Electric railway traction
Part 1 Electric traction and
DC traction motor drives
This series of tutorial articles explains the electrical and control engineering
background in electric railways. The articles cover traction drives with DC and
AC traction motors, electrification systems, and railway signalling and control
systems. This first article covers the nature of the traction load, the
requirements of the traction duty cycle and power electronic controlled
traction drives using DC machines.
by R. J. Hill
Background
Electric traction commenced with
experiments on battery propulsion in
Davenport, MA, in 1837 and Davidson,
Scotland, in 1838. The first practical vehicles
involving power supply drawn along a
traction line were Werner von Siemens
demonstration of a small DC locomotive in
Berlin in 1879, an electric tram line in Berlin-
Lichterfelde in 1881 and Volks electric
railway in Brighton, England, in 1883. In the
United States, an electric streetcar line
started operations in Cleveland, OH, in 1884.
During the following decade, many other
electric railway traction systems were put in
operation. Significant early advances were
made by Sprague who established the
Richmond, VA, electric tramway network,
with novel features including under-running
trolley poles and sprung DC motors with
series/parallel switching and rheostatic
control.
The early systems described above all used
DC motors supplied from a low-voltage DC
traction line. Theadvantage of this was
simple speed control using high-power
switched resistances. Subsequent
developments in electric railway traction took
two main directions corresponding to the
establishment of low-voltage DC
transmission networks for drives with DC
traction motors, and low-frequency, high-
voltage AC transmission networks (1 6: Hz in
Central Europe and 25 Hz in the United
States) with AC commutator traction motors.
The establishment of high-voltage
electrification at industrial frequency had t o
wait until the 1950s when rectifiers, first
POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL FEBRUARY 1994
.-
mercuryarc then semiconductor, were
developed with the required current and
power ratings for traction. The Valenciennes-
Thionville line in France was the pioneering
50 Hz electrification. Thereafter, 25 kV
single-phase at 50 or 60 Hz has become the
standard for mainline railway electrification,
replacing 1.5 kV DC networks from the early
1900s and 3 kV DC networks from the
1930s.
Modern technology, notably the power
thyristor and the microprocessor, has
transformed railway traction in the past 20
years. Whereas DC power supply is still
usually the most economic for urban and
street railways, with AC at industrial
frequency used for long-distance lines, there
have been many proposed schemes for on-
board traction drives. The majority of drives
in use today, however, still use DC traction
motors.
This article commences by considering the
nature of the traction load and the
requirements of the traction duty cycle, and
covers the two main types of traction drives
with DC motors in use today: DC-DC chopper
converter and AC rectifier drives. In the next
article, drives with AC traction motors are
described.
Equationof motion for a traction
vehicle
Energy supplied to a vehicle or train is used
to accelerate the train in linear motion, and
the rotating components, such as wheels and
motor armatures, in rotary motion, to
overcome electrical power losses in the
motors and drives, and mechanical power
47
1 Forces on a traction
vehicle
2 Transmission of
tractive effort through
wheel-rail adhesion
force
3 Adhesion coefficient
for rail vehicles
force on rail F = pmg
0.4
0 an averaged curve compiled from many
2 03
I
losses such as friction resistance to motion,
and to do work in moving the mass of the
train uphill.
The relative proportions of energy usage
for these tasks depend on thevehicle duty
cycle. For example, in urban transit systems,
station spacing is short and the majority of
energy is used in accelerating the train from
rest. In high-speed railways, most energy is
needed to overcome resistance to motion
between the station stops. Fig. 1 shows the
forces on a traction vehicle. The equation of
motion is
MC& + Mg Sina = F - R
dt2
where M is the vehicle mass, g the
gravitational acceleration, R the vehicle
resistance to motion and F the tractive effort,
axle weight
motor
wheel
F = pmg tractive effort
rail
applied at the rims of the driving wheels.
It is necessary to examine each of the terms
in eqn. 1 separately t o see how they affect
the design of the traction drive. The tractive
effort is the force provided by the traction
converter, less lost torque introduced by the
mechanical drive between motors and
wheels. It is a function of the sum of the train
motor output torques and is positive for
motoring and negative for braking. The
function of the traction converter is t o vary
the tractive effort according t o the desired
trajectory of the train or vehicle motion. Since
the tractive effort varies with speed for any
controller setting, the converter controller
must be continually adjusted by closed-loop
control to achieve the desired motion as the
speed varies.
To start and move a rail vehicle, the motor
torque must be transferred as tractiveforce
to the wheelhail interface. This force, known
as adhesion, is the friction force between the
wheel and rail surfaces, as shown in Fig. 2.
The value of the adhesion force on each
driven axle is
F = pmg (2)
(1)
where p is the friction coefficient, with a
value between 0 and 1, and mg is the axle
load.
The numerical value of the friction
coefficient depends on the condition of the
wheel and rail surfaces, their contact area,
the relativevelocity between wheel and rail
(the wheelslip velocity), and the absolute
velocity of the wheel. The value of adhesion
for rail vehicles has a maximum of about 0.4.
It decreases slightly with absolute wheel
velocity and, after an initial sharp rise, more
steeply with wheelslip velocity. The maximum
tractive effort per axle that can be utilised is
limited by the adhesion according to
TE,, < (3)
Since the axle load is generally limited by
dynamic track forces, it is advantageous t o
maximise the tractive effort by powering
many axles. A similar relationship t o eqn. 3
holds for braking, but because usually more
wheels are braked than motored, the total
braking force can be greater than the
propulsion force.
The physical processes determining
wheelhail adhesion are complex. Fig. 3
shows the relationship between the wheel-
rail creep and the adhesion coefficient. This is
experimental measurements. The relative

