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Energy evaluation of the power network of a DC railway system with

regenerating trains

Article  in  IET Electrical Systems in Transportation · October 2015

DOI: 10.1049/iet-est.2015.0025

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IET Electrical Systems in Transportation

Research Article

ISSN 2042-9738
Energy evaluation of the power network of a Received on 13th May 2015
Revised on 22nd September 2015
DC railway system with regenerating trains Accepted on 30th September 2015
doi: 10.1049/iet-est.2015.0025
www.ietdl.org

Zhongbei Tian 1 ✉, Stuart Hillmansen 1, Clive Roberts 1, Paul Weston 1, Ning Zhao 1, Lei Chen 1,
Mingwu Chen 2
1
School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
2
School of Electrical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China
✉ E-mail: zxt279@bham.ac.uk

Abstract: Regenerating trains are now in common use on many DC fed railway systems, and train operating companies
are able to get a discount on their energy costs if regeneration is active. The electrical energy consumption in a DC system
is significant, and a comprehensive understanding of how regeneration affects the overall system energy consumption
has not been developed. This study presents a simulation method in which a multi-train analysis is used to determine
the system energy consumption with and without regeneration in operation, as well as the impact on the system
energy consumption of different headways. The results are used to determine a full ‘energy audit’ of the system based
on the data of the Beijing Yizhuang subway line. This includes the energy supplied by the substations, the energy
wasted in the power transmission network, the energy used by the train in traction and regenerated by braking trains.
The initial results show that regenerating trains have a significantly lower substation demand, but slightly more energy
is lost within the network. The results also indicate that, the available regenerative energy and total substation demand
vary with different timetables, and there is a 27% difference between the best and worst headways.

Nomenclature 1 Introduction

M mass of the train (kg)
l rotary allowance
s distance of the train (m)
t time (s)
F tractive effort applied at the wheels (N)
g acceleration due to gravity (m/s2)
R resistance of motion (N)
K curvature resistance coefficient (Nm)
r radius of curvature of the track (m)
A Davis equation constant (N)
B Davis equation linear term constant (N/(m/s))
C Davis equation quadratic term constant (N/(m/s)2)
α gradient angle (rad)
Pmech mechanical power of the train (W)
Pelec electrical power of the train (W)
ηmotor electrical motor efficiency
Pregen regenerative power of the train (W)
Rsub equivalent resistance of the substation (Ω)
Vopen circuit no-load voltage of 12-pulse rectifier unit (V)
Vrated rated voltage of 12-pulse rectifier unit (V)
Irated rated current of 12-pulse rectifier unit (A)
PT instantaneous power of the train (W)
UT instantaneous voltage of the train (V)
IT instantaneous current of the train (A)
T journey time of a single trip (s)
N total number of running cycles
t0 headway (s)
Ttotal whole-day operation time (s)
ri resistance of the contact line segment i (Ω)
ρ resistivity of contact lines (Ω/m)
li length of the contact line segment i (m)
With the continuing focus on rising energy prices and environmental
concerns, reducing energy consumption and ensuring the
environmental sustainability of railway systems is becoming a key
topic which is being paid increasing attention. As a solution which
aims to minimise traffic congestion and reduce air pollution in
urban environments, urban rail systems have been developing
rapidly in recent years. Although the railway system is arguably
the most efficient form of land based transport, there is still room
for saving more energy.
Several comprehensive approaches for energy saving include
energy-efficient driving, regenerative braking, reduction of traction
losses, and smart power management, which have been
investigated and assessed [1]. Regenerative braking and
energy-efficient driving are assumed to have the greatest potential
and suitability for reducing energy consumption compared with
other energy-saving methods. Studies of driving strategy
optimisation commonly focus on saving traction-energy by
applying coasting control. A genetic algorithm (GA) was applied
to find proper coasting points to achieve the best energy saving
results [2]. Both classical and heuristic approaches are presented in
[3], and multi-coasting points control shows a better energy saving
performance in a long inter-station section. Rather than searching
for the coasting point, a combined function of energy consumption
and journey time was optimised by a fuzzy logic technique [4].
Dynamical programming was proposed for optimisation, and
performed better than both GA and ant colony optimisation [5]. A
multi-train simulator was developed to reduce energy cost and
penalty cost caused by delay [6, 7]. With the development of
communications-based train control systems, designing an optimal
automatic train operation (ATO) speed profile became a preferred
research [8, 9]. In an attempt to achieve a fast-response online
optimum control system, a mathematical algorithm proved by

