A DIRECT CURRENT TRACTION SYSTEM

PETER JOHN GRIFFIN.

MASTER OF ENGINEERING SCIENCE.

(ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING)

SUBMITTED 1975-

r«<l

SCHOOL UBRAR*
UNIVERSITY OF NlfJ
13 AUG '9% !
LIBRARY jj
wmi ^ .m I
 A DIRECT CURRENT TRACTION SYSTEM.

General Summary.

The object of the project is to analyse

a D.C. traction system, with a view to determining

various design criteria of the system, so as to

obtain acceptable voltage regulation, and suitable

circuit breaker settings.

The project firstly covers the design

of a system from a conventional angle where the

system is protected by simple overcurrent circuit

breakers, and calculations of the voltage conditions

for the various system configurations that are
used. It then goes on to consider more sophisticated

approaches to fault detection, in particular the

relative advantages of inter-tr.ipping and rate of

rise sensing devices. The work of other

organisations is also considered at this stage.

Finally an investigation of losses

involved in the various system configurations

is made, and conclusions and recommendations

are presented.
 CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 SYSTEM OUTLINE.

1.1 Inbroduction 1

1.2 Purpose of a Traction System 1

1.5 History of the Present System 2

1.4 Type of System 5

1.5 Converting Plant 4

1.6 Overhead Feeders 5

1.7 Circuit Breakers 7

1.8 Sectioning Huts 8

1.9 Traction Circuits 8

1.10 Effect of Loading on the System 11

1.11 Alternative Systems 11

CHAPTER 2 BASIC SYSTEM DESIGN.

2.1 Outline 14

2.2 Cost factors 15

2.5 Minimum Voltage Considerations 18

2.4 Circuit Breaker Settings 19

2.5 Effect of Sectioning Huts 20

2.6 Calculations 21

2.7 Variation of Feeder Size 22

2.8 Comparison of Substation and

Hairs Costs 25

2.9 Conclusions 24
 C o N T E K T S (Continued)

CHAPTER 3 IMPROVING THE BASIC PROTECTION SYSTEM

3.1 Outline 26

3.2 Intertripping 26

3.3 Alternative Methods 32

3.4 Substation 3usbar Faults 33

3*5 Applications 33

CHAPTER 4 OTHER METHODS OF FAULT DETECTION.

4.1 Summary 35

4.2 Magnetically Held Circuit Breaker -

Dynamic Characteristics 33

4.3 Other Rate of Rise Devices 39

4.4 Undervoltage Relay 41

4.3 Conclusions 42

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.

3.1 Summary 44
5-2 Losses 45

3.3 Recommendation 49

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

DEFINITION OF SYMBOLS USED.

APPENDIX.

Voltage Drop and Fault Level Curves

 CHAPTER 1 37STEM OUTLINE

d.1 Introduction.

This study dea-* s with ■‘"he design of a

railway traction system. The area under

consideration is limited to a. 1 500 Volt D.C.system

as used by the New South Wales Public Transport

Commission. Although the trend overseas is to

use high voltage A.C., the purpose here is for

the development of extensions of the existing

system.

1.0 Purpose of a Traction System.

The main purpose of an electric traction

system is to deliver to the train equipment an

adequate and reliable supply of electric power.

This supply must be nrotected against faults in

the distribution system and faults in the rolling

stock equipment, and at the same time the

protection should not be sensitive to normal

loading. The other consideration is that the

voltage regulation at locations remote from the

surply points should he kert within acceptable

limits f*o-1- the proper functioning o^ the train

eouinment.

Pnrrp q
1.3 History of the Present System.

The electrified, syshem in 1975 covers

approximately 1 ?S0 kilometres, including the

whole of che Sydney suburban area, 83 kilometres

to the norths 60 kilometres to the south, and

160 kilometres to the v/est.

Electrification started in 1926 with the

decision to build the City railway which is mostly

underground and electricity was considered the

only practicable form of energy.

This led to the decision to electrify the

remainder of the Metropolitan network.

The extension cf the electrification to

Lithgow came in 1957 as a result of expected heavy

coal traffic. This traffic did not eventuate, and

the electrification to G-osford in I960 was made to

utilise the surplus locomotives. The

electrification of the southern line to

Campbell town and G-lenlee coal sidings was opened

in 1968 as a result of large coal orders from

Japan.

1.4 Type of System.

The system that was finally decided upon

is 1 500 Vole* direct current with an overhead

contact wire and return through the running rails.

Page 2.
1.4 Type of System (Continued) .

The overhead wiring is supplied with direct

current at 1 500 volts from substations at 1C to

15 kilometres intervals. At each substation the

incoming alternating current at 66 kT*r, 55 kV or

11 kV is transformed and rectified to produce the

1 500/ direct current. High speed air circuit

breakers connect the rectifier output to the

individual track sections.

As a large portion of the loading on what

is basically an urban transport system is due to

commuter traffic, the heaviest loading is during

morning and afternoon peak periods. During these

periods, the 1/4 hourly demand is about 2.5 times

the 24 hourly average. As well as these loads,

short time loads up to about three times the peak

loads often occur.

In practice it is found that although the

short term loads are the controlling factor for

D.C. circuit breaker settings, they do not greatly

affect the thermal rating of the plant. The

equipment is normally designed for a loading cycle

of 1.5 times the continuous rating for 2 hours,

twice full load for 1/2 an hour, and 5 times for

5 minutes.

A typical demand curve is shown in

Figure 1.1.

Page 5»
 6 on}

FIG. M WEEKDAY MAXIMUM DEMAND

FIG l-a SILICON RECTIFIER

PROTECTION RELAY CHARAC'I ERISTIC^
& THERMAL OVERLOAD CURVE “

Th srm a J Be />;

Instantaneous Be/a
v*ith Time Dc/oy.

D.-on't?. Thermo/ Limit

/ Carre

Short Core:ie_r
or Unit Circuit Breaker.

--- f----
'OOO /•>
1.5 Converting Plant.

1.5-1 Cider Types of Equipment.

The early substations were equipped with

either rotary converters or water cooled mercury

arc rectifiers with the vacuum maintained by

vacuum pumps. These were superseded by sealed

tank air cooled mercury arc rectifiers, or

ultimately silicon diode rectifiers. Both

mercury arc rectifiers, and rotary converters

have reasonable overload capacities. The loading

on a mercury arc rectifier is limited by a

tendency to arc-back if overheating occurs, while

a rotary converter (in common with most D.C.
machines) tends to flash over between brushholders
if a sudden load change occurs. However, it was
reasonably easy to obtain overload protection for

both types of equipment.

For example a mercury arc rectifier is

protected by a simple overcurrent relay set at

5 times full load with a fixed time of .1 seconds

to trip the A.C. circuit breaker, and a directional

high speed circuit breaker in the output set to trip

on current flowring into the rectifier to protect

against arc-backs or flash overs.

1.5*2 Silicon Rectifiers.

Over the last few years silicon rectifiers

have been installed as they are much more efficient.