5 02 unsiable velocity between the wheel and rail must be

region region
:P non-zero to exert a tractive force. If the creep
%
8 01 is allowed t o increase beyond a certain
I threshold, such as occurs when high applied
I
I I I I
propulsion or braking forces exceed the
0.1 1 10
available adhesion force, a region of unstable
wheel-rail creep, % operation will be entered resulting in
uncontrolled wheelslip. Practical wheel
slip/slide control schemes must exploit the
relationship of Fig. 3 to maintain an
48 POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL FEBRUARY 1994
 optimum creep velocity in order to maximise
the adhesion force. The understanding of
wheel creep stability is therefore closely
related t o traction controller design.
The resistance to motion (R) is caused by a
combination of internal forces within the I - 1r
vehicles and external forces due t o the
interaction of the vehicles and track.The
resistance to motion of a single traction
I sbning
torque
torque limit i\

vehicle may be expressed empirically as: lorces at various

gradients
R, = (A + Bv) M + Cv2 + Mg a + D Mg
~
(4)
r

whereA, 8, Cand Dare constants, M is the

vehicle mass, vis the velocity and r is the track
radius. The first term in this equation includes
internally generated rolling resistance and
vehicle-track interface resistance. Internal
friction within the vehicles arises from
bearings, whereas external friction appears at
the wheel-rail interface due t o three factors:
deformation of the wheels and rails at the
points of contact, the separation force due to
rolling, and the energy loss from wheelslip.
The magnitude of rolling resistance is
dependent on the contact surface hardness,
steel wheels on steel rails exhibiting rolling
resistances an order of magnitude lower than
rubber tyres on concrete guideways. Track
resistance includesfactors due to riding
surface roughness and oscillations causing
extra energy dissipation, for example from
wheel flange contact with the rails.
The second term in eqn. 4 is due t o
aerodynamic resistance. This appears as both
base balancing
speed for
Speed
. I
-I
torque-limited I power-limited
operation I operation
surface friction and normal pressure drag. It 4 Traction vehicle
depends on vehicle dimensions, shape and tractiveeffofi-~ed
surface roughness and is proportional to the
square of velocity, depending on the air
density, relative velocity of the vehicle with
respect t o the air stream and a body drag
coefficient composed of the vehicle
dimensions, frontal area and the Reynolds
and Mach numbers. The presence of tunnels
increases the air resistance which is

..-----
distance

torque-
limited
I I
acceleration I I
I I
I I I
power- constant
limited velocity
coesting controlled
braking
'
acceleration

resistance to motion
r-----

5 Traction vehicle duty

cycle with torque and
power demand
POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL FEBRUARY 1994 49

