Energy conversion

Name : mostafa Mohamed noaman Hussein .

Id : 181060062 .
Repot about: Electric Traction Systems
Dr : Hassan Mohamed Mahmoud .
Electric Traction Systems And Their Advantages
The electric traction system is the most efficient of all other traction system such
as steam and internal combustion (IC) engine type systems. It offers several
benefits over other systems, including quick start and stop, very efficient,
pollution-free, easy to handle and easy speed control.
With the advancement of electrical drives for traction systems, this electrification
of traction becomes much popular in several traction services including metro or
suburban railways.

What is Electric Traction System?

A system which causes the propulsion of vehicle in which tractive or driving force
is obtained from various devices such as diesel engine drives, steam engine
drives, electric motors, etc. is called as traction system.
It can also be defined as the railway vehicle that provides the necessary
traction power to move the train is referred as the traction or locomotive. This
traction power can be diesel, steam or electric power.
The traction system can be classified as non-electric and electric traction
systems.

Non-electric traction system

A traction system that doesn’t use electrical energy for the movement of vehicle
at any stage is referred as non-electric traction system.
The steam engine drive is the best example of a non electric traction system and
it is the first locomotive system used before the invention of actual electric
traction systems.

Electric traction system

Electric traction involves the use of electricity at some stage or all the stages of
locomotive movement. This system includes straight electrical drive, diesel
electric drive and battery operated electric drive vehicles.
In this, electrical motors are used for producing the vehicle movement and are
powered by drawing electricity from utilities or diesel generators or batteries.
It has many advantages over non-electric traction systems such as more clean
and easy to handle, no need of coal and water, easy speed control, high
efficiency, low maintenance and running costs, etc.
As mentioned above, electric traction systems can be self contained locomotives
or vehicles that receive power from electric distribution system (substations). Self
contained locomotives includes

Battery operated electrical drives

Diesel operated electrical drives
Vehicles that receives the power from substation is also referred as a third rail
systems which includes
Railway electric vehicles fed from overhead AC or DC supply
Trolley buses or tramways supplied with DC supply (i.e., battery electric drives)

4 Supply Systems of Electric Traction

The way of giving the power supply to locomotive unit is generally referred as
traction electrification system. Presently, there are four types of track
electrification systems are available based on the availability of supply. These
are
 DC traction system
 Single phase AC traction system
 Three phase AC traction system
 Composite traction system

DC Traction System
In this traction system, electrical motors are operates on DC supply to produce
necessary movement of the vehicle. Mostly DC series motors are used in this
system. For trolley buses and tramways, DC compound motors are used where
regenerative braking is required.
The various operating voltages of DC traction system include 600V, 750 V,
1500V and 3000V.
DC supply at 600-750V is universally employed for tramways and light metros
in urban areas and for many suburban areas. This supply is obtained from a
third rail or conductor rail, which involves very large currents.
DC supply at 1500- 3000 is used for main line services such as light and heavy
metros. This supply is drawn mostly from an overhead line system that involves
small currents.
In both cases, only one conductor or rail is required to supply power to
locomotive while track rails are used as return conductors in majority of cases.
Both these supply voltages are fed from substations which are located 3-5 KM
for suburban services and 40 to 50KMs for main line services. These substations
receive power (typically, 110/132 KV, 3 phase) from electric power grids.
This three phase high voltage is stepped-down and converted into single phase
low voltage using scott-connected three phase transformers.
This single phase low voltage is then converted into DC voltage using suitable
converters or rectifier such as power electronic converter, rotary converters,
mercury arc converters, etc. The DC supply is then applied to the DC motor via
suitable contact system and additional circuitry.