Affiliations: Dipartimento di Meccanica, Politecnico di Milano,
Milano, Italy | Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale e Meccanica,
Universitá di Catania, Catania, Italy
Abstract: Trains current collection for traction motors is obtained by means
of a sliding contact between the overhead line (OHL) and the collector strips
mounted on the pantograph head. The normal force by which the collector presses
against the contact wire ensures the contact pressure for the electrical
contact. As the train speed increases, the variation of contact force between
pantograph and catenary increases, and the pantograph-OHL dynamic interaction
becomes greater. This condition causes excessive mechanical wear and contact
wire uplift (for high values of contact forces), and leads to high percentage
of contact loss, arcing and electrically related wear. The topic of actively controlled pantograph is gaining more interest
as a tool to increase the performance of the current collection at high speed.
In the last few years, it appears possible to transfer the knowledge based on
numerical experiments, to the real operating condition. An important step in
this direction is the set up of a laboratory hardware in the loop test-rig in
which the control strategies and the actuation can be tested, before tests
performing in real life conditions, in order to demonstrate their actual
feasibility. The present paper describes an hardware in the loop (HIL) test-rig
developed by the authors, which allows to reproduce the dynamical interaction
between overhead lines and pantograph in high speed railways. Using the
described laboratory set-up, experimental investigation on the problems related
with pantograph-OHL interaction can be performed, very similarly to the real
life operating conditions, with the advantage of varying test parameters and
conditions easily.
