Abstract: An optimal driving profile is generated for vehicles provided with electric propulsion, by providing a sequence of consecutive time intervals until an arrival time and providing a plurality of accelerations that the vehicle can hypothetically take in each of the time intervals; by applying laws of uniformly accelerated motion for each of the accelerations and for each of the time intervals, hypothetical future points along the route are generated, starting from the current position and speed of the vehicle; for each of the time intervals, before analysing the subsequent time interval, it is checked whether the generated points meet all the predefined constraints; if the check has a negative outcome, the point being checked is eliminated from the plausible hypotheses; driving profiles are obtained, each defined by a respective sequence of remaining points; from among said driving profiles, the one requiring a lowest overall energy to be executed is selected.

Abstract: A railway vehicle has two side walls facing each other to define a passenger compartment and a front end portion, which has two LIDAR devices arranged at the upper side corners of the front end portion; each of the LIDAR devices has a field of view of 360° about its axis, and such axis is oriented with a forward inclination and with a lateral outward inclination.

Abstract: An auxiliary power supply system for an electric motor of an electric vehicle, comprising supercapacitors to generate a first auxiliary power supply, batteries to generate a second auxiliary power supply, one single common bidirectional converter and a control logic, which is configured for: (i) supplying power to the electric motor by means of network power supply voltage and through the energy stored in the supercapacitors during the acceleration of the electric vehicle; (ii) charging the supercapacitors during the braking of the electric vehicle, harvesting kinetic energy; (iii) supplying power to the electric motor through the sole energy of the batteries in the absence of the network power supply voltage; and (iv) charging the batteries during the running at constant speed and the parking of the electric vehicle.

Abstract: An auxiliary power supply system for an electric motor of an electric vehicle, comprising supercapacitors to generate a first auxiliary power supply, batteries to generate a second auxiliary power supply, one single common bidirectional converter and a control logic, which is configured for: (i) supplying power to the electric motor by means of network power supply voltage and through the energy stored in the supercapacitors during the acceleration of the electric vehicle; (ii) charging the supercapacitors during the braking of the electric vehicle, harvesting kinetic energy; (iii) supplying power to the electric motor through the sole energy of the batteries in the absence of the network power supply voltage; and (iv) charging the batteries during the running at constant speed and the parking of the electric vehicle.

Abstract: A method for controlling the switching of an inverter, a bridge of which is adapted to chop a voltage from a direct voltage source for feeding a chopped voltage to a primary of a transformer; the inverter comprises a diode rectifier circuit receiving the input voltage from the secondary of the transformer in order to achieve a voltage fed to a chopper which feeds a load. The method comprises: a step in which the switches of the bridge are driven so that the power source is disconnected from the primary, the terminals of which are connected to each other by at least two of the electronic switches and recirculation diodes of the bridge itself, so that the voltage present on the secondary of said transformer is null; a step in which the switching of at least one electronic switch of a chopper branch is achieved when the voltage on the secondary is substantially null in order to minimize switching losses due to the opening/closing of the electronic switch of the chopper.

Abstract: A method for controlling the switching of an inverter, a bridge of which is adapted to chop a voltage from a direct voltage source for feeding a chopped voltage to a primary of a transformer; the inverter comprises a diode rectifier circuit receiving the input voltage from the secondary of the transformer in order to achieve a voltage fed to a chopper which feeds a load. The method comprises: a step in which the switches of the bridge are driven so that the power source is disconnected from the primary, the terminals of which are connected to each other by at least two of the electronic switches and recirculation diodes of the bridge itself, so that the voltage present on the secondary of said transformer is null; a step in which the switching of at least one electronic switch of a chopper branch is achieved when the voltage on the secondary is substantially null in order to minimize switching losses due to the opening/closing of the electronic switch of the chopper.