The Owl University of Applied Sciences and the Landeseisenbahn Lippe Association is undertaking a project to demonstrate that this on-demand service is possible.
The new Monocab is a driverless cabin for up to eight people, which will travel on a single rail. Several successful test runs on the single-track railway line between Lemgo and Extertal in Germany have already given an impression of what mobility could look like in the future. A particular focus of the project is on promoting local public transport in rural areas. This is because there are many single-track lines here that are not currently in use.
The project is seeking to allow two Monocabs to travel at the same time in each direction. The narrow vehicles are given stability by a combination of actively-controlled gyroscopic systems with a moveable mass that balances the vehicle during travel. Finally, the cabs are to be in continuous circulation and can be ordered via app to help increase mobility in rural areas.
As part of the project, KEB is to provide servo motors, the T6 APD and the Combivert S6 drive controllers.
Daniel Schröder, application engineer for control technology at KEB, who is involved in the project, said: “The control of the traction drives is handled by our modular inverter system, the T6 APD. The S6 inverters and the servo motors, on the other hand, are needed to support the stabilisation of the cabin.”
“Important in this application is a high protection class, vibration and shake resistance. As the vehicle is exposed to weather, durability and robustness play a major role. And the T6 fulfils exactly this,” added Schröder.
Martin Griese, research assistant at the Owl University of Applied Sciences, said one of the reasons why KEB products were chosen for the Monocab was the possibility of the CAN bus interface that enables communication between inverters and control units.