The integration of AC drive technology to Amtrak´s passenger locomotives

Author

Watkins, Kenneth Y.

Author_Institution

Nat. Railroad Passenger Corp., Philapelphia, PA, USA

fYear

1993

fDate

6-8 Apr 1993

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

5

Abstract

During 1983 Amtrak experienced very heavy DC traction motor use both in the diesel-electric and in the electric powered locomotive fleets. As a result, Amtrak´s executives decided to obtain first hand experience with AC traction which, at that time, was being proposed as the answer to many traction motor problems. The history and operating experience with Amtrak´s AC drive locomotives from both ABB and EMD/Siemens are discussed. The system impact of AC drives and introduction of suitable redundancy techniques for reliability improvements of head end power generation are discussed. The movement towards strategic maintenance concepts with the diagnostic fault data becoming available, and the anticipated future performance requirements for high-speed diesels, electric locomotives, and trainsets are also covered

Keywords

diesel-electric locomotives; electric drives; failure analysis; maintenance engineering; reliability; traction; ABB; AC drive technology; Amtrak; EMD/Siemens; diagnostic fault data; diesel-electric locomotives; electric locomotives; head end power generation; high-speed locomotives; high-speed trainsets; passenger locomotives; redundancy techniques; reliability improvements; strategic maintenance concepts; traction motor; AC motors; Couplings; Drives; Electronics cooling; Inverters; Joining processes; Power system reliability; Thyristors; Traction motors; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Railroad Conference, 1993., Proceedings of the 1993 IEEE/ASME Joint

Conference_Location

Pittsburgh, PA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-0963-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/RRCON.1993.292970

Filename

292970