Bombardier Transportation Gmbh

Alstom Holdings

Andrea Mazzone

Christian Wirth

Christian Gerster

Giovanna Villa

Stefan Rössling

A method for operating a rail vehicle includes depicting a spatial area in front of the rail vehicle in at least one image by at least one image capturing device and detecting a presence of a tunnel entrance or a tunnel exit prior to an entry or exit of the rail vehicle into or from a tunnel by evaluating at least one image. The method further includes generating at least one control signal for at least one rail vehicle system when a presence of the tunnel entrance is detected prior to the entry of the rail vehicle into a tunnel or when the presence of the tunnel exit is detected prior to the exit of the rail vehicle from the tunnel. The rail vehicle system may be a pantograph control system of the rail vehicle, or a climate control system or a ventilation system of the rail vehicle.

Method for detecting a tunnel entry or a tunnel exit of a rail vehicle, operating method, as well as rail vehicle

A rail vehicle is configured for extracting electrical energy from a power supply external to the vehicle and has at least one electrical energy storage unit. In a first operating mode, the rail vehicle travels by means of energy extracted from the power supply and without energy from the energy storage unit. In a second operating mode, the rail vehicle travels, at least in part, by means of energy from the energy storage unit and/or at reduced traction power in comparison to the first operating mode. The rail vehicle includes a controller set up for activating the first or the second operating mode, as a function of an upper consumption limit, which defines the permissible upper limit of the power that can be extracted from the power supply. The upper consumption limit is established in a variable manner so as to prevent power peaks in the power supply.

Growing community of inventors

Zürich, Switzerland

Andrea Mazzone