FUEL EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENT FOR LOCOMOTIVE CONSISTS

摘要

A fuel efficiency improvement device for use on each of a plurality of locomotives in a consist includes a processor configured to transmit an initialization message including an identifier and power and fuel consumption rate information for the locomotive on which it is installed to all other locomotives in the consist. One of the devices is chosen to act as a lead device. The lead device is responsible for determining alternative throttle notch settings for each of the locomotives based on the power and fuel consumption rate information in the initialization message. The lead device may be chosen on the basis of identifiers in the initialization messages such as serial numbers. The alternative throttle settings may be determined using greedy value and maximum power calculations.