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High performance and higher efficiency are common trends in most technologies, but particularly in transportation applications where the potential for significant environmental impact on a global scale is high. Greener, cleaner ideals are taking the lead in defining new goals for how technology must balance performance with environmental considerations. Electric vehicles and next-generation electric trains are working to meet the common goal to minimise their carbon footprint on Earth. 

It's an effort that demands attention to every facet of train design and development - with new systems facing constraints of size, weight, and integration with legacy systems. Following a common trend demonstrated successfully by high-speed national trains, railway scenarios such as subway, city, and intercity light rail systems are focusing on optimising all performance aspects of their traction and auxiliary units. This means tapping into advances in optoisolators that enable smarter designs and improved performance - scalable across fleets of trains, diverse routes, and broad geographic regions. 

Getting Familiar with Optoisolators 

Energy efficiency is all about the effective transfer of electrical signals. Optoisolators play a role here, sitting between circuits as a means to transfer information. Importantly, they provide high  isolation voltage between the two edges of the transfer - for example, a low voltage microprocessor communicating with a high voltage board used on an electrical engine. Optoisolators consist of at least one LED emitter and a receiver (sensor) and achieve communication by means of light in air - enabling inherent high voltage insulation and functioning in contrast to a mechanical part connected by copper wiring. 

Consider that typically, a design has wide voltage differences between emitters and receivers. For example, the emitter may operate as the compute centre of the vehicle, making the calculations required for engine control, acceleration, or deceleration. This part of the system works at low voltage, such as 3.3, 5 or 12 volts, as  it simply does not demand significant amounts of power. On the other end of the design, the working engine today requires up to 1,500 volts, which may rise to 3,000 volts in the future. 

Optoisolators not only handle this voltage disparity but have been developed to withstand the rigorous, less controlled environmental conditions common to all types of railway and rolling stock scenarios. Solar panel applications offer a highly effective proof of concept for this level of performance in that they are devices that must function with unwavering reliability in conditions of wind and rain, hot and cold shifts in weather, heavy shock and vibration, and other external factors such as dirt and debris. 

The level of IP resistance, or certified resistance to water entering the device from external sources, developed 
in solar panel applications validates these components as suitable for long-term, outdoor performance.