The Propulsion system is a key part of the train as it makes the train run. The challenge is all about the multiplicity of platforms like light rail vehicle, hi-speed train, or metro having different requirements for propulsion systems like low, medium or high power propulsion. Moreover, there are multi-energy requirements for type of fuels like diesel, electric, combination or bi-mode, etc. Then on top of that, there is a need to maintain weight requirements and the issue of interoperability between geographies. Then technology is changing with all the new materials coming in and OEMs need to be abreast of the new technology. Once a propulsion system like this is designed which is one product suiting lot of the families, so that there is a lot of reuse, there is the challenge of maintaining it for its service lifecycle of up to 30 years without affecting the profit as there is long service contracts. All of these makes it an extremely complex environment to work for.
In terms of the cost of quality we do thorough reliability and safety assessments and take ownership of delivering the product within the targets given. Every project in the rail industry carries a LCC cost that actually is a part of the bid. We design for maintenance.
We do system engineering for the design aspects. Then there is the mechanical aspect of sub-products within propulsion or which we refer to as converter. This is a combination of electrical and mechanical aspects. We do end to end design of traction converters and move it from a concept phase to a first article inspection, or even the integration into the homologation into the trail. In all these different areas, the system engineering or connect engineering or control engineering, we cut across the entire design phase and ensure that we are there to homologate into the final vehicles. Within this phase there comes an area of traction converter where our competency comes in for defining what tests need to be done to support these design elements and recalibrate with multiple labs not necessarily in-house based on the standard requirements. While for software we do design, development and testing capabilities in-house to also delink project schedules and software deliverables from the actual physical design and readiness of the product. We donu2019t have to wait for it as we have parallel possibilities and we have infrastructure on which we can test. As a solution we can provide an end-to-end solution from the concept, or from vehicle requirement into propulsion requirement and from there on to again back into an actual product and getting it homologated into vehicle.
For mechanical, electrical and software design we support across the full V-cycle. From a solution perspective, we have the ability to design the traction converter, auxiliary converter, hi-voltage, main energy systems and battery powered systems. We have from concept design all the way to homologation, system engineering capability along with dedicated knowhow of the lab infrastructure. We have product knowledge across all the variations in the propulsion system and the level of ownership are our key differentiators.
From the software side the standards that we comply to are EN 50657 and EN 50128.