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Showing posts with label Solar Powered Train. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Solar Powered Train. Show all posts

Saturday, 14 May 2016

06:52

Railways to start trial runs of solar train in sunny Jodhpur

Railways to start trial runs of solar train in sunny Jodhpur

Annually, the Railways are hoping to reduce 239 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by saving approximately 90,800 litres of diesel per rake.

In line with the Indian Railways ‘Solar Mission’, to reduce dependency on fossil fuels, its north western division will soon commence trials of coaches fitted with solar panels which will power all the electrical appliances inside a train.
The first trial run will be conducted in the next three to four days in Jodhpur, NWR Public Relations Officer Gopal Sharma told IndianExpress.com.
The work on one rake of Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU), which has six coaches, has already been completed by Noida-based firm Jakson Engineers Limited (JEL). The firm was awarded a Rs 1.57-crore contract last October by the Indian Railways Organisation for Alternate Fuels for fitting solar panels on 50 DEMU coaches.
Every coach will be carrying 12 solar panels on the rooftop. The twelve panels, each panel producing 300 Watts in ideal conditions, will be able to generate 3.6 Kilowatts of electricity and supplant the load of 1.5 Kilowatts required to power the CFL lights and fans inside the coaches. All panels will be firmly held by U-channels that are welded to the coach body on the rooftop.
Annually, the Railways are hoping to reduce 239 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by saving approximately 90,800 litres of diesel per rake.
“The train route will be decided only after studying the project’s viability post the trials,” said PRO Sharma.
Jakson Engineers Limited (JL) has also been tasked with providing solar panels for DEMU coaches set to be used by the Railways for its pilot projects in Chennai and Amritsar.
“We have dispatched solar panels for 30 DEMU coaches in Chennai and 50 DEMU coaches in Amritsar,” said Dinesh Khanchandani of JEL.
Last year, the Indian Railways conducted trial runs of the Rewari-Sitapur passenger train fitted with solar panels at a cost of Rs 3.90 lakh. Two trains plying on the Pathankot-Jogindernagar route in Kangra Valley section and Kalka-Shimla section were also equipped with solar panels on trial basis.
Presenting the Railway Budget for 2016-17, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu announced plans to generate 1000 MW solar power in the next five years. The Railways have already undertaken steps to install solar panels on rooftops of at railway stations and at level crossings across the country.

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Friday, 26 June 2015

06:49

Indian Institute of Science tests Solar Panels atop Chennai-Coimbatore Shatabdi Exp

Indian Institute of Science tests Solar Panels atop Chennai-Coimbatore Shatabdi Exp

Chennai: An IISc team on Wednesday conducted a trial run of solar panels installed atop a special coach of the Coimbatore Shatabdi Express. Commenting on the experiment, Dr Sheela Ramasesha of IISc said, “A scientific analysis is necessary to prove the feasibility of such trains and frame guidelines.”

For the trials, the special sleeper class LHB coach was fitted with two flexible solar panels of 180 Watt each, matching the exact curved shape of the coach rooftops, at the ICF. Research fellows M Shravanth Vasisht and Vashishta Ademane travelled with the equipment to record the real-time data of solar power generated every minute.

Shatabdi was chosen as it moves at a high speed and has few stops. “A pyranometer — which measures the solar irradiance on the panels — and a vibration sensor have also been installed on the coach,” said Shravanth. He has been assigned to the ICF to monitor the fabrication of the panels.

As hundreds milled around the bustling Chennai Central Station premises early on Wednesday morning, a small team of people quietly made its way into the Coimbatore-bound Shatabdi Express with laptops and other gadgets. They were research fellows from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, who were taking the train ride from the city to test the feasibility of installing solar panels atop the trains. The Shatabdi Express had a special coach fitted with two solar panels for the trial run to collect necessary data.

This is the first phase of extensive field trials that will be conducted by the IISc team led by Dr Sheela Ramasesha and professor J Srinivasan after they published a study in the journal ‘Current Science’ calculating the solar power yielded by panels fitted on a slow-moving Yeshwantpur-Bhopal train for over 40 hours.

