The Behavior of Traction System of AC 25 KV During Operation

The Behavior of Traction System of AC 25 kV During Operation
Seminar Report 2016
1. INTRODUCTION
Indian railway is the largest government institutional costumer and purchaser from
various Electricity boards and other Electric Supply Authorities. Out of total 19000RKM is
electrified which carries 60% of total freight as well as passenger traffic across India.
Annually approximately 30 billion units of electricity are consumed by Railways, out of
which 10.4 billion units are used for electric traction purpose. Railway electrification as a
means of traction emerged at the end of the nineteenth century, although experiments in
electric rail have been traced back to the mid-nineteenth century. Thomas Davenport, in
Brandon, Vermont, erected a circular model railroad on which ran battery-powered
locomotives (or locomotives running on battery-powered rails) in 1834. Robert Davidson, of
Aberdeen, Scotland, created an electric locomotive in 1839 and ran it on the EdinburghGlasgow railway at 4 miles per hour. The earliest electric locomotives tended to be batterypowered. In 1880, Thomas Edison built a small electrical railway, using a dynamo as the
motor and the rails as the current-carrying medium. The electric current flowed through the
metal rim of otherwise wooden wheels, being picked up via contact brushes.
Electrical traction offered several benefits over the then predominant steam traction,
particularly in respect of its quick acceleration (ideal for urban (metro) and suburban
(commuter) services) and power (ideal for heavy freight trains through mountainous/hilly
sections).
Dept. of EEE, MGUCE, Thodupuzha

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2. TRACTION
Traction means propulsion of vehicles. Traction systems are broadly classified into
two categories namely non elcectric traction system and electric traction system. Example
of non electric traction system are steam engine drive, internal combustion engine drive
etc and examples for electric traction system are diesel electric drive, battery drive etc.
Electric traction systems are further classified into two categories:1)
Vehicles which receive electric power from a distribution network. These are further
classified into:
a) System operating with DC
e.g. - Trolly buses, Tram ways, Railways.
b) Systems operating with AC
e.g. - Railways
2) Self contained locomotives

a) Diesel electric train and ship
b) Petrol electric truck and lorries
c) Battery driven road vehicles
2.1 ELECTRIC TRACTION
Electric traction means locomotion in which driving or tractive force is obtained
from electric motor. e.g. - electric trains, tram car, trolley buses.
Supply system for electric traction:a) DC system
b) Single phase AC system
c) Three phase AC system
d) Composite system

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The function of an AC traction system is to deliver power to the locomotives as

efficiently and economically as possible. Problems involved in providing protection to
traction systems are different from those faced in protecting other transmission lines or
distribution systems working at the same voltage level. This is due to the continuous
movement of locomotive load, change in the length of line during operation, nature of
loading, voltage drop due to the flow of the lagging reactive current in inductive
components of the overhead system and the high levels of harmonic distortion. The
situation is further aggravated due to the use of DC series motors in locomotives, which
draw large current on starting. It may happen at times that several locomotives run in the
same section of overhead equipment (OHE), leading to large increase in load.
The harmonic current currents drawn by the dc motor locomotives degrade the
power quality of the traction supply. The excessive voltage drop due to the flow of
lagging reactive current makes the performance of system even worse. Voltage regulation
with shunt compensation allows overcoming these draw backs. Static VAR Compensators
(SVCs), Thyristor controlled reactors (TCRs) and Thyristor Switched capacitors (TSCs)
can be used to provide such compensation.
Fault on the OHE can be of two types (i) Earth faults (ii) Phase to phase faults.
Second fault can occur by accidental closure of the bridging interrupter at the section post
during normal feeding condition or by a short circuit at the insulated overlap opposite a
traction substation at times of emergency feed conditions. This is termed as Wrong phase
coupling (WPC) fault.

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3. ELECTRIC TRACTION SYSTEM

The use of 25 kV 50Hz supply systems generally prevalent in the existing railway
systems around the globe. Some of advantages of electric traction systems are it is most
efficient of all traction system and it satisfies most of the requirements of an ideal traction
system.
3.1 REQUIREMENTS OF AN IDEAL TRACTION SYSTEM
The locomotive or train unit should be self contained so that it can run on any route.
High starting tractive effort in order to have rapid acceleration.

Equipment capable of withstanding large temporary overload.
The wear caused on the break shoes, wheel tyres and the track should be minimum.
Equipment of high efficiency and low initial and maintenance cost.
No interference with the communication lines running along the track.
Easy speed control.
It should be pollution free.
Possible to use regenerative breaking that on descends it should be possible to
generate energy and feedback to the supply system.
3.2 TRANSMISSION VOLTAGE

Power is transmitted to the electrical substations at 750 kV, 220 kV, 132 kV or 110
kV and then step down as required to 25 kV or 50 kV.
3.3 SUBSTATION
Power received from the supply authority grid network is transmitted to the
railways own transmission line by transforming to a voltage suitable for railways. . To
ensure continuity of supply, substations are always fed from two source of supply or by
double circuit three phase transmission line. Substations are spaced at 50-90 Km apart.
Transformers are of 25 MVA capacities.