Page 4.
 J,

A A A

--—i

5 A
'VIs—

-«—~7\ 1500V
-
D.C.
sX
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Z A A

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33 kV /610V
A Ar
Transformer c »>wwc * **ar

rig I'3
Silicon Kediffer firronqennent.
The early silicon rectifiers required a lot of

care in the selection of diode ratings, and

protective devices and were forced cooled. Often

3 or 4 different overload relays were used to

obtain protection matched to the thermal

characteristics of the diodes. See Fig. 1.2.

As modern diodes were developed with a

greater range of current and voltage ratings,

rectifiers became much simpler. In order to

reduce maintenance costs naturally cooled

rectifiers were used. Whilst this means heavier

heat sinks and diodes to obtain the required

continuous current ratings, the additional diodes

give built- in short term overload capacity. The

only protection provided is overload and D.O.

reverse current. Usually Buchholz protection is

provided on the power transformer. A typical

4 000 kW rectifier is shown in Fig. 1.3- By the

use of the two series 3 phase bridges, effective

use is made of the transformer copper and 12 pulse

operation is obtained.

1.5-3- Filtering.
The output of the rectifiers must be

smoothed to prevent inductive interference to

nearby communications circuits. The filtering is

achieved by the use of series resonant shunts

tuned to the principal harmonics connected across

Page 5-
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Fig \,/\-
Substation Arrangement.
the output. For a 12 pulse rectifier the filters

are tune- to 600 Hz, 1 200 Hz and 2 4-00 Hz.

A typical traction substation is shown

in Fig. 1.4.

1.6 Overhead Feeders.

Normally the overhead wiring sections are

fed in parallel from both ends, and the continuity

is only broken at the feeding points. This break

is normally bridged by the circuit breakers in the

substations and the arrangement is shown in Fig.1.5*

The substations are situated at intervals along the

track, depending on the train loading, the number

of trains, the grades, spacing of stations and the

size of overhead wire. Studying timetables enables

anticipated loading data to be obtained to determine

the most economical substation spacing and overhead

wire size. Typical train loads are up to 2 500 A

for commuter trains, and up to 4 000 A for freight

trains. Circuit breaker settings up to about

5 000 A are commonly used. With this arrangement

the load current is supplied from both substations,

so the voltage drop will be less than if only fed

from one end.

Detection of Faults.
A fault anywhere in the section must be

detected by the circuit breakers at both ends of

the section. During a fault, some current flows

in from adjacent substation, and the current

Page 6.
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FIG !•£ ARRANGEMENT OF SUBSTATIONS

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 directions are as shown. The circuit breakers

are directional and set to trip only when current

is flowing to the track. Only those feeding the

faulty section should trip. Prospective fault

currents up to 75 000 A can occur and the high

speed circuit breakers can interrupt this current

in 20 to 30 milliseconds. The rise of the fault

current is controlled by the system inductance and

the time constant is normally on the range 20 to

30m sec., so in practice the circuit breakers

actually cut off the current before the

prospective value is reached.

1.7 Circuit Breakers.

The circuit breakers used are of the

magnetically held type where the contacts are

held closed against a spring by a holding magnet.

The tripping coil carries portion of the main

current and functions by diverting some of the

magnetic flux of the holding coil away from the

armature of the holding magnet, and allows the

spring to open the contacts. See Fig. 1.6.

When the contacts part, the arc is drawn

up into the arc chute by magnetic blow out coils

placed on either side of the contacts. An

auxiliary blow out coil inside the arc chute

assists the movement of the arc further up into

the arc chute where dividers serve to split and

lengthen the arc to a point where the length of arc

Page 7.
 MAIN CONTACTS

_r jt
TRIP COIL.

CALIBRATION
SPRING
SCREWS.

HOLDING COIL
laminated
SECTION

FIG R6 MAGNETICALLY HELD

CIRCUIT BREAKER

SUBSTATION SECTIONING HUT SUBSTATION

-------

FIG V7 SECTIONING HUT CONNECTION

cannot 'be maintained with the voltage available.

The design of the arc chute is critical to the

operation of the circuit breaker, as the voltage

across the arc rises due to the system inductance

and may increase to about three times the normal

voltage.

1.8 Sectioning Huts.

As well as at substations, the tracks are

often sectionalized by sectioning huts, using

the arrangement in Fig. 1.7. Their use has a

number of advantages:- A fault will be localised

to a shorter length of track causing less

disruption* as the substation circuit breakers

have to protect only half the distance their

setting may be higher; assuming some diversity

in loading between the two tracks, the conductors

feeding the other brack will be tied in and carry

some of the load thereby making more efficient

use of the conductors.

1.9 Traction 0ireuit s.

1.9.1 De script ion*

The type of rolling stock used is of

either the multiple unit powered type, or a

locomotive hauled train. Series motors are

used to obtain the required characteristics of

high torque at low speeds so the torque, and

hence acceleration depends mainly on the current.

Page 8.
 Series Parai!c /

FIG !*& Nl0TO& CONNECTIONS

Transition

Para i/e /-----------

77/r> e

FIG 1^9 LOAD CURRENT CHARACTERISTICS

In the multiple unit train, powered vehicles are

distributed throughout the train so for an eight

car train there would be four motor cars. On each

motor car there are four motors, each 150 kW in

groups of two permanently in series. The train is

started with all four in series, then they are

reconnected in parallel; in each case with series

starting resistors that are cut out as the speed

increases. The starting circuits are similar to

those shown in Fig. 1.8. As the train accelerates,

the resistance is automatically cut-out to maintain

a constant current in the motor circuits

(typically 250 A). When all the resistance is

cut out, transition is made to the parallel

connection with all resistance in, and acceleration

again occurs at constant current until the running

condition is reached with all resistance cut out.

The acceleration (and hence motor current) is

selected to prevent wheel slip and to prevent

undue discomfort to passengers. It would be in the

order of 2.5 k.p.h. per second. The acceleration

current for an eight car train would be as shown

in Fig. 1.9.

1.9.2 Electric Locomotive.

The arrangement of motors in the electric

locomotives is rather similar. There are six

560 kW, 750 V motors which can be arranged in three

combinations: series where all six are in series;

Page 9-
series parallel with two parallel groups of three

in series; parallel where three parallel groups

of two are in series. The current characteristic

is rather similar to that of the multiple unit

vehicles, except that the respective maximum

currents for the three connections are 750 A,

1 500 A and 2 250 A and there is no automatic

current 1imiting.

1*9*5 Important Characteristics.

There are some characteristics of the

traction circuits which are related to the design

of the supply system.

1.9-4- .Effect of System Voltage.

Since the acceleration depends only upon

the current, which is automatically maintained by

cutting out starting resistances fall in voltage

will not make much difference. However, once all

resistance is cut out, the speed will depend on the

voltage. It can readily be shown for a series

motor operating a constant torque load, the speed

will be proportional to the line voltage, and so

for a train running at constant speed on the flat

inhere power must be applied in bursts to maintain

the speed, reduction in voltage will mean that the

power will need to be applied for a longer time,

i.e. the average current will be higher.

Page 10.
 For a train ascending a grade, the torque

necessary will depend only on the imass and the

grade, so lowering the voltage will slow the trains

down.

