Detection of Overhead Contact Lines with a 2D-Digital-Beamforming Radar System for Automatic Guidance of Trolley Trucks

Abstract

The benefit of trolley truck systems is the substitution of the diesel fuel by the cheaper and more ecological electrical energy. Trolley trucks are powered by electricity from two overhead contact lines, where one is the supply and the other the return conductor. Such trolley trucks are used for haulage at open pit mining sites but could also be used for freight traffic at roadways in the future. Automatic guidance prevents the trolley-powered trucks from leaving the track and thus allows higher operating speeds, higher loading capacity, and greater efficiency. Radar is the ideal sensing technique for automatic guidance in such environments. The presented radar system with two-dimensional digital beamforming capability offers a compact measurement solution as it can be installed on top of the truck. Besides the distance measurement, this radar system allows to detect the location and inclination of the overhead contact lines by digital beamforming in two dimensions. Besides automatic guidance, the knowledge of the inclination of the overhead contact lines could allow automatic speed adaption, which would help to achieve maximum speed especially in hilly terrain.

Electric Trolley Trucks—A Techno-Economic Assessment for Germany

“…Most have a focus on a technical description and a first economic evaluation (see [1,[5][6][7][8]). Research already addressed the different technical questions to realize such a system with two pantographs on the truck: Jerrelind et al [9] conclude the overhead power system is a viable solution for trucks and buses and Harter et al [10] presents a radar system that is able to guide the active pantographs. Concerning special applications, as for mining haul trucks [11], such overhead power systems are already in use and beneficial.…”

Automated Measurement of Traction Line Parameters for Railways

“…Naturally, non-contact methods are mainly based on usage of optical sensors, instruments, and computer vision algorithms [3][4][5][6]. We can also find other measurement approaches using more sophisticated methodologies: laser measurements operating in high-speed trains in Japan [7], LiDAR [8,9], or radar [10] systems.…”