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3.4 FEEDING AND SECTIONING ARRANGEMENT
3.1 Typical feeding arrangement of 25 kV Traction System of Indian Railway

Figure 3.1 shows the typical feeding arrangement of 25 kV traction systems. The
adjacent traction substations are fed from different phases of a three phase supply in rotation
having a phase difference of 120 to avoid unbalanced condition. Normally power supply
from the traction substation extends up to the sectioning post on either side of the substation
but in case of emergency necessitating total shut of the substation it can be extended up to
the failed substation by closing the bridging interruptor at the two sectioning post. Neutral
sections are provided in between two adjacent substations to prevent the bridging of
different phases while passing the electric locomotive. As the locomotive approaches the
neutral section, power is switched off and coast through it to the other zone.
3.5 OVERHEAD ELECTRIFICATION SYSTEM (OHE)
Catenary: overhead system of suspended cables for the supply of electricity, also called
messenger wire.
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Contact wire: actually carries electricity suspended from catenary using droppers.
Pantograph: a metal structure which can be raised or lowered to make contact with the
overhead contact cable and draw electricity from it to power motors, compressed air is used
to raise pantograph.
Return path for the electricity is through the body of the locomotive and the wheels
to the tracks, which are electrically grounded. Ground connections are provided from the
rails at periodic intervals.
In simple AC system,
there
can be severe inductive
interference
in
telecommunication lines and other equipments because of large loop area between the
catenary and the rail which carry the return current. Use of booster transformer to force
return current through a separate return conductor instead of through the rails or earth.
Fig 3.2 Overhead Electrification System

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4. THE BEHAVIOR OF TRACTION SYSTEM OF AC 25 KV

DURING OPERATION
The rail transport and also other types of transport makes use of the new
technologies and devices for infrastructure and transport means in particular for increase of
travel and service comfort, speed, safety and reliability. The electric rail transport is
characterized by extremely variable consumption of electric power. The rail traction system
as a whole contains other necessary systems as signalling, safety and communication
systems. One of all operation states are transient effects which can lead to non-standard
dangerous conditions in the traction systems. It is necessary to keep the standard
requirements for all devices during operation
Nowadays the efficiency of usage of traction energy is discussed more and more at
the regular rail transport. This has also relation with usage of energy from recuperation
braking which can be consumed by electric rail vehicle or transformed to the high voltage
mean network of 110 kV. The mentioned recuperation energy can be represented up to units
of MW during units of minutes. This recuperation power is negligible in terms of
interference, especially at short-circuit when a traction vehicle acts as a very powerful
source of interference and a catenary as a sufficiently large antenna system. The
characteristics of the whole system are very dependent on the location of a short-circuit and
also depend on the location and immediate power of the individual vehicles. The situation is
changing rapidly in terms of driving of the vehicle. For this reason, the consumption of
energy, which is used for simulation, represent current consumption of vehicle at that
location. Before the recuperation of vehicles or units was formerly strictly forbidden and
today is only allowed in some track sections. It must be noted that this traction system is a
single-phase system and thus recuperation is performed between two phases of network of
110 kV. These considered recuperation energy sources bring new requirements for
protection settings and interference under the keeping of standards and operational
regulations.

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4.1 THE MODELS OF TRACTION SYSTEM

The Czech traction system of AC 25 kV contains in particular following main
elements and parts: power stations, distribution network, feeding line of 110 kV, traction
substation including FCD, sections of catenary, electric rail vehicle or units. All elements
and parts of traction system of AC 25 kV have effect to behavior of the whole system and
each section of catenary has own specific characteristics. The solution of specific behavior
during faults and selected operation states are analysed by program group Orcad/PSpice.
The model of distribution network including the energy source (power stations) was
designed on the basis of the analysis and common structures used in energetics. This model
without protection system is created as symmetrical model. The model of feeding line 110
kV is based on a homogenous long electric line with distributed electrical parameters (i.e.
inductivity, capacity and resistance, without line leakage). This line is as standard threephase overhead line [5] - [9]. The model of traction substation contains the traction
transformer 110/27 kV with 10 MVA and the FCD with 4 MVAr.
This traction transformer can be controlled continuously on the secondary site
according to current requirements. The model characteristics of traction transformer are
dependent on load power including transmission of Harmonics, FCD is represented by two
series LC branches of the 3rd and the 5th harmonic and decompensation branch. The
parameters of FCD are identical with real devices in the individual traction substations. The
tuning of the LC branches is not adjusted to the number of the harmonic exactly but it has to
be made for lower of value. This adjustment of LC branches is necessary because harmonics
from feeding line of 100 kV could overload .LC branches. Decompensation branch has
reducing transformer 27 kV/10 kV, air-core decompensating choke and semiconductor
controller for DPF control. The sophisticated power protections and switches, which are the
parts of the real traction system, are not considered for these simulations because their
behavior during faults would have impact on transients on these effects.

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4.2 THE SIMULATION OF FAULTS AT TRACTION SYSTEM.

