Hybrid active and semi-active control for pantograph-catenary system of high-speed train

In this paper a new hybrid control methodology using active actuator and semi-active device is proposed to minimize the oscillations between the pantograph and catenary by keeping the contact force between them constant. One of the advantages of using the proposed hybrid controller is that a semi-active device can easily be mounted on the pantograph upper arm without compromising the weight and the size. However, the performance of a semi-active device is restricted because of the passivity constraint. To assist the semi-active device and to achieve the desired performance an active actuator is placed at the base of the pantograph. The immersion and invariance (I & I) methodology is used to design the controller for the active actuator, and sliding mode control (SMC) is used to design the controller for the semi-active device. Simulations show promising results.