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Interfacing of Regulator And Rectifier Unit With

Solar Charge Controller For Optimal Utilization of
Solar Power On Railway Coaches
Amruth Ramesh Thelkar*, Balaji Veerasamy*, Tefera Mekonnen*, Mohammed Ahmmed*,
Abraham Alem* and Abera Jote
*Jimma Institute of Technology, Jimma University, Ethiopia




Abstract—In the world’s railway system, innovative technology
 
 





 
to tap alternative sources of energy can help in reducing the 
 
 

dependence on fossil fuel and power grid. The self-generating

  
system is absent in most of the LHB coaches based long distance
running trains, thus the required power for lighting loads is sup-
plied through power car which becomes mandatory. In all seasons 

 
of the year the total amount of energy harvested from the roof


 

top of the trains is to be considered as most important. Basically 
the main component is the Regulation cum Rectifier Unit (RRU).
RRU is fast and reliable switching unit with alternator identifying 
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facilities. The existence of intelligent control system with in the %

RRU which operates on solar power supply and during the
insufficient solar power it controls the action of switch over Fig. 1. Block diagram of existing system
from solar power to conventional power. With this implemented
scheme in all the trains aims to achieve the considerable fuel 


saving and the reduction of CO2 emission. The present work
 
 





 

 
 

concentrates on the implementation of interfacing the solar


  
charge control with the RRU based on the literature study of
CO2 mitigation, load calculation and rating of alternators of &
'
railway coaches. The design of solar charge controller with RRU 

  #
&#
has been simulated using MATLAB SIMULINK and prototype




hardware of solar charge controller has been tested. 



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I. I NTRODUCTION
In the present scenario, the development of research is in
the direction achieving the stable form of transporting services.
Now days it’s gaining a more importance from the research
point of view to reduce the carbon dioxide emission and
global warming due to transporting services.The best solution
to reduce the carbon dioxide emission and the global warming
is the usage of clean solar energy, but the limitation of solar
power is that which can only be used as supplement not
the main source. That means the conventional engines with
fossil fuel is a source of carbon dioxide emission cannot be
replaced completely by the solar power,but it can be minimized
to certain extent.The advanced hybrid technology has been
implemented to daily transportation such as buses and cars
with roof top panels to bring down the operating cost lesser
compare to conventional powered automobiles. The main idea
is to transfer the advanced automobile hybrid technology
to railway coaches with the estimation of reducing tons of
carbon-dioxide to the atmosphere.There are three versions in
the railway coaching stocks, viz Rail Coach Factory (RCF),
Linke Hofman Busch (LHB), Germany and Integral Coach
Factory (ICF) [1]-[2]. Among all the three versions of coaches
the LHB coaches with its long Span-Length is considered to
978-1-5090-3388-1/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE
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Fig. 2. Block diagram of proposed system
be more worth for accommodating more number of passengers
and comfort issue. The literature review for the LHB coaches
reports to be the fastest running among other two coaches. For
this reason all the existing ICF and RCF coaches are replaced
with LHB coaches throughout the country.Hence the LHB
coaches have become the main focus in this work. The LHB
coaches are driven by the alternators with the moving wheels
and axles which prove to be non-self-generating. Instead,
required power for the electrical load in the coaches will be
supplied by the power cars.
In the present study, the minimization of fuel consumption
is achieved by the computation of harnessed solar power
from the train rooftop solar PV modules. The present power
generation system has to be reported in order to alternate the
practicality of installing suitable characteristics of solar PV
modules. A train rake or train set is consisting of a pantry
car, two power cars, 13 non-A/C coaches and 5 A/C coaches
one at each end. In the present study the complete train rake is
considered for the calculation of power require to supplement.