___ -__
 in overcoming frictional forces between the
wheel flanges and treads, and the rail head
l I annawrecunenl 1 I
and gauge corners. It depends on the wheel-
rail friction coefficient, the track gauge, and
-2 power the distance between axles in each bogie.
Rolling and sliding contact theories have
been formulated to account for the complex
physical processes involved, but in most
practical situations, curvature alignment
resistance is generally derived experimentally
and approximated by an empirical
expression.
armmum
t.-p.-W
1 (isld
Weake~ng
1 weak Rem
oper- 1
To return t o the equation of motion
(eqn. 1) it can be seen that excess motor
torque, after overcoming the resistance t o
nwmllm base banriliOn maximum
carlrorrb* m 6P-d speed motion, is available t o accelerate the train.
m-d The torque available from an electrical
1 machine is a function of velocity through its
mechanical characteristics. The most

Fig. 4. The starting torque is limited t o a

maximum value, usually by traction motor
current rating requirements. Thereafter, the
maximum tractive envelope as a function of
speed corresponds t o constant power
operation, since it is this which is
proportional t o motor cost. If the controller is
set for maximum power, a balancing speed
will eventually be reached at which the
acceleration is zero and the tractive effort
exactly equals the sum of the vehicle
resistance and gradient forces.
6 DC motor traction particularly significant for close-fitting urban To complete the equation of motion, the
drive rkgimes of metro tunnels. inertia of the train must be accounted for in
operation
The alignment, or track, resistance is the addition t o its mass. The motor airgap torque
7 DC-DC chopper sum of gradient and curvaturecomponents. is the sum of components required t o
converter traction drive The gradient in conventional rail systems accelerate the linear and rotating parts of the
schematic rarely exceeds 2.5%. although exceptions do train and t o overcome resistance to motion
occur in mountain areas. and gradient forces. The rotational effects of
The last term in eqn. 4 is due to track the wheels and armature for a given train
curvature which represents extra work done may becalculated and added t o the linear

8 RENFE Class 250.6

3kV DC 4.6 M W chopper
controlled locomotive
(photo: courtesy of ABB
Corporate
Communications Ltd.)

50 POWFR FNGINFFRING IO1IRNAI FFRRl IARV 1994

train motion by increasing the effective train related t o its power output, rather than
mass. This in effect accounts for the extra maximum torque or speed alone. A higher
work done in increasing the kinetic energy of total power is generally available during
the rotating parts in addition to accelerating braking due to the use of friction brakes on
the train linearly. The ratio of the additional non-powered axles in addition to electrical
energy to thevehicle kinetic energy is braking through the motors. A practical
constant and is given the coefficient L, so effect of power limitation is that earlier
the accelerating mass becomes initiation of constant velocity running or
coasting may result in a large net energy
Me= M(l + L) (5) saving.
A traction drive is designed t o operate with
The value of h, ranges from 0.04 for a high load inertia. The power required t o
hauled vehicles t o 0.2 for locomotives. The accelerate the load generally exceeds that
general equation of train motion thus required to overcome resistance to motion. 9 DC-DCchopper
becomes . Gradients in rail networks are limited to a few drive
per cent, and the work done during (a)Motoring;
acceleration can be comparable to that (b)Rheostatic braking;
required for uphill motion. Power recovery in (c) Regenerative braking

where TE is the tractive effort and a, b and c -6WV

DC
are constants. Eqn. 6 is known as
Lomonossoff's equation.

