Quantitative Assessment of the Durability of the Continuous Supply System

Abstract

The development and implementation of high-speed traffic requires a change in approaches to the modernization of the traction power supply system since the applied DC traction system cannot always provide electricity with required power and quality. The resulting limitations include reducing the voltage on the pantograph of an electric locomotive below the permissible value for normal operation and heating the wires of the contact line, which contributes to the loss of their mechanical strength. The process of power consumption in the traction line occurs under the influence of different disturbances: changes in the operating modes of the electric rolling stock depending on the features of the train schedule, the track profile and available limitations, short-time detachment of pantograph and various transient processes; therefore, mode of voltage under the influence of these disturbances has a non-stationary oscillatory character with sudden changes in voltage that lead to a decrease in the stability of the interacting systems - power supply and electric rolling stock. In the presence of such hard-to-control factors, the stability limit may occur at different values of the influencing parameters. To estimate the stability margin in load nodes of power systems, reserve voltage factors are used, since the voltage on the bus bars is the main monitored parameter for power distribution substations. This approach on the basis of practical stress stability criteria has been applied in this work. The results of the calculation of the stress stability criteria for the functioning of the traction power supply system on the real section of the electrified railway allowed establishing static voltage instability in the individual sections of the traction line. It allowed making a conclusion that the existing power schemes do not allow to maintain the necessary voltage mode in the traction line and provide the necessary voltage stability for high-speed traffic that leads to the transition to new circuit solutions for traction power supply systems.