1.10 Effect on Loading on the Systems.

The loading imposes limitations on the

system in two respects. The average voltage at

any point should not fall below some minimum value,

and the peak current in any section should not

exceed the circuit breaker settings. Some types

of circuit breakers are sensitive to the rate of

rise of current (di), so this needs to be
(dt)
considered, as well as the total change. The di
dt
when power is applied, and during transition is

basically determined by the inductance of the

system, although the magnitude of current is

determined by the motor control system.

1.11 alternative Systems.

As mentioned in the introduction, the trend

overseas is towards the use of a contact wire

system supplied at high voltage alternating

current. Voltages of 15 kV or 25 kV at the normal

commercial frequency are common.

Advantages.

At a higher voltage the current drawn by the

trains is proportionately less so the substations

Page 11.
may be placed further apart,, the conductors can

be smaller and the transmission losses will be less.

By the use of commercial frequency AeC. the

traction substations become much simpler, often

only comprising the step-down transformers and

feeder circuit breakers.

Disadvantages.

Against the advantages however a number

of disadvantages arise. As the voltage on the

contact system is higher, the clearances between

the wiring and other structures needs to be greater,

and sometimes extensive rebuilding of bridges can

be necessary to obtain sufficient clearance.

Although the substations are simpler, more

equipment needs to be carried on the rolling stock.

The traction motors are usually of the series

connected D.C. type, sc step-down trwnsformers and

rectifiers need to be carried on the trains<. This

to some extent offsets the saving in substation costs.

Since the rails are used as the return

circuit, the induced voltage in nearby communication

circuits can be a problem, and also the electricity

supply authority may object to laTge blocks of single

phase load being taken from its system.

For the N.S.V. system any extensions would

most likely be done at 1 500 volt D.C. to prevent

problems with the free running of traffic between

two different types of systems.

Page 12.
 However if a large extension was made for

example from Campbelltown to Goulburn, a distance

of 170 lon? the inconvenience of changing

locomotives or the use of dual voltage locomotives

could easily be justified by theadvantages of

the high voltage system.

Page
 CHAPTER 2 BASIC SYSTEM DESIGN.

2.1 Outline.

The basic philosophy of any power system is

to provide a reliable supply of adequate capacity,

and within acceptable voltage limits. The system

should also be protected against any faultsv and

the protection scheme should be designed to

minimise the amount of the system affected by a

fault. The same requirements apply particularly

to the direct current traction system.

Unlike a normal power system, where

substations are required at load centres, the

placing of substations is one of the variable

factors of system design.

Naturally the system selected, while

meeting all the supply requirements should- have the

combination of factors that given the cheapest

overall system. As a rule designing the system for

minimisation of losses has not been a deciding

factor. The two factors that are mainly considered

are that the fault levels are high enough to allow

sufficiently high circuit breaker settings, and

that for the expected loading the voltage drop will

not be excessive.

Although this is an investigation into the

design of a new portion of the system, some of the

results would be applicable to upgrading the system,

Page 1
ConfacH WircL
SoTm.0 measures obviously would not be very

practicable, for example such, as relocating

substations or increasing the copper in the

overhead system.

2.2 Coat Factors.

2.2.1 Overhead Feeder System.

The feeder system is constructed of a

catenary (messenger wire) supported at regular

intervals, and carrying either one or two contact

wires. The contact wires are supported from the

catenary by light dropper wires so as to maintain

a flat surface for the current collectors on the

trains. A typical arrangement is shown in Fig.

2.1.
Registration arms at each support structure

locate the contact wire in the correct position

over the track.

The size of the contact wire is chosen to

give good current collection and would be a single
2 conductor or two 157 nun 2 conductors side
187 nun.

by side for high speed main lines. The catenary

wire size can be varied over reasonable limits to

obtain the required current carrying capacity or

to alter the resistance. As an approximation,

altering the size of the catenary should not affect

the cost of the other equipment (i.e. supporting

structures) unless very large sizes are used

Page 1
 2
(more than 500 mm ) . Increasing the conductor size

should therefore only increase the cost by that of

the extra copper conductor used.

The resistance of the running rails which

are used as the negative return also has to be

considered, particularly when heavy positive

conductors are used. There is no control over the

rail size from any electrical consideration, and

55 kg per metre rails would be used in most

locations. On multiple tracks the rails are

regularly cross bonded, so for a standard double

track system with four rails in parallel the

negative resistance is 0.009? ohm per kilometre.
2
By comparison an arrangement cf a 20? mm
P
catenary and twin 157 mm contact wires wound have

a resistance of 0.057 ohm per kilometre so the

total circuit resistance is .046 ohm per kilometre.

An increase in the size of the catenary by '?0% to
2
558 mm would only reduce the resistance to 0.059

ohm per kilometre, a reduction of 16ft. Any

increase above this figure would give

proportionately less effect, so any significant

P
increase in size above about 500 mm wogld not be

worthwhile, although in some cases it may be

necessary for current rating. The continuous

current rating of a 267/157/^57 mmu~ construction is

about 1 500 A which would be adequate for most cases.

Page 16.
2.2.2 Substations.

Overall.

The main variable in the substations cost

of a new section of electrified track will be the

number of substations required. The number required

is set by the resistance of the track feeders, the

circuit breaker settings required and the voltage

limits allowable.

Individual Substations.

The major costs of a substation do not

greatly depend on the loading requirements. The

largest costs are for the civil work for the building

and the high voltage switchyard, the labour to

install the equipment;, and the provision of the
high and low voltage circuit breakers. Changing the

rating of the rectifiers by 25% would alter the total

cost by less than 5% and only installing one

rectifier instead of two would reduce the cost by

less than 20%.

2.2.3 Sectioning Huts.

Sectioning huts are virtually substations

without any converting equipment, and their use

allows the substations to be placed twice as far

apart and still retain the same circuit breaker

settings. The use of sectioning huts means that

more attention needs to be paid to the voltage drop

and losses in. the overhead wiring system because

of the greater spacing. A sectioning hut costs

Page 7,
approximately 30% of the cost of a substation.

By automatically sectionalising the feeders between

substations during a fault, a sectioning hut may

mean traffic would only be distruped over a smaller

ar ea. This would be a distinct advantage on a

multi track system if crossovers were available to

allow trains to bypass the faulty section.

Where all the load tends to be in one

direction at a time, the use of a sectioning hut

can decrease the losses by up to about 30% and also

improve the minimum voltage.

2.2.4- Relative Costs.

Taking the cost of a normal two rectifier

substation as a reference of 1.0, the cost of a

single unit substation will be assumed to be 0*8,

and a sectioning hut will he assumed to cost 0.3.

2.3 Minimum Voltage Considerations.

For the train equipment to function

correctly and traffic to move at a reasonable speed

the minimum voltage under normal conditions (i.e.

no failures or equipment out of service) should not

fall below a predetermined value. Any number of

assumptions as to-the probable maximum loading can

be made, or the timetables can be used to determine

the true traffic pattern. From the traffic pattern,

the gradients in the section, and the train loads

Page 1 8.
Rp - KiZStstance. Os&rhed4 -

Rw ^ Resistance (A- Rail.

