Temperature Characteristics Analysis of Braking Resistor for High Speed Train

Dae-Dong LEE¹, Jae Myung SHIM², Dong-Seok HYUN¹
¹Department of Electrical Engineering, Hanyang University,
17, Haengdang-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 133-791, Republic of Korea
ldd77@hanbat.ac.kr, dshyun@hanyang.ac.kr; (Corresponding author)
² Department of Electrical Engineering, Hanbat National University,
San 16-1, Duckmyoung-dong, Yeseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-719, Republic of Korea
jmshim@hanbat.ac.kr

Abstract: Dynamic braking, which is frequently used in high speed trains, is a function and device that provides braking force using the electricity that is generated from a traction electric motor, and also dissipates heat from the braking resistor that converts the current from the traction electric motor into heat. The heat from the braking resistor, which is located in the motor block of a high speed train, damages the resistor wires and induces cracks in the insulators that affect the dynamic choppers, traction inverters, and electric motors during dynamic braking, and makes it difficult to control driving during acceleration or deceleration. In this study, the motor block braking resistor, which was recently suggested to compensate for these problems, was designed, and experiments were performed on heat analysis simulation and temperature increase. Further field tests were performed to verify the advantages of the motor block braking resistor.

Keywords: Braking resistor, field test, high speed train, motor block, temperature increase test, total heat flux.

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CITE THIS PAPER AS:
Dae-Dong LEE, Jae Myung SHIM, Dong-Seok HYUN, Temperature Characteristics Analysis of Braking Resistor for High Speed Train, Studies in Informatics and Control, ISSN 1220-1766, vol. 22 (1), pp. 25-32, 2013. https://doi.org/10.24846/v22i1y201303

Introduction

Technologies on railway vehicles have been enhancing the overall capabilities to design and operate mass transportation systems such as general trains, subway trains, and light rail transit. Korea Train eXpress(KTX), which was recently introduced and operated, has 20 cars per train and currently has 46 trains running, 34 of which are domestically manufactured and the others, imported [1].

The power source of the train is 25 kV, single-phase, 60Hz AC, and its traction and braking forces are 13,560 kW and 300 KN, respectively. Its braking methods include regeneration braking, dynamic braking, and air braking. The motor block resistor, which is used in regeneration and dynamic braking, is called the braking resistor.

The motor block is a key element of the performance enhancement and stability of a train. The electric braking circuit of a high speed train normally secures the braking force by controlling the braking chopper according to the amount of regenerated energy. In case of emergency braking or a dead section, however, when the current input to the motor block is above the limit, the circuit activates the dynamic braking, in which the excessive current is discharged as a form of heat through the braking resistor. The heat from the braking resistor, however, damages the resistor wires and induces cracks in the insulators that affect the dynamic choppers, inverters, and traction electric motors during dynamic braking, and make it difficult to control driving during acceleration or deceleration.

In this study, the motor block braking resistor, which was recently suggested to compensate for these problems, was designed, and heat analysis simulation and temperature increase experiments were performed. The advantages of the motor block braking resistor were verified through further field tests.

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