A crucial factor to be studied is how the speed of the train would affect the solar power generated, said Ramasesha. “When trains move at a high speed, there is greater wind thrust. The solar irradiance may not be the same at all times and at all locations,” explained Shravanth. In fact, during  Wednesday’s journey, there were many areas where the yield was less due to cloud cover.  Vibration sensors would help the scientists examine how train journeys could affect the body of the panel and help in future improvements.

“The yield of the panels on a moving vehicle depends on several factors such as the number of sunshine hours, insulation, travelling direction, etc.

Our idea was to record data on trains moving on a South-North and East-West course. Since Coimbatore is located on South-West, both components could be recorded,” said Ramasesha.

Shravanth said the initial trials yielded encouraging results, but added that it was only the first phase. “We will conduct trials on different routes with varied terrains, seasons and in locations with different humidity values,” he said. A test run in June at the onset of the monsoon would be the likely benchmark as the yield in hotter months would obviously be higher, he added. “We can’t randomly quote the amount of diesel that would be saved by such trains. We need to back it up with solid research and this is for that,” said Ramasesha.

We concluded, in theory, that 90,000 litres of diesel could be saved annually. But we wanted real-time data to record how much solar energy can actually be generated from the panels on a moving train where a number of other variables come into play,” said Ramasesha.

The study attracted a lot of inquiries from railway officials and soon Ramasesha and her team were interacting with the Indian Railway Alternate Fuels Organisation (IROAF) in June 2014 and it directed them to the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai for getting a custom-made coach for the experiments. “A scientific analysis is necessary to prove the feasibility of such trains and frame guidelines,” she said.

For the trials, a special sleeper class LHB coach was fitted with two flexible solar panels of 180 Watt each, matching the exact curved shape of the coach rooftops, at the ICF. Research fellows M Shravanth Vasisht and Vashishta Ademane travelled with the equipment to record the real-time data of solar power generated every minute.

The Shatabdi Express was chosen as it moves at a high speed and has lesser stops. “A pyranometer – which measures the solar irradiance on the panels – and a vibration sensor have also been installed on the coach,” said Shravanth. He has been assigned to the ICF to closely monitor the fabrication of the panels.

A crucial factor to be studied is how the speed of the train would affect the solar power generated, said Ramasesha.

“When trains move at a high speed, there is greater wind thrust. The solar irradiance may not be the same at all times and at all locations,” explained Shravanth. In fact, during  Wednesday’s journey, there were many areas where the yield was less due to cloud cover.

The vibration sensors would help the scientists examine how train journeys could affect the body of the panel and help in future improvements.
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Thursday, 11 June 2015

22:00

Indian Railways begins trials of solar powered trains

Solar Impulse craft inspires solar train for Indian Railways

India may soon be able showcase to the world a solar train, which uses a mix of thermal power and solar energy generated from panels on its roof.

 Science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan said he was inspired by Switzerland’s Solar Impulse project. “I got the inspiration when the Solar Impulse, the Swiss long range experimental solar powered aircraft landed in India,” he said.

 The minister described the project as the government’s bid to have a moving solar power plant. “We are looking into the project plan and once the demos are done we will collaborate with other concerned ministries,” he said.

 To start with, the government will do a pilot on a goods train and if successful it will be replicated to other trains.

 The train will meet 15% of the energy requirement when on the move from the solar energy. National solar energy expert tasked with engineering the project Gon Chaudhuri told HT, “A unique feature would be that when the train is stationary, 100% of the power will be exported to the grid. So it is like a mobile solar power plant”. 

 When the solar radiation falls on a solar cell, direct current is generated which gets converted into an alternating current with a high efficient inverter. This is then synchronised with the grid. Since the train will be moving less dust will accumulate on the panels — a factor that reduces efficiency of solar rooftop systems, Chaudhuri explained.

 An average train would be able to generate 150kWh of power resulting in substantial revenue generation for the train operator.  “This would be the first such initiative when a standing body is generating electricity and pushing it to the grid,” Chaudhuri said. “On a long run solar planes may not be commercially viable. But the solar trains have ample scope.”

 Generating power from renewable energy is high on the Narendra Modi government’s agenda, with solar generation target for next eight years hiked by five times to 100 Gegawatts. Of this, the generation capacity for 40,000 MW will be from roof-tops. The solar train, with its rooftop solar generation, could help the government achieve its goals in the green energy sector.

 Source :Hindustan Times.
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