Vehicle movement and traction duty

cycle
A traction vehicle is a position control
system and the function of its drive is to
move the vehicle from place t o place a
according to the desired station-to-station
motion. For a single vehicle or train, the
motion is deterministic if there are no
disturbances from random environmental
factors such as wind direction and speed or
traffic congestion. The station-to-station
trajectory is specified by kinematic variables rails
(displacement,velocity, acceleration and jerk)
which are governed only by the operational
requirements of the route.
A typical vehicle duty cycle is shown in Fig.
5. The initial acceleration is uniform, but
above the motor base speed becomes limited
by the power available from the drive.
Eventually, a free-running speed is reached
where the installed capacity of the drive is b
equal to the sum of the gradient force and
resistance to motion. A period of coasting,
with zero power applied to the motors, is
followed by controlled deceleration t o rest.
The maximum acceleration, deceleration and
jerk are governed by passenger comfort
considerations in passenger railways and
impulsive force considerations in freight
railways. In passenger systems, for example,
the maximum acceleration and deceleration
may be 1.4 ms-' and 3.0 ms-' respectively for
a streetcar with a jerk limitation of about
0.55 m/s3.
Maximum values of torque, power and
speed will all occur at various points in the
duty cycle, as the traction converter reaches
the limits of its characteristic. On starting, a
C
practical converter-motor system will provide
a specific maximum torque up to some base
speed, as shown in Fig. 4. The base speed
may typically be one-third of the maximum
speed, so will not normally cover the entire
acceleration period. Power-limited
acceleration will then occur up to the
balancing speed. This represents economic
operation since the cost of a traction motor is
POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL FEBRUARY 1994 51
 moving downhill or during deceleration is
economic only on systems with short station
spacings or on heavily-graded routes such as
mountain railways.
To size the drive, a station-to-station
movement analysis must be made with
knowledge of individual train movement
based on the traffic schedule of the complete
route. Train movement kinematics are
presented on combined velocity/time and
distance/time diagrams. The motor size is
related t o thermal considerations from both
the maximum power operation and the
average power over a complete duty-cycle.
Both fixed and operational aspects affect
the selection of drives for a particular
application. Fixed considerations include:
vehicle properties -type of propulsion,
control and guidance
0 mechanical design -weight, capacity,
length, number of axles, axle load and
environmental control
0 utilisation of vehicle capacity
0 performance - acceleration, maximum
speed, deceleration, propulsion and
braking characteristics
0 track characteristics -gradient,
curvature, tunnels and station locations.
10 Two-quadrant Operational aspects include:
traction chopper power
requirements of the train service -
$"'t~~- $~~$ @
0 the sophistication of the scheduling
system - running partial routes,
stopping policy, station spacings
0 the operating or driving regime-
selection of coast and brake set points.
Traction drives with DC traction motors
The majority of railway traction drives in
use today utilise commutator machines. For
many years, most drives used series or
separately-excited motors on DC-supplied
railways with resistance control, and
universal motors on low-frequency AC
railways with tapped transformer and
rectifier control. In the 1970s, DC-DC
chopper control was developed for both
series and separately excited motors, with the
latest technology using gate turn off (GTO)
thyristors. Separately-excited motors have
been used for power frequency AC railway
rectifier drives from the 1950s and, with
naturally commutated thyristor converters,
represent cost-effective, mature technology.
The DC machine produces or absorbs
torque by the interaction of a DCfield with a
DC armature current. Traction motors
operate from an unsmoothed rectified power
supply and thus have to withstand large
ripple currents and dynamic stresses. The
high power density requirement means that,
except for small motors used in tram and
light rail systems, DC traction motors are
open and must be cooled with forced

rnotorina; average operational speed and station ventilation. The maximum permitted
R regeneration dwell time temperature rise is 240 Kfor ambient
temperatures between -1 0 and +40"C.
The characteristics of both series and
separately-excited machines are suitable for
traction. In the series motor, the field is
generated by the armature current, hut in a
nonlinear manner due t o iron saturation.
There is a high starting torque followed by a
falling torque level with increasing speed.
The latter feature is attractive for traction
because it inherently allows wheelslip
correction. Moreover, machine cost is closely
related t o power, rather than torque or speed
alone, ensuring that the motor is efficiently
utilised at all speeds. Speed control using
series motors can be achieved by varying the
terminal voltage through a series resistance,

currents > 1 iQ
. ipp
or the field through diverter resistors.
The first technique is used during starting
and for speed control up to the machine base
speed (at rated current and maximum field).
1.2 igl i k t W
Greater speeds may be obtained by shunting
motor Q /\
.
Q /\ the field (known as weak field operation). If
armalure
current
0
/,
I.
"'
0 @,V the armature current remains constant
during field weakening, the speed range
R I M M: R
I obtained will be limited because of an
chopper v accompanied torque decrease. In practice,
OUtDUt
voltage I the field is not generally reduced by more
than 65% of its nominal value during field
weakening .
In the separately-excited motor, field
current
excitation is obtained using a power supply
separate from that for the armature circuit.
The machine characteristics demonstrate
that, for small armature resistance, the speed
regulation is only about 5% over the
52 POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL FEBRUARY 1994