E -*• (l e.d i f i’e r Vo I t'Ct e

Ria 2*'2_ Sy.sfeAv EquiVale^t" Circuit*

expected, the energy requirements of each train

may be assessed., and a total loading curve obtained.

From, the figures obtained, the voltage distribution

can be evaluated, if it is assumed that the trains

can develop the required power down to a defined

minimum voltage.

Digital computer programmes have been

written to produce calculated train running

information in terns of power consumption, speed

and locations, and these results can also be used.

It has been found however, that single

load of a suitable value located in the worst point

in the system gives an acceptably close result to

the true value. Calculations on this basis have

been made, and measurements taken on the system with

normal running conditions have verified the

calculations.

Curves, as in the Appendix, have been

plotted showing the section length against conductor-

resistance, for various point loads and minimum

voltages. Correction curves for multiple loads are

also presented.

2.4 Circuit Breaker Settings.

All feeder circuit breakers must be set to

detect all faults in the section protected. The

required fault current for a circuit breaker can be

calculated using the circuit shown in Fig. 2.2.

Page 19-
For the calculations the effect of any loads in

the section in question or any other section is

ignored.

ihe fault at A is calculated assuming

circuit breaker at A is open and similarly for B

In the calculations an allowance is made for

(a) The increase in the resistance of the

overhead wiring due to temperature rise

and for contact wire wear*

(b) The resistance of rail bonds between

rails and for rail wear.

(c) Inaccuracies is the Calibration of the

circuit breaker.

(d) An arcing fault.

To allow for (a), (b) and. (c) the

maximum setting shall be 10% less than the

minimum fault. From the results of arcing tests

arcing faults are not usually self sustaining if

the arc voltage is greater than about 400 V. In

the calculation, a substation busbar voltage of

1 500 V and a 400 V arcing fault are assumed.

2.5 Effect of Sectioning Huts.

By installing sectioning huts between

substations, each substation circuit breaker has

only to detect a fault up to the sectioning hut,

thus effectively doubling the maximum substation

Page 20.
 S^Ttinc^ Cft^ 10°^

Current

r 15 Typ\ooiI Lir\e Voltu^a—Tripping

Current Cvr\'e.<>

SS>

fi:? ?_"4 Currant distribution for load

na a r £j.cf 1 on; n y HuT«
spacings. The fault level for sectioning hut

circuit breakers is determined in a similar manner,

but talking into account the resistance of the other

feeders feeding into the busbar.

Magnetically held circuit breakers are used

with the holding coils supplied from the line

voltage, so a reduction in voltage will decrease

the setting of the breaker. A typical holding

coil/trip setting curve is shown in Fig.2-3. Use

is made of the voltage reduction during faults to

allow the normal setting to be made higher.

To determine the circuit breaker setting,

the 90% fault current is calculated as above avid uhe

voltage at the sectioning hut calculated with that

current flowing. With the line voltage available,

the setting that will cause tripping at the fault

current and reduced voltage are used.

Normally the circuit breakers would be set

lower than the substation breaker. However if

Fig.2-4 is noted it will be seen that for a load

equal to the substation circuit breaker setting

(Say 5 000 A) only 75% will pass through the

sectioning hut breaker.

2.6 Calculations.

Using the methods outlined calculations

have been made of the minimum voltage in a section

for the arrangements sub station-substab ion,

Page 21 .
sub s tation-sectioning hut substati.on, and

substat ion-sectioning hut-sectioning hut substation,

for the combinations of varying overhead resistance,

and section lengths. The circuit breaker settings

for these arrangements have been also determined and

the curves have been drawn for these combinations.

See Appendix.

The assumptions made are :

(1) 4 rails in parallel for the negative

return (0.0092 ohm/km).

(2) For fault levels-DO busbar voltage

1 900 V and arc drop at fault 400 V.

(3) For voltage curves substation voltage

1 600 V.

From the assumptions made about loading on

the sections and experience with the present system,
circuit breaker settings at the substation should he

about 3 000 A, and the voltage drop calculated on

the basis of 4 000 A loads, with a permissible

minimum voltage in the range 1 100 V to 1 300V.

2.7 Variation of Feeder Size.

The curves in the Appendix were drawn to

make a comparison of the benefits gained by

increasing the cross section of the feeder conductors.

The only variable is the size of the catenary wire,

as the contact wire is to be two 137 mm wires and

the rail resistance is fixed at .0092 ohm/km. For

Page 2.2.
plus Saif ion hutcosts.
WeaA S^b^taiion

2.0
uPi2rL£^t Change,

10

ioo 3 DO UrOO iiCO

Z^vfenttry Area (r/lno1-^

r p c
I tg L-’O
CZ K <Pt A 0 e. in £i/lo£'fai'[crv toS t" r \00 r/ilfOn ”
i a over \r\2d.c{ Const/\)c\ios>
 2
example increasing the catenary size from 322 mm
2
to 4-22 mm would change the resistance by approximately

12% thus allowing the substation to be 12% further

apart.

2.8 Comparison of Substation and Mains Costs.

At the present time, if the average cost of a

substation is say 80%, sectioning huts are 20% and

additional copper in the overhead, based on a

substation spacing of 10 km is 10% for 2 tracks. This

is based on 1975 figures of $320 000 for a substation,

$80 000 for a sectioning hut, and approximately

2
$2 000 per km per 100mm for copper per track (i.e.

$40 000 for 10 km double tracks).

On this basis, for a 10 km section increasing

the substation spacing will reduce the cost by 12%

for substations, but adds 10% to the overhead costs.

The advantage gained is marginal. From Fig. 2-5 it

can be seen that increasing further the copper size

brings less benefit than that of the substation

saving.

So it appears that the optimum size

2
conductor is about the 322 mm selected. In

practice anything heavier is too awkward

mechanically to be handled readily during erection.

If acceptable performance can be achieved

with a greater substation spacing; then the point

2
of equal cost will shift downwards towards 300 mm

Page 2'5-
or less.

2.9 Conclusions.
(1) With a requirement of 5 COO A circuit breaker

settings with one sectioning hut and a construction

?
of q22/137/^37 min', from the curves the maximum
substation spacing will be 9.2 km: and on this

basis the minimum voltage with a single A 000 A

load will be 1 300 volts. This provides some margin

for increased loading.

(2) For a 4 000 A load in each direction, the

minimum voltage will be 1 100 volts (which, may be

satisfactory ). If a lower voltage was permissible

(say 1 100 V at 4 000 A) and better protection used

to allow the substations to be spread out, spacings

of 19 km could be achieved. This will be discussed

further in chapter three.

(3) With load growth, the sectioning huts could

be converted to substations in the future, so that

the voltage drop would not he excessive. The peak

loading on each substation from substation to

sectioning hut would be kept to 3 000 A as already

allowed due to the additional infeed,

(4) It would be possible to obtain 9 00C A

setting by the use of two sectioning huts between

substations and increasing the protection limit

spacing by 30%. However, with the longer sections,

more loading between substations would occur, so

higher circuit breaker settings may be needed.

