment)

  •   Recommendations for validation methods for reduced noise and vibration running gear

  •   More efficient authorisation with a reduction in cost, time and effort.

Brake System

The most significant benefits from the action as a result of the new technology developments, methodologies and simulations besides the continues qualification of the brake related KPI’s are:

  • -  Reduction of Time and Cost of Brake System Assessment thanks to new certification and validation methods and tools

  • -  Greening of the rail transport through reduction of the energy consumption by reducing the rotating mass of brake discs

  • -  LCC reduction due to better diagnostics, lower energy consumption and introduction of life time brake components due to an advanced SIL3/4 compliant electronic hardware and software architecture for brake components

  • -  Support capacity increase through higher track throughput enabled by shorter and/or more reliable braking distances thanks to braking concepts for adhesion control

Doors

  • − Significant weight reductions in major sub-systems of railway vehicles, such as doors leaves (10%).
  • −  This weight reduction will have several side effects as the reduction of the Life Cycle Cost of the vehicle and the whole railway system (the reduction of track damage and improved health monitoring system)

  • −  Reduction of the LCC for doors with a 20% target

  • −  Increase in passenger comfort thanks to acoustic and thermal insulation

  • −  Improved passenger experience and accessibility thanks to an easier/independent access and the improvement of information available for passenger

  • −  Improved access system surveillance and safety.

Interior

  • -  Reduction of assembled time, quick assembly and disassembly : 50%

  • -  Increase in modularity and functionality during the life of the train

  • -  Increase in flexibility of operation : capacity to test and deploy new furnitures

  • -  Reduction of the refurbishment costs including design cost : 50% less for a complete refurbishment

-  Increase in attractiveness : add services and/or change confort easily.

HVAC

The action will contribute to the market introduction of eco-friendly HVAC systems taking into account the time near-term shortage of conventional refrigerants. Additional impacts are the following:

  • -  Reduction of life-cycle costs by reducing energy consumption of about 20-45% by integrating heat pumps and the usage of standardized interfaces

  • -  Increasing reliability and availability of HVAC systems due to a shorter repair time and condition based maintenance

  • -  Standardized control interface for optimization of energy management and diagnostic data for condition based maintenance

  • -  Standardized safety measures for product shareholders.

Specific metrics and methods to measure and achieve impacts should be included in the proposals, with the objective to achieve by the end of the S2R Programme the “Specific Achievements” defined quantitatively and qualitatively in the S2R MAAP related to TD1.3, TD1.4, TD1.5, TD1.6, TD1.7 and TD 1.8, in line with the relative Planning and Budget.

Type of Action: Innovation Action (IA)



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