~ ~~~ ~
 complete loaded range. Speed control is
achieved by varying the armature voltage or
the field current. As the core flux decreases at
25 k V 5 0 Hzor 15 kV IEVIHz
constant armature current, the torque also
decreases. Due to the effects of armature
reaction, a speed increase limited to t w o or
three times the motor base speed may be
obtained. The separately-excited motor is
-7
suitable for traction because it may be
controlled to produce high torque at low
speeds, and yet fully utilise its rated power at
high speeds. Although both series and
separately-excited motors can be used for
dynamic braking, only the latter is suitable for
regeneration of power because of its
separate field windings.
The separately-excited traction motor has
three control regimes, each with specific
torque and power characteristics (Fig. 6):

0 Armature voltage control with rated field,

where torque is constant and power
linearly increases with speed
0 Fieldcontrol with constant armature
current, giving constant power operation
0 Weak fieldoperation where armature
current, torque and power all decrease.
There is a minimum controllable speed at
about one-tenth of the base speed, due to
poor regulation at low speeds.
DC-DC chopper converter traction
drives
Chopper converters supply a variable
voltage DC load from a fixed voltage source
(Fig. 7). Power flow in both directions
between source and load is possible with
combined step-up/step-down circuits. The
advantages of choppers in traction are:
0 energy saving during starting
0 smooth, stepless control of tractive effort
0 rapid response t o change of control
conditions
convenient t o programme duty cycle with
target velocity, acceleration and jerk
values
0 possibilityof regenerative operation
reduced maintenance requirements
compared with electromechanical
equipment.
railways, however, does require careful prior 11 AC-DC rectifier
engineering analyses to be made to traction drive schematic
determine the system receptivity for
regenerative operation.
Choppers are used extensively in metro
and light rail systems and have also been
developed for high-power locomotives
(Fig. 8). Fig. 9 shows the power circuit of a
chopper-controlled light rail vehicle. Each
articulated vehicle is supplied by a pair of 150
kW traction motors with a starting torque of
40.7 kN (1 6.3 kN at 31.9 km/h). The line
voltage is 600 V DC and the maximum speed
is 65 km/h. Braking is both regenerative and
rheostatic. Separate circuit configurations are
shown for motoring, regenerative braking
and rheostatic braking. GTO thyristors are
used, with the same device configured for all
three operations.
Fig. 10 shows a traction chopper motor
armature circuit with the various operational
waveforms. The basic circuit combines step- 12 SBB Re 4,4
up and step-down arrangements as a two- 15 kv, 16.7 ~ 2 . 4 . 9 7MW
quadrant chopper. During motoring, the (one-hour rating) phase-
chopper operates in the first quadrant and anglecontrolled
acts as a step-down converter. The device Q ,
is switched on and off with period T, and Corporate
duty cycle a.Current builds up in the Communications Ltd.)

