카이스트는 자체 개발한 온라인전기자동차(올레브)를 KTX 고속열차에 적용할 수 있도록 철도시설공단 그리고 철도기술연구원하고 기초연구에 착수했다고 관계자는 말했다.
KTX 시속 300킬로의 한계를 극복하기 위해 올레브 기술을 “당장 적용할 수 있다”고 설명했다.
향후 한국의 철도사업 수출에 도움을 줄 수 있다고 판단하여 연구를 시작했다고 한다.
박근혜 당선인의 차기 정부로부터 국가사업정책으로 반영되기 위해 “노력 중”이며 국가사업으로 채택이 되면 예산 확보는 물론 민간투자기업 참여도 가능하기 때문이다.
도로에 매설된 전기선 올레브 시스템은 무선으로 달리는 전기자동차나 버스를 충전할 수 있는 기술이다.
KTX는 위에서 전력공급을 해주는 선과의 마찰 때문에 속도의 한계에 이르고 있다.
전력선을 올레브처럼 고정된 레일 밑에 설치를 하면 고속열차의 효율성과 이동성을 증가시킬 수 있고 소음공해의 피해를 최소화할 수 있다.
또 고속열차 도입하는 나라들은 이 기술을 통해 건설비를 절감할 수 있다. 예를 들어, 올레브 전력인프라를 매설할 경우 터널을 깊게 팔 필요 없다고 설명했다. (코리아헤럴드)
<영문 기사>
KAIST looking to boost KTX speed
By Park Hyong-ki
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology is looking to integrate its indigenously-developed online electric vehicle technology into the country’s flagship KTX high-speed train to achieve speeds of more than 300 kilometers per hour.
The state-run research university’s OLEV teams are putting their heads together with Korea Rail Network Authority, a rail engineering company, and Korea Railroad Research Institute to overcome the speed barriers posed by electrical grids that hang above and power the bullet train, a KAIST official said.
The three, which are engaged in basic research, hope that the incoming government of Park Geun-hye will designate the drive a national project in order to secure a budget big enough to pursue it further as it did with the OLEV, which was funded by the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.
The designation would also help them attract private companies to participate as they would need support for such a massive infrastructure project. The project is being pursued as China and Japan race to develop faster trains.
It is also part of efforts to promote Korea’s rail technology for export as railway is increasingly being recognized as “green transportation” worldwide, the KAIST official said.
The OLEV established for under the road allows wirelessly-charged vehicles such as cars and buses to travel 20 centimeters above the system with minimum noise pollution. KAIST passed safety tests for commercialization last year.
KAIST said that it can “immediately adopt” this concept for the KTX by developing the OLEV system under the rails, giving the bullet train greater mobility and efficiency.
The existing railway system is charged by grids hanging above the moving bullet train, which limit its speed due to the constant friction between the train and the electrical lines.
The official said the system could also help countries that seek to build high-speed railways to lower costs as it does not, for instance, require them to drill bigger tunnels for passage, while being free from grid connections.
KAIST’s OLEV was chosen among the world’s top 50 best inventions by Time magazine in 2010.
(hkp@heraldcorp.com)
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