A Hierarchical Control Strategy for Active Pantograph in High-speed Railway

The pantograph-catenary system (PCS) is the only channel for high-speed trains to receive electric energy Active pantograph control is one of the promising methods for reducing contact force (CF) fluctuation. We propose a novel hierarchical control strategy subject to the pantograph dynamic characteristics. The bottom-layer and top-layer controllers compensate for the span and dropper passing frequencies, respectively. We then establish a complete simulation system with an aerodynamics-based air spring model to reproduce the PCS dynamic. Finally, we design the agent's state, action space, and reward function to train a DRL-based hierarchical controller end-to-end. The proposed method's effectiveness and robustness are evaluated under various working conditions.

I. Introduction

Many countries, particularly China, are aggressively developing electrified railways due to significant economic and social benefits. As shown in Fig. 1, the vital component to transport electric energy is the pantograph-catenary system (PCS). The stable contact force (CF) in PCS is vital to guarantee the current collection quality for the electric multiple unit (EMU) [1]–[4].