Page 2 4.
For the traffic pattern already assumed, it would be
reasonable to expect thb equivalent ox a 6 000 A

load. The overall effect on spacing would mean that

the substations might only be 10 to 20 per cent

further apart, but an additional 2% would have to be

spent to provide the additional sectioning hut. The

system would not have much capacity for load growth.

The use of two sectioning huts would not be

recommended.

(5) No attempt at comparison of losses has been

made; this may well alter the economical spacing.

The subjedt will be treated in chapter five.

Page 25.
t
Curren

F»a 3M
ilcr/nal Prefect we Rartcjg

r-O ....... -a—i

C£.A C6.fi j
L-o-

FIG 3*2.
Use s{ IrtecVrt pj'ito Firt^nrJ Profac'fi/r Paiioe
 CHAPTER 3___ IMPROVING BASIC PROTECTION SYSTEM.

3.1 Outline.

If protection system could allow faults to

be detected that were less than load current,

without causing tripping on load currents, the

substation spacing may be increased. Alternatively

the sectioning, huts used to obtain the required

settings may be eliminated. The substation spacing

would still be limited by voltage drop considerations,

and the benefit of utilisations of the copper in

both tracks would be eliminated if sectioning huts

were not used. However, if the traffic density is

high in both directions, paralleling may give no real

advantage anyway.

3»2 Int e rt ripping„

By providing a communication circuit between

two substations, the equipment could be arranged so

that if either circuit breaker protecting a section

opens, a tripping signal would be sent to the other

one, thus clearing the fault. A comparison of the

protection range is shown in Pig. 3-1 and 3-2.

The curves of Pig. 3-1 and 3-2 show the

variation in fault current as the location of the

fault is moved, between the substations. If the

circuit breaker at A is set to trip for faults within

35% of the section from substation 1 and the circuit

breaker at B is set; likewise the circuit breaker

Fa ge 26.
settings can be raised by approximately 50% above

the settings that would be required if each circuit

breaker had to be set to protect the full length of

the section. To enable each circuit breaker to trip

for all possible faults with such setting, then

intertripping via pilot wires is required.

Generally pilot wires between the substations are

required for other services such as supervisory

control, and the incremental cost of extra pairs may

not be much.

The pilot wires require supervision to

ensure security of the scheme and additional

precautions may have to be taken when reclosing a

circuit breaker after a fault trip. These two

requirements could be combined so that loss of
communication between the substations causes the

circuit breakers to trip but allows reclosure at a

reduced setting.

3.2.2 Tripping Speed.

The speed of clearing with an intertrip

system will depend on

(1) The type of communication and its operating

speed.

(2) The method of opening the remote breaker .

With normal system, and a fault near one

substation, the local breaker would open and clear

the fault current in less than 20 ms, since the fault

current is well above its setting. The fault current

Page 27.
in the other breaker will rise exponentially until

the setting is reached and it will then open.

If the setting of the remote circuit

breaker is 90% of the fault current the current will

take about 2.3 times the circuit time constant to

reach the tripping value.

'The time constant of the overhead is

20 - 30 m3 so the time to trip will be 60 - 90 mb.

The time to clear the fault could be up to 100 ms.

With intertripping, the breaker near the

fault will open in about 5 ms. If the delay in the

intertrip signal is not long (say 10 ms) and a fast

tripping action is used the other breaker could open

in about 25 ms, which is much faster than the
normal scheme.

3.2.3 heed for High Speed Tripping.

Although clearing in the shortest possible

time is desirable, it probably does not matter if

low level faults are not cleared until about 100 ms.

For example the Japanese National Railway (JNR) at

one time accepted clearing times for low level

faults of up to 3 seconds. The important faults to

clear quickly are the close up ones where the fault

levels can be as high as 50 000 A.

Types of Tripping Circuits.

There are a number of ways of separately

trippingacircuit breaker depending on the type of

breaker. For a mechanically latched type, a shunt

Page 28.
trip arrangement similar to a conventional high

voltage circuit breaker is used. With this type

tripping times as low as 10 ms can be readily

achieved.

The simplest way of opening a magnetically

held breaker is to de-energise the holding coil.

The time delay could be up to 200 ms due to the time

taken for the magnetic flux to drop sufficiently.

Fault current flowing in the tripping coil does

accelerate the process however.

Another way is to have an auxiliary

tripping coil wound concentric with the main trip

circuit. This coil can trip the breaker in about

5 m.'S if sufficient energy is applied. Its

disadvantage is in the limited space available for

the coil, which cannot be fully insulated and is

normally alive at the circuit voltage, so some form

of isolation is needed.

3-2.4 Communication Facilities.

There are two types most commonly available.

A d.c. signal on a wire pair can be used and the time

delay will depend mainly on the relays used at each

end. The source of supply would be the substation

control battery.

The other way is to use a voice frequency

tone link over pilot wires. The speed of signalling

will depend on the input and output relays used,

and also to response time of the tuned circuits in

Page 29-
+ /500V. Bus

C8
Trt p Co / /

Rail

FIG, 3*3 TRIPPING CIRCUIT

»» " if //

v5. S. 8 S.S. B

Trip

R increases CB setting when operated

X and Y operate XI one/ Y/
T /a operated bp manuat trip of A C B.
Y /s auxiliary re/op
C B auxdiarp contacts of circuit breaker

FIG 3'4 INTERTRIP RELAY

the receivers. It is not difficult to get speeds in

the order of 20 ms* V.F. links have the advantage of

allowing multiple channels over the one pair of wires.

This is a useful advantage where a number of circuit

breakers are involved.

Pilot isolating transformers may also be

used to keep the substation voltage away from the

pilots during high voltage system faults. Up to

10 kV can be experienced at times. It is difficult

to get this degree of isolation with a d.c . link.

Communication using power frequency a.c.

is not acceptable, as the protection should be

operative during any system faults.

3-2.5 High Speed Tripping Circuit.

A high speed trip circuit is shown in

Pig. 3-3- This circuit can trip the breaker in

less than 10 ms.

The trip signal fires the SCR which

discharges the capacitor C into the auxiliary trip

coil. C is normally charged up to about TOO V and

when connected to the trip coil which has a

resistance of about 10 ohm, causes a high current

pulse which opens the breaker almost instantaneously.

If the capacitor fails to charge, or if the trip

coil is open circuit voltage relay V will drop out

inserting extra resistance in the holding coil

circuit, thereby lowering the setting to a value

below the minimum fault level for the whole section.

Page 30.
R1 is a calibrating resistance to ensure the

holding coil current is correct under normal

conditions.

3.2.6 Complete Scheme.

In Fig. 3-4 is shown a high speed intertrip

circuit. The circuit is shown with the breaker

open and all relays de-energised. The circuit

provides a high speed trip signal if the breaker

at A opens on fault, but if the communications

channel is lost, or if A is opened manually, the

setting at B is just reduced.

With the system normal, and both breakers

closed "X" (and X1) will be operated and "Y"

(and Y1) will be released. There will be no trip

signal and "R" will be operated. With any other

combination, "R" will release and reduce the setting

at B. This occurs under the following conditions

(1) C B at A opened manually, releasing "Z”,

which is normally self held.