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TABLE I TABLE II
H ARNESSED S OLAR P OWER C ALCULATION L OAD C ALCULATION FOR ONE COACH
Solar power that can be 154 Wp Fans 27*32 = 864 W
harnessed in 1 m2 Fluorescent lights 26*18 = 468 W
Area available on the roof of 52.8 m2 Night lamps 10*25 = 250 W
one coach Emergency lights 4*10 = 40 W
Total capacity of solar 52.8*154 = 8.1 KWp Sockets 2*1 = 2 W
Considering system efficiency 6.5 KWp Total load for 1 coach 1.624 W
as 80, the capacity of solar
plant installed on one coach
Capacity of the solar plant 123.5 KWp 3) Step down transformer (30 KVA): The electrical lighting
that can be installed on the rake load of all the coaches require 110VDC supply, which can be
provide through 30 KVA step down transformer.
4) RRU: The function of Rectifier Cum Regulator unit
The calculation and the study carried out for the subcontinent (RRU) is to regulate the amount solar power obtained from
country like India, but the results and findings compatible PV module, through it , it will channelize the solar power to
for other locations of similar solar radiation in any part of electrical loads.
the world.The total amount of power generated during all 5) Solar PV module: The overall high efficiency of the
the seasonal weather condition from the roof top of train is solar panel is achieved through adopting the new methodology
sufficient enough to consider and implement to achieve the harvesting and track system, by increasing the cell efficiency
considerable amount fuel savings and carbon dioxide emission and maximizing the power output. Depending upon the power
reduction [3]-[4]. required thenumber of solar arrays are installed on the railway
II. M ETHODOLOGY coaches. Each array is connected to a DC/DC converter for
A. Conventional System boosting the PV voltage to the required output voltage.
The block diagram of the existing system is as shown in TABLE III
the Fig. 1. It consists of several blocks in the present railway C ALCULATION OF CO2 EMISSIONS
power systems which are illustrated as Feeder, 60KVA and CO2 emissions per liter of diesel 2.66 Kg
30KVA step down transformers, AC units, RRU and electrical Total CO2 emissions avoided per year 2.66*90,804
loads. The entire train rake of a LHB coaches are supplied considering 15 hrs of sunshine = 241.53 tons
by the 2 power cars connected at the either end of the rakes. Considering factor of 0.99, the effective 241.53*0.99
The power car of each is equipped with 2 numbers of diesel reduction in CO2 per year per train = 239.12 tons
generators rated 400KVA each. The 2 output terminals of 750
V AC has emerged from the two DG sets. Since the AC units
will work on 3 phase 415V AC, each coach is installed with TABLE IV
60 KVA step down transformer to reduce the voltage level R ATINGS OF ALTERNATOR
to 415VAC from 750V AC. The Regulator with rectifier unit Output Power 4.5 kW
regulates the step down voltage from 30KVA transformer and Voltage 120 V DC
rectifies it to voltage level of 110VDC which has been supplied Current 37.5 A
for lighting loads in the coaches.Also the RRU regulates the Cut in Speed 350 M
uniform charging and discharging of a batterybank consisting Max Speed 2500 RPM
of nine units of 70 A[5][6]. Drive V belts (4)
B. Proposed System Insulation class (a) Armature H, (b) Field H (4)
The proposed system with solar power supply connected
with the existing system is as shown in the block diagram Table I shows the power harnessed from the space available
of Fig. 2. The PV panels are installed on the roof top of the on each coach.Table II gives the details about load calculations
trains to harvest the solar energy during all the season. The PV for a single coach. Table III gives the details about CO2
panels are installed in such way that, it should function parallel mitigation. Table IV gives the specifications of the alternator
to the RRU circuit to obtain the power from the PV panels. installed in the railway engine.
The various blocks that has been incorporated in the proposed III. S IMULATION DESIGN
system which includes the existing system as follows:
1) Feeder: The supply is obtained from the feeder of A. Regulator cum Rectifier Unit (RRU)
750VAC, 3 phase, 50 Hz. Fig. 3 shows the RRU which has been designed and
2) Step down transformer (60KVA): The supply 750VAC, simulated using Simulink software. The main source to the
3 phase, 50Hz supply is stepped down to 415V to supply air coach is from the alternator. A three phase source is used asa
conditioning units. alternate source instead of the alternator. The desired output

