Hydrogen Train Scenarios in Passenger and Freight Transport from Europe and North America: Simulation of Thermal Management

Kurzfassung

Hydrogen-powered trains present a sustainable alternative to diesel-powered trains for railway transport of passengers and freight. Hydrogen as an energy carrier is cost-intensive, which is why energy demand should be reduced in all relevant operational scenarios. Since thermal losses are one of the main reasons for efficiency reductions, the presented work investigated the research question: Can hydrogen-powered trains combined with targeted energy management strategies be simulated and potential energy efficiency gains be quantified for European and North American scenarios? A digital railway vehicle simulation framework is developed, which models longitudinal dynamics and energy management. The framework is built with standardized functional mock-up interfaces (FMI) for component sub-models to enable a co-simulation with models from different entities. As input for the simulations, different passenger and freight transport scenarios from Europe and North America are used. Requirements for hydrogen-powered trains vary greatly for different use cases of passenger and freight transport, as well as the location with its surrounding climate. Recuperation of braking energy in freight transport is challenging and remains an opportunity for further enhancement. For passenger transport, metal hydride cooling systems can provide additional cooling capacity and reduce electrical energy demand for air conditioning.