A system is said to be in a transient state when a process variable or variables have
been changed and the system has not yet reached a steady state..A transient process is a
process in which process variables change over time.
For these transient effects in the traction system the protection setting has to able to cover the
whole spectrum of effect characteristics. This problem can be studied only by simulation in
the given range with partial verification of results by real measurements which cannot be
presented in this paper. Output data of simulation represent voltage and current waveforms.
The example of simulations is done for transient effects during short-circuits when
second traction vehicle is in recuperation mode with power 0.5 MW and the first traction
vehicle has consumption power 0.3 MW. The whole situation of this state is shown by block
diagram in Fig.4.1. In the mentioned example the sections have the same length of 36 km
(total section length is 72 km).
Fig.4.1 Block diagram of transient effects during short-circuits with two traction vehicles in
monitored section.
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The first traction vehicle is due to short-circuit without traction voltage. The voltage
at the vehicle pantograph quickly drops relatively. The voltage drops bring the oscillations
only for short time due to capacitance and inductance of the catenary section, but the power
consumption of traction vehicle dampens these oscillations in the order of milliseconds. The
waveforms monitored variables at traction substation are due to the occurrence vehicle with
recuperation mode in the section completely different in comparison the waveforms that
correspond to the identical short-circuit in the section without vehicle, Fig.4.2.
Fig.4.2 The voltage waveform at traction substation without traction vehicles in section 1.
The vehicle with recuperation mode increases voltage ratios at the traction substation
and thus the detection of short-circuit is also quite difficult forprotection circuits. The current
in the traction system aredifferent in comparison the cases when vehicles withoutrecuperation
mode are in the section.
The necessity to investigate changes in the behavior ofthe traction system in case of existence
of vehicles with recuperation mode in the section it is also necessary in order to guarantee the
safety of people and property from the effects of short-circuit currents, Fig.4.3.

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Fig.4.3 The voltage waveform at traction substation without traction vehicles in section 2.
The different problem is at the second traction vehicle which supports the short-circuit
by recuperation. The voltage drop is given by voltage losses in traction system,but it depends
on length and parameters of catenary. At the worst ratio cases it can happen that the voltage
of catenary at traction substation never drops.
Fig.4.4 The voltage waveform of traction vehicle with consumption.

For detection of this short-circuit at the pantograph vehicle the current ratios of
voltages and currents or their steep changes but also the detection of higher voltage
harmonics, which are characteristic for reflections at the detected short circuit, are significant,
Fig. 4.4, Fig.4.5 and Fig. 4.6.
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Fig.4.5 The voltage waveform of traction vehicle with recuperation.

The similar situation is for protection settings at traction substation.
Fig.4.6. The voltage waveform at traction substation.

In the case of short-circuit between traction vehicle with recuperation and traction
substation the significant exchanges of energy occur between this traction vehiclewith
recuperation and point of arising of short-circuit and also between traction substation and
point of arising of
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short-circuit. During this time the large amount of energy will be transferred through the
section of catenary, for example the FCD supplies almost 20 kJ during the first units of ms to
this short-circuit.
Fig.4.7. The spectrum behind traction vehicle with recuperation.

At the beginning the short-circuit is fed from two points and the energy from vehicle with
recuperation is absorbed in units of ms. In the case of the energy from traction substation the
current wave is absorbed in tenths of ms. The energy transferred from main network to the
traction system of AC 25 kV is in the event of a very high for this case. At the short-circuit
the characteristics of the traction transformer 110/27 kV and impedance of lines are only
limiting circuit elements. The resistive impedances are decreased from viewpoint of
achieving of high efficiency of traction system, but for the short-circuit these impedances are
suitable added for decreasing of short-circuit current and also for decreasing of harmonics by
modern electric vehicles propagating to the network.

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5. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

5.1 ADVANTAGES
Traction system of AC 25 kV a specific Filter compensation device (FCD) in its

substation.
It has service comfort, speed, safety and reliability.
It has necessary systems as signalling, safety and communication systems.
5.2 DISADVANTAGES
Only partial verification of the results in the given range.

Real measurements are not possible, only simulations is possible due to technical and
financial costs.

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6. CONCLUSION
The current research is focused on short-circuits without building up of physical
model of traction power supply system of AC 25 kV. For analysis the simulation program was
used with partial verification of results by real measurements. The results of this analysis
could be used for new protection systems and for methodology design of protection settings
in traction circuits in particular in traction substation with FCD and traction vehicle. The
simulation diagrams, which are represented by voltage and current waveform, can be also
used as a main tool for particular project of traction substation of protection settings process.
The applications of new structures of traction vehicles bring the different ratio setting of
protections including different ways of functions. The occurrence of several traction vehicles,
which are in recuperation mode simultaneously in section, can have an unfavourable effect on
short-circuit detection system and therefore it causes damage of technical equipments or
human health. The standard methods for the detection of short-circuit at catenary are able to
evaluate safely the faults in the case of close locomotive, but in the case of a short-circuit at
the far end of the catenary the detection is very difficult and requires advanced knowledge
and methods of detection conditions and behavior traction system as a whole. This paper is
part of large research work in the transient effect problems.

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Seminar Report 2016

Dept. of EEE, MGUCE, Thodupuzha