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Fig. 3.
of 4.5 kW , 110 V DC and the current of 40 A for 1 railway
coach has been achieved. The components of RRU consists
of three phase source, three phase VI measurement, phase
locked loop, pulse generator, universal bridge, ideal switch
and voltage measurement.
The three phase voltage source is in series with RL
branch.The phase to phase rms voltage is 415 V with a
frequency of 50 Hz. The value of source resistance and
inductance is 0.8929 and 16.58e−3 H, respectively. The 3βe
input sinusoidal signal with a set of variable frequency has
been synchronized together with a Phase Locked Loop (PLL)
system. As per the magnitude of the input signal, the input of
the (Phase error) PLL regulator is scaled by enabling the au-
tomatic gain control.For the required optimal design,regulator
gains are set as Kp = 180 Kd = 3200 KI = 1 and to set the
enable automatic gain control parameter.
The pulse generator block outputs ’P’ (for the 6-pulse gener-
ator) or ’PY’ and ’PD’ (for the 12-pulse generator)containing
vectors of 6 pulses (0-1) to be sent to the thyristor bridges. The
firing angle (in rad) is obtained from a PLL synchronization
system. When the ’Double pulsing’ parameter is checked, two
pulses are sent to each thyristor: a 1st pulse when the alpha
angle is reached, then a 2nd pulse 60 degrees later, when the
next thyristor is fired.
The universal bridge is used to convert AC to DC using 6
thyristor switches. The pulse generator triggers the 6 switches
of the universal bridge with respect to the magnitude of the
input source AC voltage.
B. PV array and charge controller
The simulation of charge controller using Simulink as
shown in Fig. 4, in which the 5 individual modules of PV
array are constructed in parallel to achieve the output power
of 4.5KW. Each module is connected to a DC/DC converter
for boosting the module output voltage of 98 V at Maximum
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Simulated RRU circuit using Simulink
Power Point (MPP) to the load voltage of 110 V.The voltage at
the MPP changes with respect to the solar radiation and tem-
perature. The duty cycle of the DC/DC converter is changed
to obtain a constant DC voltage of 110 V.An Incremental
conductance (IC) MPPT method is employed to continuously
track the maximum power point of the solar module.
As the PV modules are fitted on the roof of the coach
the solar radiation on them are not uniform. Because of this
case several MPP’s occur on the P-V curve of the module. To
overcome this disadvantage of partial shading, each module is
connected to a DC/DC converter rather that a single DC/DC
for the whole PV array.
C. Simulation results
Fig. 6 show the waveforms for the input and output voltage
of RRU and charge controller. A three phase source voltage
of 415 V magnitude is generated in place of an three phase
alternator voltage. The output voltage of the single PV module
is 98 V and it is boosted to a voltage of 110 V using the
DC/DC converter. The output voltage and current of the RRU
is supplied to the load and the waveforms are constant and
with reduced ripple.
IV. R ESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The experimental setup has been arranged to test and
analyze the working of charge controller. Fig. 7 shows the
experimental setup which includes two solar panels of rating
5 W. There are two R11 comparators, one is for voltage
comparator for battery and another is for voltage comparator
for load. Voltage comparator compares the panel voltage with
the reference voltage of battery. For charging and cut off of
battery which is designed for 11 to 11.5 V for charging and 3.5
to 14 V for cut off. Similarly another comparator will compare
the voltage level of battery and load. If the load exceeds 120
W the comparator compares the voltage level of battery and

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 the battery is full, the excess power will be diverted to parallel
 
loads like water heater [9][10].
  




 

In case of normal charge controllers the charging will

 

   automatically stopped when the voltage level crosses the


  set value and it reconnects automatically when the voltage
  
  level is below the set value. For adjusting charging rates
  
   
depending on the battery’s level,to allow charging closer to

 
 

its maximum capacity Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) and


  maximum power point tracker(MPPT) technologies are more



$
   
 
electronically sophisticated.The battery temperature is also

  
 

 
monitored by charge controllers in case of overheating, display

 
 
the data logged, transfers the data to the required places and

 
 
data logging to track electric flow over time.
  



  
    Two comparator ICs (LM324) are used in the control

  circuit.Each LM324 has four comparators inside each IC. It is
 





important to note that the comparator IC used for the charge

   
   

