Locating power supplies on a personal rapid transit system to minimize system losses

A personal rapid transit (PRT) system is a computer-controlled and lightweight railway vehicle using linear motors. The speeds of vehicles are controlled to be constant, and the distance between vehicles is also strictly controlled to be only 12 m at 40 km/h. Thus, the vehicle density of the PRT system is much higher than that of the mass railway train (MRT) system. Moreover, the required power of a PRT vehicle is much smaller than that of an MRT vehicle. Therefore, the methodology to allocate the position of power supplies for an MRT system is thought to be improper for a PRT system. This paper proposes a practical method that locates power supplies optimally for a PRT system to achieve a load power balance and a total power loss minimization. This method uses an iterative approach based on a new virtual isolation concept among power supplies. The effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method is confirmed by simulation results and example studies.