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SMACS – Maintenance of Rail HVAC Systems

The maintenance of a rail vehicle is essential in terms of passenger satisfaction, comfort, availability, operating costs as well as environmental friendliness.

The SMACS (Smart Maintenance of Rail HVAC Systems) research project, funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), aims to develop new and intelligent maintenance strategies for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in railway applications.

 

The use of “smart maintenance” is intended to reduce operating costs and at the same time increase the availability and efficiency of trains.

 

The project contributes to increasing the competitiveness of the railway sector and to achieving sustainability goals.

Methodology

 

As part of SMACS, new machine learning methods and artificial intelligence techniques are being developed together with digital twins. These technologies enable predictive diagnostics of HVAC systems, thereby improving the reliability and efficiency of operations.

Additionally, existing maintenance processes are being digitally connected and integrated into a smart maintenance planning system. For this purpose, current maintenance practices were analyzed, frequently occurring errors were identified by examining failure reports and expert interviews were conducted.

 

To ensure the best alignment of requirements and interfaces, leading companies are directly or indirectly involved in the project, as shown in the following graphic.

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

The SMACS project successfully demonstrates how innovative maintenance strategies can contribute to improving efficiency and sustainability in rail transport.

By using digital technologies like artificial intelligence and digital twins, the maintenance of HVAC systems in rail vehicles can be redefined.

The developed methods and approaches can also be applied to other mobile and stationary refrigeration systems, heat pumps or similar systems, which increases the potential of these technologies even further.

Objectives

  • Reduction of maintenance costs and improvement of environmental protection
  • Monitoring and prediction of HVAC maintenance through the use of condition-based and predictive maintenance
  • Reduction of data volume and efficient data processing through the use of digital twins and edge computing
  • Extension of the system’s lifespan, reduction of operating costs and improvement of passenger comfort
SMACS is funded by the “Mobility of the Future” program of the Federal Ministry for Climate Action (BMK). The project is also partially supported within the framework of the COMET K2 Competence Centers for Excellent Technologies by the BMK, the Federal Ministry for Labour and Economy (BMAW), the Province of Styria (Department 12), and the Styrian Business Promotion Agency (SFG), and is managed by the FFG.
https://projekte.ffg.at/projekt/4536658

 

 

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