Bombardier's Primove catenary free power system

Bombardier Transportation and the Augsburg Transport Authority (Stadtwerke Augsburg Verkehrs GmbH) have just signed a cooperation agreement to install the contactless and catenary-free BOMBARDIER PRIMOVE system for trams as a pilot project in the city of Augsburg.

The PRIMOVE catenary-free system is a highly innovative contactless power transfer technology for urban rail vehicles. By dispensing with the need for overhead catenary, the PRIMOVE system will open up new opportunities for urban planners in the design of integrated transportation systems for cities.

Among the advantages of the PRIMOVE catenary-free system are the completely hidden power supply, the irrelevance of weather and ground conditions as well as the easy installation. In addition, the contactless and very safe energy transfer system reduces wear on parts, limiting equipment lifecycle costs. When combined with the new MITRAC Energy Saver technology, the PRIMOVE system can also reduce energy consumption significantly.

http://www.bombardier.com/files/en/supp ... RIMOVE.wmv

Contactless power transfer beneath the vehicle?

What if somebody steps on it?

Passenger, did you click the link? At around 2 minutes the demo says power only activates when a fully operating train passes over, so there should be no way for someone to touch it when it's activated.

gardendance wrote:Passenger, did you click the link? At around 2 minutes the demo says power only activates when a fully operating train passes over, so there should be no way for someone to touch it when it's activated.

I saw the pictures but cannot hear the sound.

What signal from the train activates the power?

I also saw the pictures but could not hear the sound. When I say 'only activates when train passes' I'm paraphrasing a printed caption. Did you notice the captions?

I'd expect since the train's sitting on the track there's no problem having electrical contact between the train and the track under, and I imagine there;s also no problem having electrical communication between that track section and the next one the train should activate.

there is no contact, just like a maglev train, it works like a transformer.

There's a similar system in operation in Bordeaux, though not contactless, but the same principle applies that the power rail (centered between the running rails, and in the pavement) is not energized unless a car is directly over it, and as far as I know no pedestrians have been zapped yet.

It's inductive, like Dutch said. Like a transformer split into two parts, really.

Some rechargeable electric toothbrushes work that way, too.

that's outstanding.
I wonder how the power transfer losses compare to sliding pans on wire..

here's a PDF for the media disabled (like me)
http://www.bombardier.com/files/en/supp ... RIMOVE.pdf

Eliphaz wrote:that's outstanding.
I wonder how the power transfer losses compare to sliding pans on wire..

It's probably not very cost effective at all, but if the environmental consideration of eliminating hideous overhead wires is a deciding factor, I can only suppose that it might find a broader application. Low powered street cars don't draw all that much current anyway.

Eliphaz wrote: here's a PDF for the media disabled (like me)

Thank you. That answers all my questions.

ExCon90 wrote:There's a similar system in operation in Bordeaux, though not contactless, but the same principle applies that the power rail (centered between the running rails, and in the pavement) is not energized unless a car is directly over it, and as far as I know no pedestrians have been zapped yet.

There's also AnsaldoBreda's Tramwave which is also similar.

Tramwave is by no means contactless and is just a contact shoe riding in a tray with power contacts. I doubt it would do well in snow and ice conditions.
http://www.ansaldo-sts.com/EN/AnsaldoST ... ave_UK.pdf
the advantage of the Bombardier system is there is no open wiring or contact, its all induction.

About transimitting all that power by induction -- Any measurable effect standing close to the track?

I'm thinking in terms of radio interference or possibly magnetic effects.

I did note the mention of MITRAC enegrgy storage, but I still wonder whether PRIMOVE would be capable of returning power duirng regenerative braking, I know that overhead wire and third rail powerd vehicles with regenerative braking can return power externally during braking but could PRIMOVE do the same? I mean, there are AC powered electric trains (with onboard transformers) that can do this, why couldn't PRIMOVE?
Another improvement could be to adapt the system to polyphase transfer. Single phase, whatever the frequency, alternately rises to a peak and falls to zero, with polyphase, each phase drops to zero consecutively, so the power is the same at any instant.
I don't know the frequency of PRIMOVE, but I wonder whether Polyphase would allow for a lower frequency to be used. I know that for any given phase order and power rating, transformer size is inversely proportional to frequency but I don't know how, for example, single and three-phase transformers of the same frequency and power rating compare.