JAIPUR NATIONAL UNIVERSITY ,

JAIPUR

Name
:
Roll No. :
Subject :
Training
Session :

Rajneesh
5EE42
Practical
Seminar - 1
2011-12

TRACTION
MOTOR

INTRODUCTION TO DIESEL SHED

RATLAM
Diesel Shed Ratlam(M.P.) is established
on 1 may 1967. It is awarded with ISO 9001-2000
and ISO 14001-1996 certificate firstly in western
railway. It is located on main line between Delhi
and Mumbai. Shed is a place where maintenance
and repair of locomotive is done. As on today ,the
shed has holding of 140 diesel locos.
The entire diesel shed is divided into
mainly two sections :
(1) Mechanical Section
(2) Electrical Section

LOCOMOTIVE AND ITS TYPE

Locomotive is an automatic
device which kept on steel frame having
ability to run on rails and has power to pull
passenger as well as goods trains.
Locomotives are of three types :
(1) Steam Locomotive
(2) Diesel Electric Locomotive
(3) Electric Locomotive

(1) STEAM LOCOMOTIVE

Steam locomotive played a key role
during development and golden age of
railroading. Steam locomotive is a self contained
power unit consisting of a steam engine , a boiler
with fuel and water supplies. Superheated steam
is admitted to the cyllinders by a suitable valve
arrangement and the pressure on the pistons
being transmitted through main rod to the
driving wheels. The superheated steam is
controlled by a throttle.

Steam locomotive has been replaced in

developed nations by electric locomotives and
diesel- electric locomotives because of following
disadvantages of steam locomotive :
(a) It has strictly limited overload capacity.
(b) It has very low thermal efficiency of about 6-8%
because installation of a condenser on locomotive
is very difficult.
(c) It is available for hauling work for about 60% of
its working days, remaining 40% being spent in
preparing for service, in maintence and overhaul.

(2) DIESEL ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

Diesel electric locomotives were introduced firstly
in united states in 1924 and have become the most widely
used type of locomotive. It was introduced for first time in
India in 1958.
Diesel electric locomotive has electric drive in form
of traction motors driving the axles and controlled with
electronic controls. It differs from electric locomotives
principally in that it has its own generating station instead
of being connected to a remote generating station through
overhead wires. The generating station consists of a large
diesel engine coupled to dc generator that provides power
to traction motors. These motors drive the driving wheels.

TRAIN WITH DIESEL ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

Advantages: (a) It provides high starting

acceleration in comparison to steam locomotive.
(b) It is more efficient than a steam locomotive.

Disadvantages: (a) It is costlier than either

steam or electric locomotive for same power.
(b) Life of diesel engine is shorter comparatively.
(c) Regenerative braking cannot be employed
though rheostatic can be.
(d) Overload capacity is limited because diesel
engine is a constant output prime mover.

(3) ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

Electric locomotives generally have two or
more dc or ac motors. In these locomotives , power
is collected from an electric trolley which is running
on an overhead wire. The overhead wire can carry
both types of supply ac as well as dc. Indian railway
also uses both types of supply systems :
(a) AC system- 25 kv single phase 50 hz ac supply
(b) DC system- 1500 V dc supply
Only western zone and central zone of
railway
uses dc system.

TRAIN WITH ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

Advantages: (a) It does not produce any smoke and

flue gases, so it is most suited for undergrounds
trains.
(b) The maintenance cost of electric locomotive is
lower than steam locomotive.
(c) Traction motors used in it have very high starting
torqe.
(d) Regenerative braking is used for ac systems.
(e) An electric locomotive can be started in a moment
but a steam locomotive takes about 2 hours to heat.

Disadvantages: (a) Electric traction has high

initial cost of laying out overhead electric
supply system.
(b) Power failure for few minutes can cause
traffic dislocation for hours.
(c) Communication lines which usually run
parallel to the power supply lines suffer from
electrical interference.
(d) Electric locomotive can be use only on those
routes which have been electrified.

DC SYSTEM OF RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION

In dc system with overhead catenary, dc
traction motors are supplied 1500 V DC by catenary.
In overhead electrification systems, electricity is
supplied through an overhead system of suspended
cable which is known as catenary. Indian Railway
uses catenaries of constant tension type. At one
end of each section of catenary the cable connects
to a pulley by going over this ,is terminated by
hanging a weight. Catenary wires are usually made
of copper alloys such as cadmium-copper which has
high tensile strength of 63 kg per sequare mm.

For transmission of 1500 V DC by

overhead wire, substations are made and
they are located 40 km apart with each
other. These substations receive power from
132 kv ,3-phase network. At these
substations, this high-voltage 3-phase supply
is converted into low-voltage 1-phase supply
with help of Scott-connected 3-phase
transformers. Next this low voltage ac is
converted into 1500 V DC by using suitable
rectifiers. The dc supply so obtained is fed to
dc traction motors via suitable contact.

