Electric

Traction
Suresh Kamble,Electrical Dept.GPA
 Block Diagram of A.C Locomotive
1. Overhead
3. Circuit
Contact wire breaker 4. On-load tap
changer

2.
Pantogra
7. Smoothing 5.
choke Transform

8. D.C . Traction
 Trolley Wires or Contact wire

Trolley wire or Contact wire

Trolley Wires or Contact wire

Contact
wire
 Trolley Wires
The trolley wire or contact wire must be suspended with
the minimum of sag

so that it remains practically horizontal.

So that the contact between the wire & current collector

may be maintained at high speeds.

This is achieved by which the trolley wire(contact wire) is

supported by another wire known a the “catenary” or
“Messenger”

The catenary construction are different types

1. Single catenary construction.
2. compund catenary construction
 Single catenary construction
Caten
ary
Dropp
ers

Contact
wire

F
ig.

Fig. Single catenary

construction
A steel wire with seven or more strands supports the trolley wire
by means of droppers clipped to catenary & trolley wire at
equidistant horizontal intervals.
The span of catenary wire 45 to 90 metres with a sag of
from 1 to 2 metres for straight track.
Single catenaryconstruction
contd…..
Single catenaryconstruction
contd………

The distance of droppers is between 3 to 5 metres

curved track the spans of shorter length are employed.
Such construction provides for speed upto
120 kmph.
Advanta
ges
Ø It is relatively cheaper.
Ø Less maintenance.
Ø Single catenary construction is considered
suitable for
most light Weight a.c. system.
Ø Suitable for secondary routes where traffic
density is
Compound catenary construction
Catenary or messenger wire
Intermediate
Dropper catenary

Loop
wire
Trolley wire
Fig. shows compund catenary
construction
Employed for heavy current i.e where traffic density is high.
It consist of three wires.
1.The upper wire is catenary wire, which is insulated from the
supporting structure
2. The another wire known as intermediate catenary, is
supported by droppers clipped to both wires.
3. Third wire i.e trolley wire.
Compund catenary Contd…

Trolley wire is suspended from intermediate catenary by solid

wire loop droppers which are to slide vertically on the
intermediate wire & fixed the trolley wire.
The purpose of intermediate catenary, besides increasing the
current carrying capacity, is to provide for more uniformity in
Elasticity.

The compound catenary is used on lines where speed ranges

is 190 to 224 kmph.
Current Collector
Current
Collector
Current Collector contd…..

The current in the overhead

system is collected with the
help of sliding contact collector
mounted on the roof of the
vehicle.

The main requirement of current collector is that it should keep

Continuous contact with trolley wire at all speeds.
There are three types of current collector
1. Trolley collector
2. Bow collector
3. Pantograph collector.
 Trolley Collector

Fig. Trolley wire

section
1888 on a double wire
conductor tramway.
This collector is used for Tramways & trolley buses & is
mounted on the roof of the vehicle contact with overhead wire.
It is made either grooved wheel or a sliding shoe carried at
the end of a light trolley pole attached to the top of the vehicle
& held in contact with overhead wire by means of a spring.
 Trolley Collector contd….

Experimental trolley bus in 1989 trolleybus

Berlin in 1882 design
The trolley collector is suitable for low speeds upto 32 kmph
Beyond this speed there is risk of its jumping off the overhead
contact wire particularly at points & crossing.
 Bow Collector

Trolley Bus Fig. Bow collector

It consist of two roof mounted trolley poles at the ends of which

is placed a light metal strip or bow, about 1 metre long for
current collection
Bow Collector contd….
Collector strip is made of soft material
like copper, aluminum or carbon.

It never wear instead of trolley wire

as it is easy to replace collection
strip than trolley wire.

The bow collector also operates in the trailing position.

Hence, it requires provision of the either duplicate bows or
an arrangement for reversing the bow for running in the
reverse direction.

Bow collector is not suitable for railway work where speeds

up to 120 kmph and currents upto 3000A
 Pantograph Collector

Fig show a diamond type single pan pantograph Fig show a actual diamond type pantograph

The main function is to maintain link between overhead contact

wire & power circuit of the locomotive at varying speeds in
different climate & wind conditions on varying stiffness of
overhead equipments.
 Pantograph Collector contd…….

pa
n
ØA positive pressure has to be
maintained at
all Times to avoid loss of contact &
sparking.
Spri
ng ØBut pressure must be as low as
Fig show a pantograph collector possible in
Ø It consists of a pantograph framework of
steel tubing.
Ø The contact portion consists of a pressed steel pan
fitted with
renewable copper wearing Strips which are
forced against the
overhead contact wire by the upward direction of
ØThe pantograph can be raised or lowered from cabin by
air cylinders.
Desirable Characteristics of Traction motor
The main requirements of electric motors used for traction work

1. Electric characteristics:

iii. High starting torque

iv. Simple speed control
v. Possibility of electric braking
vi. Capacity of withstanding voltage fluctuations
vii. Capability of withstanding temporary interruption of supply
viii. Overload capability
ix. Parallel running
Desirable Characteristics of Traction motor
contd…….

