Rail Technology
Keeping trains on track
With money tight train operators are having to look at ways to keep ageing locomotives in operation for longer. Bryn Parry looks at how companies are extending locomotive life in an age of austerity
T
he challenge facing many train operators and maintenance companies today is how to keep ageing electric locomotives available, cost effectively, as they reach the end of their operational life. Economic circumstances mean that budgets are unlikely to be available for new rolling stock and existing locomotives must be maintained without breaking the bank. Engineers are also struggling to deal with an evolving supply chain, with many parts no longer being produced or upgraded. In Portugal, many of the locomotives in the state-owned operator’s fleet are based on the popular 2400 Series EMU from Siemens, which was introduced over 20 years ago. The traction inverter itself is also based on dated Gate Turn Off Thyristors (GTOs); these in turn are heading for end of life in the supply chain, increasing pressure on the reliability, efficiency and operating costs of the trains. Empresa de Manutenção de Equipamento Ferroviário, S.A (EMEF) have leading responsibility for rail maintenance in Portugal, and have developed a solution called “Lusogate”, a modular product to upgrade and renew the locomotive traction system. EMEF have now collaborated with Amantys, developers of power switching technology, to extend the reach of Lusogate into the traction power converter.
This new module replaces aging GTOs while monitoring train performance and maintenance requirements in real-time using newer, energy efficient IGBT Modules with power switching controlled and monitored by Amantys Power Drives.
28 May 2013
Extending the life of ageing rolling stock
Operating on a number of inter-city routes in Portugal, the eight-car 2400 Series trains use a drive module based on GTO based traction converters. A number of factors mean that the maintenance regime is increasing in complexity, including the supply of replacement GTO power semiconductors and the difficulty in repairing or sourcing replacement driver cards. This can lead to locomotives side- lined for several weeks while repairs are carried out at significant expense. Coupled with the cost of lost operation and poor use of capital equipment, this causes major operational problems for the operator. The use of older GTO technology also
creates problems due to the higher harmonic generation and higher losses when compared to newer Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) modules. Adopting these IGBTs can offer an immediate 10% improvement in the power efficiency of the traction converter. Additionally, the older GTO traction converter uses an impractical chemical cooling fluid that brings with it some other challenges in its environmentally safe use in operation and disposal.
Reactive maintenance EMEF and Amantys are developing an innovative approach to railway maintenance, shifting from the traditional operational practice of schedule-based maintenance to Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM), which essentially involves maintaining the equipment before it’s needed and extending the availability of the stock.
Components in Electronics
Introduced in 1992, the Siemens 2400 Series EMU now requires a carefully managed life extension programme
Using its proprietary ‘Lusogate’ technology, EMEF has developed an upgrade for the traction converter that allows it to be rebuilt using IGBT Modules in an air cooled system, eliminating the need for chemical coolants and providing an information gateway from the traction converter to the train management system. With IGBT gate drivers configurable to drive different supplier modules, this also helps with the security and flexibility of replacement parts.
Historically it has been challenging to
export meaningful readings across the high voltage isolation barrier, but the use of Amantys Power Insight over existing fibre- optic links also minimises cost and complexity associated with the technology. By taking advantage of Insight’s increased intelligence to export condition monitoring data from the heart of the power switching process, EMEF was able to export the condition monitoring data from the gate drives into the Lusogate interface and then into the train management system. In the 2400 series EMU there are
EMEF has developed Lusogate to upgrade the traction converter with IGBT Modules in an air cooled system, eliminating the need for chemical coolants, and providing an information gateway to the train management system
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