The effect of a ballast resistor block on the efficiency of an electric circuit of the ac electric locomotive

Abstract

In order to reduce electricity consumption when handling heavy freight trains, it is necessary to increase the performance characteristics of a regenerative braking mode of electric locomotives, the energy performance characteristics of which are currently unsatisfactory. In this article, the effect of the ballast resistor block on the efficiency indicator of the electric circuit of an alternating current electric locomotive is considered. The ballast resistor block is designed to ensure the static stability of the regenerative braking mode when organizing the inversion process of a thyristor rectifier-inverter converter with a constant margin angle δ = const. However, the use of ballast resistors in the anchor chain of traction electric engines negatively affects the energy performance characteristics of the electric locomotive in the regenerative braking mode. In order to eliminate this drawback, a method is proposed to ensure the stable operation of the regenerative braking mode without the block of ballast resistors of the alternating current electric locomotive with a rectifier-inverter converter based on IGBT transistors. The calculation of the efficiency performance characteristics of the electric circuit of an alternating current electric locomotive for the regenerative braking mode is presented both in the presence of the ballast resistor block in the power circuit and in the absence of it.