(2) Loss of communication channel causing

"X1” to release.

(3) Severe noise interference causing nX1"

and "Y1,f to both operate.

When C B at A trips MX" will release and

MY" pick up, applying a trip to C B at B. It is

capable of opening B within 25 ms of A opening.

Page 31 .
SS ‘'A' 5S"e>"

|cb“fi‘

i
Xt[—I >R1
l

C6"6’‘
$ M.C.

Fig 3'5
„Sirnple Inl&rTri pping
3-3 Alternative Methods.

If clearing times for low level faults of

100-200 ms are acceptable, simply reducing the

setting of the remote circuit breaker by reducing

its holding coil current could be suitable. It

should be pointed out that in a Sectioning hut,

it is often only the drop in holding coil voltage

due to the fault current reducing the setting

that allows the circuit breaker to trip. The times

will be similar.

A very simple arrangement can be made using

this method as shown in Fig. 3-3-

Only if C B at A is closed and the pilot

wires are sound can X1 pickup to give C B at B its

full setting. If any of the following occurs

”X1” releases reducing the setting of B.

(1) C B at A opening

(2) Loss of communication

(3) G B at A taken out of service

If when the setting is reduced a fault

exists anywhere or on the section, B will also

trip on fault.

The advantage of the system is that a

failure of G B at A or loss of communication will

not cause a loss of supply. Particularly in case

of pilot failure, both breakers will be closed at

a reduced setting, allowing reasonably normal but

safe operation.

Page 32.
3*4 Substation Busbar Faults.

On a normal system, if a busbar fault

occurs in a substation it will be detected by all

the circuit breakers feeding the fault -and so be

cleared. The local rectifier(s) will be tripped by

their A.C. overcurrent relays.

With intertripping the remote substations

cannot detect the fault unless the local breakers

happen to open. Since they are directional and set

for feeder faults, a busbar fault is in their non-

tripping direction.

A voltage relay, set to drop off if the

busbar voltage falls below say 600 V can be used go

send an intertrip signal to allow the other end to

clear the fault. This relay would be given about

a 20 mS time delay so that the momentary voltage

dip when a close up feeder fault is cleared by its

own breaker will not cause it to drop out.

3*3 Applications.

One of the inter tripping systems could be

used when designing a new system, to allow the

substation spacing to be increased by extending the

protection range if the ensuing voltage conditions

are acceptable.

Such a system could be used instead of

using sectioning huts, if the additional sectioning

was not considered necessary. From the curves in

the Appendix however, a reduction in spacing may

be necessary to satisfy voltage requirements if the

Page 33-
single point load equivalent ir considered

realistic. A reduction in spacing of up to 25%

could be necessary, so the 25% cost saved in

eliminating sectioning huts would be spent on

additional substations.

Possibly a more useful application could

be upgrading an existing system where it would not

be practicable to alter the existing substation

locations, or radically alter the overhead wiring

arrangement. There are several locations on the

existing system where there is an excessive number

of breaker openings due to normal loading.

This has beer brought about by more modern

trains with higher accelerating current and also

increased traffic. The low voltage problems if any

will still have to be tolerated, but at least

reasonable breaker settings will be able to be used.

Page 34.
 CHAPTER 4 OTHER METHODS OP FAULT DETECTION.

4.1 Summary.

There are three main other ways of

attempting to discriminate between load current* and

low level fault current. One way would be to

monitor the voltage at points along the section,

and if the voltage falls below a predetermined

value at any point, (say 600 V) then the circuit

breakers at both ends could be opened. The other

two methods attempt to use the leading edge of the

current wave to cause tripping or to modify tne

setting of a circuit breaker. The wave is normally

somewhat different for a load. See Figure 4.1.

4.2 Magnetically Held Circuit Breaker.

4.2.1 Description.

At an early stage in the development of the

original magnetically held circuit breaker by the

American "General Electric Company" in the 1920's

considerable work was done in attempting to utilise

its dynamic characteristics.

The circuit breaker has the arrangement

shown in Figure 4.2.

As outlined in Chapter 1, the holding coil

holds the armature against the pull-off spring.

The tripping coil works by diverting the holding

flux as .its ra.ra.f. increased.

Page Dp.
 Tcut t

Tun e

RG<*»1 LCAt> Q FAULT CURVES

" Tripping Circuit

L/~L-r 0
n°rrf
At---“l\ 0
O —1.
— I, ^
.*^Vv'
y/zZa — I
-A/w^*7.' 4J ;
r. u,~ R L Rz Li ^ if'-'
0>) — Ie
Shunt Circuit

FlS‘t-2. CIA.CU1T f\R£ftrt£f\ /\RMNC>C*MEMT

C~Currmi 1/ to
Tf p Circa t Breaker

FIG 4-3
MODIFICATION CF SifTT ilk4G i>UE
TO INDUCTIVE silt/iVT ClALUir
 If all the main current is passed through

the tripping loop, then the circuit breaker will

always trip at its rated value. If the fault current

rises slowly, then the tripping time will be slow.

Apart from the physical limitation of building a

magnetic circuit to cope with large currents there

are considerable advantages in having a shunt

connected across the trip coil.

Figure 4.2 (a) shows the arrangement and

Figure 4.2 (b) shows the electrical equivalent

where:-

Feeder resistance
Feeder inductance

Resistance of trip circuit

Inductance of trip circuit

Resistance of shunt

Inductance of shunt

The circuit allows the fraction of the

main circuit current

I1 = R2 x I - (1)
Ryj + Rp

to trip the breaker if the effect of L^ and Lp are

neglected (i.e. a slow rise). The two inductances

however modify the division of current under

transient conditions.

Page 36.
 This is shown in Figure 4.3 (a) and (b) .

The trip current 1^, can be expressed

as: -

I(L2R - R2L) ( St -(R,+R9)t )

l(r1+r2J-h(l1+h2) ! 3 i
C e -e 12 j

+ I R. -(R1+R0)t )
1 - e -r—rr ) - (2)
r1+r2 b/j +L2
)

and defining T = L = time constant of feeder system.

R

T^= ~^1 • = time constant of tripping

R^ circuit.
T L
2= 2 = time constant of shunt circuit.

time constant of circuit

L1+L2 breaker.
Ryj +R2

and letting t2-t

an amplifying term.
t^tT
p
and B = 2 = steady state division ratio.
R/j +R2

The tripping circuit equation becomes:-

c t t )
I1 = IB (c(e T - e T? ) + (1 - e ^ )) - (3)

For given value of I = I and T = T ,

a a

the maximum value of I, can. be found.

Let D^, = max. value of C(e -rr- - e ^ ; +

xa ±r 3

(1 - e rjT~ ) “ (^0
‘3
For T = T
a
then ly, max. = BI D, -(b)
1 a ta

Page 37.
 T - SC mse c.

