ESAR (NCBR – BRIK II)

Programme name:

‘Research and Development in Railway Infrastructure - BRIK’ (2nd call)

Acronym:

ESAR

Funding institution:

The National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) and PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A.

Consortium:

• The Railway Research Institute (leader),
• Zakład Automatyki i Urządzeń Pomiarowych AREX sp. z o. o.,
• Warsaw University of Technology,

Total project value:

6 536 444,17 PLN

The National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) funding value:

2 479 805,32 PLN

PKP PLK S.A. funding value:

2 479 805,32 PLN

Project duration:

2022 – 2025

Project manager at the Warsaw University of Technology:

Jacek Kukulski Ph.D., Associate professor, Traffic Control and Transport Infrastructure Department

Description:

The ESAR project aims to develop an innovative, high-efficiency system for electric heating of railway turnouts that reduces power requirements at the connection point to the AC 0.4 kV distribution network and lowers overall electricity consumption.

The new system will be designed in compliance with the requirements set by PKP PLK S.A., as outlined in Instruction Iet-5, "Design Guidelines for Turnout Electric Heating Equipment" (2015). It will be compatible with the communication standards adopted by the railway infrastructure operator for EOR systems (Standard KHA - Iet-5, Volume 2) and will be deployable on both existing and new dedicated cable infrastructure. The system will support a variety of railway-approved heating elements (Iet-5, Volume 1) and can be integrated into new EOR installations or used to upgrade existing systems, without the need to replace major cabling at stations or radiators in turnouts.

The core concept of the ESAR system is to optimize electrical power demand at the connection point to the distribution network and reduce energy consumption by adaptively controlling the distribution of heating power within the turnout. This will ensure full, unobstructed functionality in winter conditions. Power optimization in the turnout will be achieved by segmenting, sensing, and individually adjusting the heating power delivered to specific areas and elements of the turnout.

The project is financed by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) and PKP PLK S.A. as part of the Joint Undertaking to support scientific research and development work in the area of railway infrastructure – ‘Research and Development in Railway Infrastructure - BRIK’.