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control (C11, C12, and C13) has its GND pin connected to

  
    the negative terminals of the solar panel instead of the ground
Fig. 4. Simulated charge controller using simulink
load, then it will cut off the load. MOSFET will acts as a
digital switch for charging and discharging of battery.
A. Solar panel
The Power Rating of solar panel is up to 5 Watts and the
current rating is 350 mA at 15V which includes 12 V DC
plug, alligator battery clamps, 9.5 feet wire and 4 stainless
steel mounting screws.
B. Charge controller
The hardware board of prototype solar charge controller is
as shown in Fig. 8. The main the batter regulator or charge
controller is to control or minimize the rate of flow of current
through it or supplied to it or drawn from any batter source.The
charge controller or a battery regulator prevents the circuit
and battery from overcharging or over discharging or deep
discharging, through which the battery performance and life
span can be increased. And also pose a safety risk. Depending
upon the manufacture of battery technology the charge con-
troller provides the protection against, the complete drain out
of the battery and improves controlled discharge[7][8].
The solar charge controller are provided to the customers
along with wind or solar power generator to regulates the
power supplied to the battery side in case solar power gen-
eration , but in case of wind power generation the charge
controller will function as regulator as well as it will stabilize
the fluctuation of power from alternator to the storage devices.
The charge controllers are classified based on the type of
their connection between source and the battery. When the
battery is full the series regulator or a series charge will
disconnect the battery from solar PV panel so that flow of
current is stopped. But in case of shunt charge controller when
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terminal. However, the ground terminal of the rest of the
circuit is connected to the negative terminal of the battery.
The comparators C11, C12 and C13 are the comparators used
from the IC used for the control circuit of the charge controller.
The Zener diode connected at the positive input of C11 is a
6V.
The potential divider resistors are chosen such that the
output goes from low to high when the battery voltage is 13V.
The output of C11 is connected to the MOSFET1 (IRF540),
which is switched ON and the battery starts charging. The
feedback from the output to the +ve input drives the +ve input
higher than expected and the output does not go low until
the battery voltage reaches 14.5 volts. As the battery voltage
reaches 14.5V, the output goes low, the MOSFET is switched
OFF and the feedback from the output to the +ve input also
ceases. So, the +ve terminal becomes more positive and the
output does not go high until the battery voltage is reduced
to 13 V. The LED, which indicates ’battery charging’, does
not go ON if the output of C11 and C13 are both high. The
+ve input ofC13 is connected to the output of C11 and its
output follows the output of C11. So, the LED is ON when
the C11 has high output and at the same time the panel voltage
is high enough to charge the battery. During the night hours,
battery voltage may become less than 13V, which will make
the output of C11 high. But as the voltage of the PV panel
is small, there will be no drain to source positive voltage to
drive the C12 ON.Hence, the LED will go ON only when the
battery voltage is low and the solar voltage is high enough to
charge the battery.
The operation of load control is done in a manner similar to
that of a charge control. The second comparator IC (LM324),
referred as IC2, has been used for the control circuit. The
IC2 is powered from the positive of the battery terminal and
the GND pin of the chip is connected to the negative of the
battery.

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Fig. 5. Simulated interfacing circuit of RRU with charge controller using MATLAB

450
Input voltage of

300
150
RRU

00.00
-150
-300
-450
Output Voltage of PV

120
module

80

40

0
160 Fig. 7. Experimental Setup with battery and charge controller
Output Voltage of

120
RRU

80 the solar power generation from the area of roof top of the
40 trains during all the seasonal conditions of weather, required
0 for the electrical loads of both AC and non A/C coaches. By
80
keeping the standard route as reference, all the calculation has
been completed.With this type of implementation and research
Output Current of

60
idea the annual reduction in the carbon dioxide emission of
RRU

40 about 239 tonnes can be achievable and the installation cost

20
of solar modules would be recovered within 2-3 years.RRU
with charge controller has been designed and simulated for
0
0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 one non AC coach of rail which is of rating 4.5KW, 110V
DC, 40A.For building the hardware of RRU of rating 4.5 kW,
Fig. 6. Simulation results of the RRU and Charge controller 110V DC, 40A is more complicated and is of higher cost
to interface with solar charge controller of same rating. The
RRU is already the existing one in railways therefore it is
V. C ONCLUSION complication process to build the hardware and to test with
The proposed design methodology is more compatible for solar charge controller of same rating. So the prototype model
existing non solarized railway coaches to modify as solarized of rating 12 V, 10 A, 120W has been designed and tested with
railway coaches, rather than building the new fully solarized the experimental setup.So the idea of interfacing RRU with
train engine. The idea of implementing the proposed system solar charge controller rating has been successfully simulated
with existing RRU will reduce cost compare to new fully solar- of rating 4.5 kW, 110 V DC,40 A and the desired output is
ized train engine. In this research successfully able to achieve achieved.

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Fig. 8. Prototype solar charge controller

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