The economics of chopper-controlled

traction in terms of energy and reliability was
thought t o be marginal with force-
commutated thyristor converters in the
1970s, but became very favourable with gate
turn-off (GTO) thyristor converters in the
1980s. The major application area of
chopper-controlled traction is on DC transit
railways where the presence of other
accelerating vehicles can produce significant
energy savings through regeneration. On
new railways in Japan, full exploitation of
chopper regenerative capabilities includes
the provision of regenerative substations t o
absorb excess energy not required by nearby
accelerating trains. The introduction of
chopper-controlled trains on existing
POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL FEBRUARY 1994 53
_- _ _ ~ - . ~.
 inductance La. When QZis commutated, this
energy is delivered to the source via the diode
5 kV, 167 Hz - D, .
or
25 kV. 50 Hz Two important operational features of this
circuit are that both thyristors may not be
turned on simultaneously, or else the supply
will be short-circuited, and that a smooth
transition from driving to braking is essential.
Alternate gating (with a short blocking
interval of typically 100 ps) ensures either
first or second quadrant operation since
during motoring, when i, is high, thedevices
Qz and D2do not conduct even when gated.
Q , and D, regulate the motor armature
voltage in first-quadrant operation. During
braking, i, is negative and large, so Q,and D,
do not conduct, even when gated. Qz and D,
provide for energy t o be returned t o the
supply, so operation in this case is in the
second quadrant.
The current cannot be discontinuous in the
two-quadrant chopper because Q2is gated in
antiphase to Q1, so Q2and D, will conduct for
part of the cycle. When the current in D, falls
- - to zero, the motor back EMF (E,) drives
current round the loop comprising R,, La and
a Q2.When Q, is commutated, the fall in
stored energy induces a negative EMF (el)
- which, with the back EMF, supplies energy t o
the source until the negative current reaches
zero. Positive armature current (i,) then
resumes through Q1. In effect, this means
that regeneration is attempted once per
cycle, with the current demand and speed
determining the quadrant of operation.
The practical operation of chopper circuits
requires closed-loop control to maintain the
motor armature current constant by
regulating the chopper duty cycle. During
regenerative braking, the back EMF (E,) is
speed-dependent, so the chopper off period
must be extended to allow the armature
current more time to build up t o the target
value.
In railway traction systems, the DC supply
voltage is usually in the range 600V to 3kV. A
typical urban metro train may have 24
traction motors each of 100 kW, and thus
draw 2.4 MW peak power, with 4 kA current
during the initial acceleration period. The
harmonic content of the line current will
therefore give rise to high amplitude current
harmonics that may in turn cause
b interference with the signalling system and
adjacent communications network. The
operation of choppers implies that the motor
voltage and source current will be rich in
13 Semi-controlled armature durina the on Deriod. and decays harmonics. The armature and source current
phase convertertra&n through the freewheeling diode D, during harmonic amplitudes are greatest when the
drive power circuit the off period, ,
chopper works at equal marVperiod ratio,
(a) Motoring;
Durinq regeneration, the motor acts as a with the source current drawn as a series of
generator and energy is returned t o the pulses. In addition to the chopper harmonics,
supply. The motor terminal voltage must the substation rectifier (usually derived from
exceed that of the supply, so the chopper the utility supply by a 6 or 12-pulse phase
works as a step-up converter in the second converter) will also contribute harmonics to
quadrant. The operational devices are Q2and the system. The harmonics in the chopper
D,. The circuit is controlled by turning device line current, with a fundamental a t the fixed
Qzon and off. If Q , is off, and V > E,, i, = is chopping frequency (in the range 200-550
= 0. When Q 2is on, current builds up in the Hz), are attenuated by an LCfilter placed at
motor loop and energy is stored in the the train power collection terminals. The
54 POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL FEBRUARY 1994
-~ _ _ _ _ ~
 filter, serving several chopper equipments if
necessary, isolates the chopper from the
supply and ensures that the chopper will
operate from a constant voltage source.
Phase-controlled rectifiertraction drives
---
The introduction of 25 kV 50/60 Hz railway
electrification in the 1950swas followed by
the development of rectifier locomotives, a
schematic power circuit of which is shown in
Fig. 1 1. The preferred configuration for a
rectifier drive uses the semi-controlled bridge
rectifier which, when compared with a fully-
controlled converter, has the advantages of
using half the number of thyristors, of
operating more readily with continuous
current with a better power factor, and of
producing lower armature current harmonics
1
rail
42v -I-
POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL FEBRUARY 1994
- -- ~ ~~
and hence reducing the motor torque ripple
(although the line current harmonics are
increased).The basic semi-controlled bridge
rectifier cannot regenerate power. This is not
usually a significant disadvantage because
regenerativeoperation is usually of little use
on long-distance railways with large
headway operation because of the distance
t o suitable receptive loads.
Phase-controlledrectifier traction drives
are installed in both high-power locomotives
(Fig. 12) and multiple units. The power circuit
of a typical semi-controlled bridge rectifier
drive with a separately-excited motor is
shown in Fig. 13. Separate circuits are given
for motoring and rheostatic braking. Each car
has four machines rated a t 248 kW with
1450 Nm per car, giving a train tractive effort
continuous armature
currenl
14 Semi-controlled
phase converter traction
drive operation:
A positive half cycle;
B negative half cycle
55
~___