Advantages of dc system over 1- ac system:

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

DC system does not cause electrical interference with

overhead communication lines.
DC motors are better suited for frequent and rapid
acceleration of heavy trains than ac motors.
DC train equipment is lighter, less costly and more
efficient than similar ac equipment.
When operating under similar conditions, dc trains
consumes less energy than 1- ac train.

Disadvantage: Only one disadvantage is the necessity of

locating ac/dc conversion substations at short distance
apart.

TRACTION MOTOR
(1) Description: The traction motor is a four
pole DC series motor in which field winding is
connected in series with armature. It is a
forced ventilated machine arranged for axle
mounting on sleeve bearing. Transverse
movement is limited by the flanges of axle
suspension bearing. An electric locomotive
as well as diesel-electric locomotive in indian
railway contain six dc traction motors at
once.

(2) Construction: The armature core is made

from high permeability silicon steel
stampings and these stampings are
separated by thin coating of varnish as
insulation with each other. The armature is
lap wounded with 100% equalization.
The commutator is built up with
hard drawn silver bearing copper segment
which are insulated with micanite segment.
After the commutator is statically and
dynamically seasoned to insure stability ,the
complete armature is dynamically balanced.

The high permeability cast steel magnet

frame is machined to insure alignment of the end
shields, pole bores & axle way bores. The main
poles are built from steel laminations.
There are four brush holder per motor,
each carrying 3 split carbon brushes. Each brush
holder is carried on two insulated support pins.
The armature is supported on grease
lubricated roller bearing. Bearing assemblies are
sealed type, so necessity of lubrication in about 2
or 3 years.

(3) Rating: A traction motor has

following ratings:
Voltage
285 volts
Current
980
ampere
Speed
360 rpm
Power
248 kw

(4) Principle: When a current carrying conductor is

placed in a magnetic field, a force is exerted on it
and direction of force is determined by flemings
left hand rule. In a dc motor, dc supply is provided
to field winding. As a result, unidirectional
magnetic field is produced and magnetic field lines
cut the rotor conductors which carry current equal
to field current. Since the conductors are on
circumference of rotor, force acts in tangential
direction to the rotor. Thus a torque is developed
on the rotor and it starts to rotate.

(5) Operation: To understand the operation of

a traction motor, three transition panels are
studied. Transition panels perform transition
events. These events correspond to field
weaking and changing the connections of
traction motor. Three transition panels are
performed at three different speeds
First transition at 30 km/hr speed
Second transition at 50 km/hr speed
Third transition at 80 km/hr speed

When 1500 V dc supply is provided to circuit of

traction motors, a large current flows through
armature of motor as it is connected in series with
field. As a result armature, armature begins to rotate
and a back emf is generated which opposes the main
supply voltage. ( back emf E b = PNZ/60A
Eb N
)
As speed increases, back emf also increases
and it offers resistance to flow of generated current to
traction motors. Hence for increasing the speed , the
supply voltage must increase but it is not

possible to increase supply above 1500 V.

Therefore, when speed is reached at 30 km/hr, first
transition panel is switched on. Now a parallel
combination of two series connected traction motors
is under operation and resistance is connected in
parallel with the field of motors to refuse back emf.
Now speed increases beyond 40 km/hr
and back emf again starts increasing rapidly. So
second transition panel is switched on at speed of
50km/hr. After second transition, all six motors run in
parallel

without resistance parallel to field of motors.

No longer back emf is controlled
by second transition panel as speed
increases beyond 70 km/hr, so third
transition panel is switched on at speed of 80
km/hr. By this transition, resistances are
connected parallel with field of motors in
circuit of second transition to reduce back
emf.

(6) Speed-Torque characteristic:

The speed Vs torque characteristic of dc series
traction
motor with a constant votltage
supply is shown on right side.As
the speed decreases, torque
for motor increases sharply. As
load is removed from motor,
speed increases sharply. Hence
it must have a load connected.

(7) Braking: Dynamic or rheostatic braking is

employed for electric locomotives. During the time
of braking, traction motors are disconnected from
supply and is connected to a dynamic resistance.
Now traction motors are acted as traction generator
because kinetic energy is converted into electrical
energy. The direction of current is reversed during
this period as before braking. Field current also
reverses as field winding is connected in series with
armature. Hence connections of field winding should
be changed such that current flows in it in should

be changed such that current flows in it in same

direction as before braking. The output of
generator is given to grid resistance and it
dissipates power as heat. Due to friction between
wheel and track, a opposite torque is developed.
As a result, locomotive stops.
If connections of field winding is not
revesed, no braking will occure.
Dynamic resistance must be less than
critical resistance otherwise generator will not be
self exciting.