Recent trends in power electronics applications as solutions in electric railways

Abstract

Certain applications of power electronics for railway vehicle traction systems and fixed installations are reviewed and future possibilities considering technical and social trends around railway industry are mentioned in this paper. First of all, some particularities of railway load and traction power supply system are summarized as problems to be solved by power electronics technologies. Such technologies for fixed installations and vehicle traction systems are presented and future possibilities for higher performance, minimization, and improved resilience of railway system are pointed out. © 2020 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Traction power substation balance and losses estimation in AC railways using a power transfer device through Monte Carlo analysis

“…In the past, some passive solutions helped to alleviate these issues but their performance was dependent on different operation parameters and has poor dynamics. Then, the use of power electronics based converters for power quality increasing in railway systems has entered into the domain and is continuously increasing [11][12][13]. Their purpose is quite large and addresses different power quality issues in railway systems: transformer losses, catenary voltage stability, substation active power balancing, peak shaving, three-phase current balancing, reactive power compensation [13][14][15].…”

“…Then, the use of power electronics based converters for power quality increasing in railway systems has entered into the domain and is continuously increasing [11][12][13]. Their purpose is quite large and addresses different power quality issues in railway systems: transformer losses, catenary voltage stability, substation active power balancing, peak shaving, three-phase current balancing, reactive power compensation [13][14][15]. It should be mentioned that the static frequency converter (SFC) system is a kind of ''one fits all'' regarding all the referred power quality issues but this system is a stand-alone solution, interesting for new lines, [12,[16][17][18].…”

A Review on Power Electronics Technologies for Electric Mobility

“…For instance, when dc traction machines are utilized, dc-dc converters are crucial to adjust the dc voltage values. On the other side, dc-ac converters are indispensable to drive the ac electric machines by changing the voltage frequency and amplitude, known as variable voltage variable frequency drive [270,271]. Future converter technologies are likely to utilize SiC devices for more efficient traction systems, besides the benefits of higher temperature operation capability and the possibility of manufacturing smaller and lighter power converters without transformers.…”

“…Future converter technologies are likely to utilize SiC devices for more efficient traction systems, besides the benefits of higher temperature operation capability and the possibility of manufacturing smaller and lighter power converters without transformers. However, there are still issues to be solved in terms of both costs and technology, provided that SiC devices still have poor global ease of procurement and high costs [271]. The auxiliary converters are used to supply the train auxiliary loads.…”

Voltage Unbalance, Power Factor and Losses Optimization in Electrified Railways Using an Electronic Balancer

“…Recently, new power electronics devices and converter topologies allowed the development of advanced versions of the Steinmetz compensation circuit, either as single converters [6][7][8][9] or hybrid solutions [10,11]. Thyristor-based or IGBT-based these compensators are active balancers since they do not behave as variable equivalent impedances in parallel with the point of common coupling but, instead, they act as variable current sources according to the operation point of the railway load.…”