A Novel Arc Detection Method for DC Railway Systems

Yljon Seferi, Steven M. Blair, Christian Mester and Brian G. Stewart
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Yljon Seferi: Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ, UK
Steven M. Blair: Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ, UK
Christian Mester: Federal Institute of Metrology METAS, Lindenweg 50, 3003 Bern-Wabern, Switzerland
Brian G. Stewart: Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ, UK

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-21

Abstract: Electric arcing due to contact interruption between the pantograph and the overhead contact line in electrified railway networks is an important and unwanted phenomenon. Arcing events are short-term power quality disturbances that produce significant electromagnetic disturbances both conducted and radiated as well as increased degradation on contact wire and contact strip of the pantograph. Early-stage detection can prevent further deterioration of the current collection quality, reduce excessive wear in the pantograph-catenary system, and mitigate failure of the pantograph contact strip. This paper presents a novel arc detection method for DC railway networks. The method quantifies the rate-of-change of the instantaneous phase of the oscillating pantograph current signal during an arc occurrence through the Hilbert transform. Application of the method to practical pantograph current data measurements, demonstrates that phase derivative is a useful parameter for detecting and localizing significant power quality disturbances due to electric arcs during both coasting and regenerative braking phases of a running locomotive. The detected number of arcs may be used to calculate the distribution of the arcs per kilometre as an alternative estimation of the current collection quality index and consequently used to assess the pantograph-catenary system performance. The detected arc number may also contribute to lowering predictive maintenance costs of pantograph-catenary inspections works as these can be performed only at determined sections of the line extracted by using arcing time locations and speed profiles of the locomotive.

Keywords: pantograph-catenary system; current collection quality; arc detection; predictive maintenance; railway electrical networks; Hilbert transform; rail transportation; power quality disturbance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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