METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ESTIMATING WEAR OF TROLLEY WIRE

This apparatus for estimating wear of a trolley wire uses an estimation device (20) to estimate, from a measurement value sequence (10), both a wear rate and an estimation value proper as a transition of the remaining diameter, and outputs the value and the rate as an estimation result (30) . The estimation device (20) is formed of: a remaining-diameter estimation unit (21) that estimates the remaining diameter by constructing and solving an optimization problem for minimizing an objective function T = ˆ‘ (present wear rate - previous wear rate) 2 + ±ˆ‘ (estimation value - lower limit value), under two constraint conditions of the wear rate being 0 or higher, and the estimation value of the remaining diameter being equal to or greater than the lower limit value obtained by subtracting an error vale µ from the estimation value of the remaining diameter; and a wear-rate estimation unit (22) that calculates the wear rate on the basis of the estimation value of the remaining diameter. Thus, a proper estimation value and a proper wear rate can be calculated even if a measurement value increases or decreases due to an error.