T = dSm s

3000 ----------

/OO kA/.ie c

RATE OF RISE
FIG.4'fDYNAMIC CHARACTERISTIC OF A MAGNETICALLY
HELD CIRCUIT BREAKER
 If I d is the steady state current that will

Just cause the breaker to trip then (5) shows that

the current in the trip circuit exceeds the steady

state value by Drp If a minimum fault of I is
D.
a
# %

applied, the breaker will Just trip.

If the constant of the breaker can be

determined, the minimum fault values for different

settings and feeder time constants can be plotted

as in figure 4-.4. It can be shown that at points

a' and b *
T = = time constant at the shunt loop.

4.2.2 Disadvantages.
A number of disadvantages soon became
apparent when the rate of rise characteristic was

used to extend the protection zone. The breaker

was also sensitive to the leading edge of the

starting or transition current wave of a motoring

train.

More importantly however, the characteristic

changed when the bre alter was carrying a steady load

near the setting current. The iron on the diverter

bar circuit tended to saturate, and move the

characteristic to the right. This alters the trip

setting for changing currents, and in some case can

raise the dynamic setting above the static setting.

Page 38-
 Magnetically He’d
Circuit Breaker.

s fau/1
\ Currarita

Else, front I c
Cur

Load Currents

tO kA/Sec.
Rate of rise

FIG 4-5
Corf-.pancoA lotttland CuJlf oKaratVv

f i\j 4-• 6 C h artu \ #.*'i.vt'i0 t> 4' \ Cd-;y.

 More modern "breakers overcome this fault

to some extent, but it is not considered wise to

rely on the rate of rise tripping to detect all

faults.

4.3 Other rate of rise devices.

4.3.1 General.

Various electronic and electromechanical

’devices have been designed to detect the rate of

rise and to attempt to discriminate between load

currents and fault currents.

Curves can be plotted of expected load

currents and rates of rise expected, and also of

likely faults as in Figure 4-5.

From measurements, it is found that some

overlap does occur so some nuisance tripping may

occur.

4.3.2 ’’Delta" I - Relay.

A device that shoiAB more promise responds

only to the total change in current above a

predetermined rate of rise.

In fact for most situations a "delta I"

(current increase) setting can be found that will

detect all possible faults but ignore loads, and

a characteristic is shown in Figure 4-6.

Undoubtedly these devices can be made work

but there is one possible complication.

Page 39 •
Rate Load

Fau! t

T max load

F m c/x faults

T/me de tting -

FIG L- 7 LOAD AND FAULT CURVES

A B

Fault Trips

FIG.4*8 VOLTAGE RELAY TRIPPING

 The time constant of a rising fault will be

about 20 m.s. A fault at the end of a section may-

produce a "delta I" of only 2 000 A, due to the

effect of loads'in the section. It has been found that

the line switches in electric vehicles can take

20 - 50 ms to interrupt the current after the contacts

open. If at about the time a fault occurred, a

2 000 A load was switched off, the resultant current

change at the substation could well be below the

setting of the relay. Some back-up method would be

required to cater for this possibility.

4.3-3 Timed Rate of Rise Device.

There is a relay which detects the rate of

rise and if it exceeds the setting, starts a timer,

and the rate of rise must stay above the switch off

value until the timer operates to give a trip signal.

If the rate of rise does drop, the timer resets. To

apply the relay, the rate of rise envelopes for loads

on the system is obtained by observation using a

storage oscilloscope. The envelope for faults is

obtained by calculation, or measurement on simulated

faults. The two are then superimposed as in

Figure 4-7-
The timer must remain on for the setting

time or tripping will not occur. This is quite a

feasible approach and has been used extensively in

France. However, it possibly could suffer from the

same bother as the "delta I" relay, namely

Page 40 -
mal-operation due to the timer resetting if a drop in

load occurs during a fault. Some means to back it up

could be necessary. In fact the French do not use

the relays on their own but in conjunction with

undervoltage relays.

4.4*- Undervoltage Relay.

4.4.1 Description.

When a fault occurs on the system,

particularly arcing faults, if the voltage was

monitored at the location of the fault, a drop from

normal down to the arcing voltage world be found.

By suitably connecting sufficient voltage relays, each

set to operate when the voltage falls below say 600 V,

and connecting the relays to trip both circuit

breakers, any possible arcing fault with an arc drop

less than 600 V could be detected immediately. The

number of relays required will depend mainly on the

length of s.ection.

4.4.2 Application to a simple system.

A quite practical arrangement could be as

shown in Figure 4-8. A voltage relay is connected to

the feeder at each substation, and arranged to trip

the breaker at the other end if the voltage falls

below its setting.

Each circuit breaker would be set to protect

55% of the section, so that for any fault location

the circuit breaker closest would trip. As shown in

Fig.4-8 the breaker at 3 would trip. The voltage

Page 41.
 relay could only see the arc voltage at the fault,

as there will be no other source between the relay

and the fault once the breaker at B has tripped. In

the event of the circuit breaker at B being out of

service i.e. open, the section will still be

protected, although A will be set higher than the

minimum fault. Even under adverse loading conditons

the voltage at 3 should not drop below the setting

before A would trip on overload. The only time the

settings would need to be reduced would be when the

communications channel was interrupted.

Busbar faults within a substation would also

be detected by the relays, thus allowing clearance

at the remote end. A time delay of about 20 msec,

would be required on the voltage relays so that close

up faults on other feeders would be cleared before

the relays operate.

It would be possible to set the circuit

breakers to detect only close up faults, where fast

clearing times are essential and have several

voltage relays connected at points along the section

to detect other faults. In practice this is not easy

as it is rather awkard to provide suitable facilities

for mounting relays along the track.

4-.5 Conclusions.

Of the various methods available,

intertripping and voltage detection appear to be the

most useful approach.

-t age 4-2.
 Quite a good system can be built up by

combining voltage relays or intertripping with either

a "delta I" relay, or a timed rate of rise relay.

Although these measures would be most applicable to

increasing the performance of an existing system

where other factors of the performance would have to

be tolerated, in some cases they could be useful for

a.new system.

Page 43.
 CHAPTER ^ CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.

5-1 Summary.

The behaviour of "conventional” systems

has been examined and the limiting conditions of

performance have been determined. A conventional

system is where the protection is provided by

overcurrent devices, and the limiting conditions

are either excessive voltage drop or excessively

low circuit breaker settings (setting less than,

load currents). It is found that depending on the

limiting voltage conditions, minimum voltage or

fault current becomes the limit. In the normal

arrangement of substation-sectioning hut substation
if the desired minimum voltage is 1 300 V the

distance will be governed by voltage drop while if

say 1 100 V is acceptable, it will be found that

the protection becomes the limiting factor.

Other devices for extending the protection

range were then examined, and it was found that it

is possible to extend the protection range as far

as desired, and it is quite simple to double the

range. Using these devices, the acceptable voltage

will become the limiting condition.

No attempt was made to determine if the

cost saved by extending the sections was justified

in terms of increased cost in transmission losses.

p
It was found however for a 322/137/157 mm system,

Page 4-4.
that increasing the size of catenary to reduce the

number of substations resulted in the same order of

cost increase in copper as that saved in substation

costs. The most economical construction would

therefore seem to be of that size overhead. This

of course would vary if the cost of copper conductors

altered relative to that of labour and substation

plant.