15 Powerfactorand
phosphometriccurrent
for semi-controlled
phase rKtifiertraction
drives
56
~~
of 135 kN and a maximum rheostatic braking
effort of 70 kN at 80 km/h.
The circuit operational waveforms are
shown in Fig. 14. Diodes D, and D, form a
freewheeling path for the motor armature
current. Thus the circuit operation is
equivalent to a full-wave controlled rectifier
with a freewheeling diode. During the
interval a < at < x, the armature current i,
first increases, then decreases until Q4is
turned off, whence it decays through the
freewheeling diodes. If the current was
discontinuous, it would decay t o zero at
+
some anglex < p c x a.The maximum
value of i, occurs just before current
commutation which is when the phase
voltage goes through zero. It is desirable to
achieve stable operation for a traction drive
to operate with constant armature current.
For this condition, the average motor voltage
is
X connecting two or more converters in series,
42vj 42v
Vt, =- sin at d(ot)= -(1
n
+ cos a)
a (6)
where Vis the transformer secondary voltage
and a is the firing delay angle. The motor
voltage is also related t o the speed (a,,,
and
) converters conduct. The configuration
load torque (TaJ through the machine
equations for torque and back EMF. Hence
the speed-torque relationship becomes
~,,,=42v(1
- +cosa)-~,r,, ~ (7)
7tKQ (KW
where K@ is the motor flux and R, is the
armature resistance. The most critical
condition for continuous current is at low
torque and high speed. Design of the control
circuit must ensure that current remains
continuous for this condition.
The motor voltage and armature and
source current harmonics may be calculated
using the Fourier series. The fundamental
frequency is 201, and all harmonics are of the
order of n = 2m, with m integer. The worst
motor voltage harmonic is the second,
POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL FEBRUARY 1994
whose coefficient is maximum when the
firing delay angle a = n/3, giving a
magnitude of 0.78 of the input voltage. An
advantage of the semi-controlled converter
compared with the fully-controlled converter
is the reduction in this second harmonic
amplitude through the use of freewheeling.
The current harmonics can be estimated by
assuming the source current is supplied in
rectangular blocks due to the large supply
inductance. The combined effect of all the
harmonic currents I, produced by a drive is
represented by the phosphometric sum
which is the RMS addition of all the harmonic
components in the transformer primary
circuit. Each component n is scaled in
accordance with a CCllTweighting
coefficient PN which is based on the response
of the human ear to audible noise. The sum
of the harmonics is
and the phosphometric current is
"=O
Fig. 15 shows the phosphometric current for
a semi-converter traction drive.
The apparent power factor of the drive
armature supply is the active power divided
by the product of the source voltage and the
RMS source current. In the semi-controlled
rectifier, although the armature current
harmonics are reduced, the line current
harmonics are increased by the freewheeling
action and the apparent power factor is also
increased. For railway traction applications,
the above disadvantages are overcome by
with the lower bridge having a centre tap t o
assist changeover of current at half maximum
voltage. In thecircuit of Fig. 12, thetop
converter alone supplies power to the load
for up t o half the total rated output power,
whereas between half and full output both
reduces the supply RMS current and
improves the phosphometric current and
power factor performance of traction drives,
as shown in Fig. 15.
Further reading
1 ANDREWS, H.I.: 'Railway traction' (Elsevier
Science Publishers, 1986)
2 NENE, V.D.: 'Advanced propulsionsystems for
urban rail vehicles' (Prentice-Hall, 1985)
3 VUCHIC, V.R.: 'Urban public transportation:
systems and technology' (Prentice-Hall, 1981)
0 IEE: 1994
Dr. Hill is a Senior Lecturer with the School of
Electronic & Electrical Engineering, University of
Bath. Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY. UK. He is an
IEE Member.