2. Mechanical features:

iii. Robustness & ability to withstand continuous vibrations.

v. The weight of the traction motor should be minimum in

order to increase the pay load capacity of the vehicle.

x. The traction motor must be small inn overall dimensions.

xii. The traction motor must be totally enclosed type,

to provide protection against dirt, dust, water, mud etc.
 Traction motor
None of the motors can have all the desirable characteristics.

Some of the motors which finds application in traction are:

1. D.C series motors.

3. Single phase A.C series motors

5. Repulsion motors.

7. Three-phase Induction motors

9. Linear Induction motors

Suitability of D.C series motor for Traction

3. D.C series motor develops high torque at low speeds

& low torque at high speeds. This is the exactly the
requirement of traction units.
4. The field flux varies as the armature current, as in the
case of series motor, torque corresponding to the
given armature current. Therefore, is independent of
line voltage & thus unaffected by the variations in the
line voltages.
5. Commutating properties of series motor are also very
good as increases in the armature current as a result
of heavy load torque results in the decrease of
armature speed. This reduces the magnitude of e.m.f
induced in the coils under going commutation which
helps in achieving sparkless current collections
 Suitability of D.C series motor for Traction contd....

5. In case of dc series motor , upto the point of magnetic

saturation,
torque developed in proportional to the square of the
current.
Therefore, dc series motor requires comparatively
less increased
power input with the increase in load torque. Thus
the series motor
are capable of withstanding excessive loads.

6. Speed of dc series motor can be controlled by various

methods.

7. Because of low time constant of field in case of series

motor,
 Suitability of D.C series motor for Traction contd....

8. The dc series motor is simple & robust in

construction.

9. The dc series motor, owing to its characteristics, is

most
suitable for urban & suburban services where
Draw
back
The main drawback of dc series motor are
commutation
Which restricts speed, current & voltage.
Therefore is a
risk of flash over & the brush gear requires
Suitability of single phase a.c series motor for Traction

1. For a given KW rating ac series motor is 1.5 to 2

times in size &
weight of the corresponding dc series motor.

2. The construction cost of an ac series motor is

much more than
of a dc series motor.

3. The starting torque of a.csingle phase motor is

lower than that
of dc series motor due to poor power factor at the
start.

4. A.C single phase motor are not suitable for urban

Suitability of single phase a.cseries motor for Traction contd…

5. The speed of an ac series motor may be controlled

efficiently
by taps on a transformer. Which is not possible in
case of a
dc series motor.

6. However, single phase ac series motor have better

performance
on reduced supply frequency says 25 Hz. The
higher frequency
results in higher leakage reactances & hence a
relatively poor
Suitability of Three phase Induction motor for Traction

ØIt has simple & robust construction.

ØTrouble free operation.
ØLess maintenance.
ØHigh voltage operation consequently requiring
reduced
amount of current.
ØAutomatic regeneration are the main advantages of
3-ph.
Induction motor for traction.

ØBut due to their flat speed- torque characteristics,

constant
speed operation, developing low starting torque,
Suitability of Three phase Induction motor. contd…

With the development of thyristorised inverter

circuits,
it has now been possible to invert the supply
and obtain
a variable frequency supply which could be
used for the
 Power supply Arrangement

Since Indian Railways have decided to adopt 25kv, 50 Hz

supply system
Following arrangements of power supply to various substations exist
on Indian Railways
1. Power is purchased from supply authorities who are
responsible
for the operation & maintenance of 132/110 kv
transmission lines
& grid substations upto 25 kvout - going terminals
of substation.
However 25 kv feeder circuit breaker is controlled
from remote
2. All the 132 kv & 25 kv equipments of substation
is owned,
installed operated & maintained by the supply
authorities.
However 25 kv circuit breaker are owned,
Power supply Arrangement contd…..

To have better control & expeditions execution of

electrification
Programme, it was considered necessary that the
railways should
own , install, operate &maintain all the 132/110 kv
equipments
at the substation.
Supply authorities will give only voltage supply of
 Constituents or Parts of Power supply system

Various elements of power supply

system are:
1. Sub-station.

3. Feeding posts.

5. Sectioning & paralleling posts.

7. Sub-sectioning & paralleling posts.

9. Sub-sectioning posts.
 Substation

Fig. layout of a typical traction sub-station.

Feeding post