5.2 Losses.

Apart from the losses in substation equipment,

the main loss in the system is copper loss which is

proportional to the section resistance. So the loss

would be directly proportional to the substation

spacing. The decrease in substation cost would also
be proportional to the section length and the loss

would also be a linear function of the number of

trains traversing the section.

5.2.1 Estimation of Average Loading.

For the determination of losses, probably the

average loadings during the time a train is in the

section is the most important. Eor voltage drop the

loading at times of peak traffic has been considered,

but is not really valid for loss assessment. For

the proposed electrification from Gosford to

Newcastle, studies using a digital computer were

made of the power requirement of the trains. A

computer simulation of train operations shows that

Page 45'
Fig '
5 i ScAo. I Cost Cofvss.

Sub^idlTon S pda n 9 CKm)

between Gosford and Wyong, a 1 200 tonne train

travelling at 75 km/hour, on this relatively level

section requires an average power of 3250kw. On

the assumption that this power can be supplied at

1 100 V, then the train loading corresponds to

3 000 A.

5.2.2. Comparison of Losses.

On the basis of a number of such trains

running through a section, the annual cost of

losses was calculated for various section lengths,

and this was compared with the annual cost of the

substations and sectioning huts.

An annual cost of 10% of the capital

value for interest and depreciation was used.

The following assumptions were made.

1. 50 trains per day in each direction.

2. Substation (including sectioning hut)
costs $400 000.

3. Electricity at 1.5^ per kWh.

On these assumptions the curves shown

in Fig.5-1 were produced, showing the annual cost

of losses and initial cost, and the total cost

per kilometre of various substation spacings.

5.2.3 Results.
The curves showed the costs relative

of the proposed installation for:-

(a) A sectioning hut between substations

to reduce the losses.

Page 46-
A B
ROC R»Ox)
-v\AA —sAAA—

Loa ci

R = 1*0+-otl .^fiction [t&s \ ar\cc

X - Fraction 0$ Length o ■£ Sizc^i^n tfow A.

Fig 5'2

Resistounce VemwttoA m a
5.2.3 Results (Continued)

(b) No sectioning hut.

(c) A sectioning hut used, but thefrequency

of trains high so that both tracks would

be loaded at the same time (i.e. no

benefit gained by paralleling sections).

It was found that with tqle stated conditions,

the most economical arrangement is one using

sectioning huts, and a substation spacing of about

10 km. However, due to the probable frequency of

passing trains, the true costs will be somewhere

in the area below curve (c), and that the cost and
optimum spacing will be about the same.
Because of the other advantages of a

sectioning hut, a substation spacing of about

10 km, with a sectioning hut in the centre appears

to be the best proposition. This is the same

spacing required for voltage drop and protection

consideration.

5.2.4 Variations .

The substation•cost can be expressed

Cs - § - (1)
10L

if 10% is assumed as the annual cost of the

capital investment, where

C is substation cost per km

s
S is capital substation cost

L is section length in km

Page 47.
 The losses vd.ll be dependent on the

current, section length, speed, energy cost,

number of trains and whether or not a sectioning

hut is considered. It can be readily shown that

for the feeder construction planned, connecting the

two tracks at the centre together will reduce the

average resistance by 25%.

The average resistance can be determined

by considering the variation in resistance as the

train moves in the section in Fig. 5-2 from A to

B.
The effective resistance R* at any point

will be the parallel resistance of EX and R(1-X),

if the substation voltage is constant as the load

moves.

R' = RX-R(1-X)
RX+RC1-X)

= R(X-X2)

The average value for the entire section

is j

R’I (X-X2)dX =3 = R - (2)

“b 6 F
where F is a reduction factor.

By a similar method the average value

for the sections tied in centre can be determined.

Page 48 .
The annual cost of losses will he

3 500 L E N - ( 5)
$
where L Section Length (km)

E Is the cost of electricity

($ per kWh)

N = Is the number of trains each way.

F = Mean resistance (or reduction)

factor in eq. (2).

The total annual cost is obtained by combining

eqs. (1) and (3)

+ C- 3 500 L E N - (4)
10L F

The minimum cost will be when dC = 0,

dL

so differentiating (4) with respect to L gives:

dO » -S o + 3 500 E If a 0 - (5)
dL 10L^ F

Solving (5) for L : L

■A3-50 x 10 E N

For the values for curve (b) of Fig.5-1 where

F = 6

L = / S = 8 km a
V5 800 E N

The point of most interest is that the

optimum section length will vary as the square root

of variation in the cost of substations, energy and

number of trains.

5.5 Recommendations.

5*5*1 New Lines.

Where a new line is to be electrified and

Page 49.
the traffic is heavy, the recommended construction

is 322/137/137 min^ overhead, with substation,

sectioning hut substation arrangement, with the

substation at spacings required by protection

considerations or voltage considerations. For the

traffic density used in the loss study, the spacing

should be 9.2 km, circuit breaker settings of 5 000 A

and a minimum voltage of 1 300V.

This system could accept heavier loading in

the future by converting sectioning huts to

substations and improving the protection.

3.3*2 Existing Lines.

On existing lire s where the circuit breaker

settings are now too low, the protection could be

improved by using delta I relays or timed rate of

rise relays, backed up by intertripping, or

alternatively by voltage sensing relays or inter-

tripping. The ensuing voltage conditions would have

to be tolerated.

Alternatively in some cases the use of

sectioning huts could be appropriate.

Page 50 .
 BIBLIOGRAPHY.

FicNairy, J.W. "The High Speed Gircuit Breakers

in Railway Feeder Networks"
A.I.E.E. Journal, 1926. *

Watkins, S.S., and Reagan, M.E. "Isolations of

Faults on Electric Transit Systems Part 1 and
Part 2"
A.I.E.E. Trans. Vol. 70, 1951.
Stewart, J.. and Waldron, J.E. "Fault Detection
on DC Rapid Transit Systems."
Paper, origin unknown.
"The Problem of Protecting 1 500 V DC Sections
New Methods used on the Dijon-Bourg Inc."
Revue Generale Des Chemins de Fer. Nov.1969.
Victorian Railways. Report on Overseas Trip.
Private correspondence.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author also wishes to express appreciation
of the assistance and guidance given in the
preparation of this report by Dr. Hansen Yee
and Associate Professor G.C. Dewsnap.
 DEFINITION OF SYMBOLS USED.

The following symbols and abbreviations

are used:

1)
G .3. Circuit Breaker.

S.H. Sectioning Hut.

S.S. Substation.

2)
The overhead wiring construction used-, is
specified by the cross sectional area in square

millimetres of the conductors used. The

catenary wire is first followed by the contact

wire(s).

For example 322/137/^37 mm~ is a

2
construction using a 322 mm catenary wire
2
and two 137 nun contact wires.

3)
The voltage drop curves in the Appendix

have a loading value shown for each curve.

This value is for a lumped load located at the

worst point in the section and is the load in

amperes.
 APPENDIX A

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