A stochastic model-based approach to analyze reliable energy-saving rail road switch heating systems

Rail road switch heaters are used to avoid the formation of snow and ice on top of rail road switches during the cold season, in order to guarantee their correct functioning. Effective management of the energy consumption of these devices is important to reduce the costs and minimise the environmental impact. While doing so, it is critical to guarantee the reliability of the system. In this work we analyse reliability and energy consumption indicators for a system of (remotely controlled) rail road switch heaters by developing and solving a stochastic model-based approach based on the Stochastic Activity Networks (SAN) formalism. An on-off policy is considered for heating the switches, with parametric thresholds of activation/deactivation of the heaters and considering different classes of priority. A case study has been developed inspired by a real rail road station, to practically demonstrate the application of the proposed approach to understand the impact of different thresholds and priorities on the indicators under analysis (probability of failure and energy consumption).