The future of transport?

PRT podcars take on board 3-5 persons and move on flyers located 5-7 metres above the ground. They typically have electric propulsion. At present, there are three PRT systems: Ultra at Heathrow airport, Vectus in the National Park in Suncheon Bay and a system of the company 2getthere in Masdar. – For years, the use of the PRT system in city transport has been discussed. A small number of existing systems and their simple network do not allow to verify it - explains professor Iwona Grabarek, Ph.D., D.Sc., from the WUT Faculty of Transport, vice-manager of the Eco-Mobility project. – Difficulties in the implementation of these systems on a larger scale are also connected with a lack of standards on the construction and verification of PRT systems, little willingness of city authorities to use innovative solutions and transport systems that have not been fully checked. On the other hand, if no experimental networks are built, a number of important questions will remain unanswered – she adds.

Will the solution suggested by Warsaw University of Technology researchers be used in cities as an alternative to other means of transport? – Of course we aim at implementing the system constructed in the Eco-Mobility project in the form of  pilot local lines, e.g. linking new housing districts with a local transport hub, in order to show the system and to persuade both the authorities and users about the advantages of this type of transport. A city open to this challenge is Rzeszów, which in the last years has been implementing innovative solutions, not only in the area of transport - professor Grabarek said.

Interdisciplinary project

The design process of the transport system constructed in the Eco-Mobility project integrated detailed knowledge in the academic disciplines such as: mechanics, electrical technology, electronics and information technology, ergonomics, management theory, computer simulations, physical modelling in scale. Importantly, the developed system is friendly for the physically disabled, who will be able to use the podcar without the support of others. The passenger just has to operate a touch screen to determine the destination.  – An innovative solution on the world scale is the idea to use a power and propulsion system with an induction linear motor and wireless power transmission aided with a supercapacitator for energy accumulation. This solution has not been used so far in the developed and presented PRT systems. Existing systems, such as Ultra or Vectus, use a classic rotary or lineal motor but none of them is equipped with wireless induction energy transmission - professor Grabarek said.

Eco-Mobility project

- I believe that the greatest success of the project is integration of researchers from many WUT faculties and also other universities. An important contribution was made by young researchers, and also by students who could realise their ideas – professor Iwona Grabarek summed up.

The Eco-Mobility project included 5 tasks:

1. Personal Rapid Transit
2. Eco-car
3. exoskeleton - verticalization and aiding the motion
4. wheelchairs
5. system of orthopaedic stabilizers and hip-joint endoprosthesis

All tasks were aimed at development of systems for increasing group or individual mobility. They all demonstrated a new original idea that distinguishes these solutions among other ideas used in the world.

All tasks started with a pre-prototype. Since the project did not entail research with the participation of people (due to expensive certificates, committee approvals, etc.), pre-prototypes (in contrast to prototypes) and their documentation were not sufficient to start production and pilot implementation. The results of the project were many times presented at scientific conferences, also in Brussels at the EU Commission for Mobility and Transport conference. The authors of the project had the opportunity to present their work at a meeting with the EU Commissioner for Mobility and Transport, Violetta Bulc, who in February 2015, during her short visit to Poland, found some time to come to the Warsaw University of Technology Faculty of Transport and listened to information on the results of the project and could see them as well.

For such a complicated system as PRT, all tasks combined produce the result and success:

• development of an original mechanical structure of the system: PRT vehicle (so-called podcar) – track. The structure takes into account all design aspects, including running properties, ergonomic features, aerodynamic phenomena etc.;
• development of original power supply and propulsion system for the PRT podcar;
• development of the human-podcar communication interface (choice of the route, change of the route, communication in emergency situations);
• development of a traffic control and management system (a hierarchical three-layer system);
• construction of a physical model of the podcar-track-control system in scale;
• development of a unique PRT vehicle simulator for designing PRT track network;
• construction of a full-scale PRT cabin model.

- Analyzing the above tasks, one needs to emphasize their interdisciplinary character, which required efficient work coordination by professor Włodzimierz Choromański and definitely contributed to the positive result of the Eco-Mobility project – professor Grabarek said.

Future of the project

The Eco-Mobility project creators have the ambition on its further development. – So much experience should be used for future challenges. We are applying for projects in the area ”Smart, green and integrated transport” in the Horizon 2020 – professor Grabarek said. – Our applications are a continuation of what we have realised so far, i.e. they are connected with implementation and demonstration of the developed systems, as well as improvement and further development of the ideas and systems of city transport and widely understood mobility. I think that more details will be provided when we manage to realise our plans – she adds.