Currently, numerous single-track railway lines are disused due to economic reasons. However, one way they could be reactivated for a bidirectional on-demand service traffic is by small vehicles that use only one rail. MONOCABs are such small cabin-like vehicles, stabilized by a system of control moment gyroscopes and a trim mass. They could make an important contribution to improve the mobility offer especially in rural areas. Regarding the MONOCAB, there is currently no reference in comparison with other vehicles. It is mandatory to gain experience before transferring such a new vehicle concept into commercial operation. To ensure the function and safety of the vehicle even before implementation, a model-based design of the system is carried out for development and analysis. In order to test the developed algorithms, this paper presents a Hardware-in-the-loop structure considering a detailed model of the vehicle and real electronic control units to accurately represent the overall system. This paper focuses on the driving system of the vehicle and investigates interdependencies with the performance of the electronic control units and communication networks.

Currently, numerous single-track railway lines are disused due to economic reasons. However, one way they could be reactivated for a bidirectional on-demand service traffic by small vehicles that use only one rail. MonoCabs are such small cabin-like vehicles, stabilized by a system of control moment gyroscopes and a trim mass. They could make an important contribution to improve the mobility offer especially in rural areas. Regarding the MonoCab, there is currently no reference in comparison with other vehicles and no experimental experience or the like. To ensure the function and safety of the vehicle even before implementation, a model-based design of the system is carried out for development and analysis. In order to test the developed algorithms, this paper presents a Hardware-in-the-loop structure considering a detailed model of the vehicle and real electronic control units to accurately represent the overall system. Two scenarios are investigated and compared to offline simulations showing that the functionality of the system can be ensured in operation.

The dynamic emulation of mechanical loads is required in a variety of applications to test and validate control algorithms. Typical test setups consist of two mechanically coupled motors, one of which is the Device Under Test (DUT) while the other is used as a load drive for emulation. Existing emulation concepts either rely on the differentiation of velocity feedback or utilize measured quantities of the DUT. The emulation method proposed in this paper uses acceleration feedback to control the torque of the load drive. It does not require any measured quantities of the DUT which allows a simple replacement of the DUT’s motor and/or inverter without the need of any conceptual changes. Based on a physical model, the emulation method is derived analytically and analyzed numerically for the emulation of one-mass-systems. The stability and emulation quality is evaluated considering two controller architectures. Finally, experiments are conducted and compared to numeric simulations to test the correct emulation.

Currently, numerous single-track railway lines are disused due to economic reasons. However, they could be reactivated for a bidirectional on-demand service traffic by small vehicles that use only one rail. MonoCabs are such small cabin-like vehicles, stabilized by a system of control moment gyroscopes and a moveable mass. They could make an important contribution to improve the mobility offer especially in rural areas. This paper is focused on the vertical stabilization system of the MonoCab. This system is discussed based on a physical three body model which describes the rolling motion of the vehicle, the lateral motion of the mass and the precession motion of the gyroscope. The model is utilized for a cascaded control concept adjusting the vehicle’s roll angle and gyroscope’s gimbal angle. The proposed stabilization concept is capable of compensating both high dynamic disturbances and stationary disturbances (e. g. unbalanced loads and steady wind flows). The concept is analyzed by simulations and experimental investigations utilizing a small scaled test rig and a rapid control prototyping system. Beside transient command responses also the frequency response of the system is experimentally evaluated and used for a validation of the model and theoretical findings.