Study on impact performance and optimisation of the CRH380 high-speed train traction converter cooling unit

AbstractThe reliability of the traction converter, a core component in the power traction system of the CRH380 EMU equipment, is heavily reliant on the performance of its cooling unit. The service life of the cooling unit is primarily impacted by its material performance. In order to investigate the material performance of the cooling unit, an impact model was established by using the finite element method. The stress distribution of the cooling unit, made of different materials, was analysed under various impact loads. The accuracy of the calculation results was verified through experiments. The research results show that stress concentration and cracks were identified in the cooling unit of the initial material when subjected to different impact loads. Consequently, an improvement scheme was proposed, which resulted in reduced deformation of the cooling unit, enhanced damage resistance, and an overall mass reduction of approximately 138 kg. These improvements can effectively increase the service life of the cooling unit. The research findings can serve as a reference for further research and optimisation of cooling unit materials.Keywords: High-speed traintraction converter cooling unitmaterial impact performanceservice lifefinite element method (FEM) Disclosure statementThe authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.Additional informationFundingThe authors are grateful for the support from the Youth Funding Project of Hubei Polytechnic University (No. 21xjz03Q) and the open project of Intelligent Transportation Technology and Equipment of Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory (No. 2020XZ109).