IET Electr. Syst. Transp., pp. 1–9

& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015 1
Pontryagin maximum principle was utilised to compute the optimal
speed profile [10–13].
Trains in subway systems are generally powered by DC electricity.
The modelling of a DC railway power network has been studied over
many decades [14–18]. To analyse the non-linear power flows in the
electrical power network, algebraic equations with various iterative
methods, such as Newton–Raphson iterative method, point-Jacobi
method, Zollenkopf’s bifactorisation and incomplete Cholesky
conjugate gradient method, have been studied and applied
[19–21]. In recent years, trains using regenerative braking have
been widely adopted, which can convert kinetic energy into
electrical energy to reduce net energy consumption at the train.
The efficiency of using regenerative energy has been investigated,
and the results show that both the braking trajectory and timetable
(headway) can contribute to the effective usage of braking energy
[22, 23]. Based on the power network modelling, energy
management techniques for energy storage devices in a power
feeding network were studied [24–27].
In a DC-fed railway system the substations are often rectifiers,
which only allow the electricity to flow from the AC side (utility
grid) to the DC power network. As a consequence, when the
global regenerative power is higher than the power required from
other motoring trains, the surplus power will increase the voltage
level of the transmission line. To avoid the danger caused by over
voltage, a voltage limitation control will be applied in this case,
and the surplus power will be wasted in the braking rheostat [28].
This paper proposes a simulation method combining the vehicle
movement and electrical network model. Based on the route data
of Beijing Yizhuang subway line, a set of energy-efficient speed
trajectories with coasting control is applied in the simulation. The
power flow in the network is calculated for a whole-day. System
energy consumption is evaluated with regeneration turned on, and
then turned off. Furthermore, the energy consumption is compared
using different headways, and the efficiency of the utilisation of
braking energy is analysed.
2 Model formulation
2.1 System overview
Considerable work on simulation and optimisation has been done
over a long time. However, conventional research has often
separated the study of train operation and power systems. Most of
Fig. 1 Modelling structure
2 & The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015
the previous work focused on how much mechanical energy can
be saved by various driving strategies, but ignored the effect of
driving strategies on electrical energy consumption from
substations [4, 5, 12, 13]. As minimising the electrical energy
transferred from substations is the final objective of reducing
carbon footprint and financial cost, a whole energy evaluation
simulation has been developed. The modelling structure is shown
in Fig. 1. This approach combines single-train motion simulation
and multi-train power network simulation. The driving strategies
as dynamical input parameters with fixed traction and route data
are imported into the motion simulator. Then, the output single
train trajectory and power requirement with a whole-day timetable
and power network parameters are imported into the power
network simulator, which will export the electrical energy
consumption, including substation and transmission losses, as well
as the actual used and wasted regenerative energy. According to
the energy evaluation results from the multi-train power network
simulation, the dynamic inputs (driving strategies and timetable)
can be modified to optimise the total energy consumption.
2.2 Train movement modelling
The train movement can be determined by standard Newtonian
equations of motion. In the longitudinal direction, the motion of
the vehicle is governed by the tractive effort, the gradient, the
resistance of motion and the curvature resistance in the following
equation
d2 s
M (1 + l) = F − Mg sin (a) − R − K/r (1)
dt 2
where the resistance characteristic described by the Davis equation in
(2), in which A, B and C are vehicle specific coefficients measured by
run-down experiments [29]

2
ds ds
R=A+B +C (2)
dt dt
In general, the curvature resistance is small and it is neglected in this
paper [30]. The train speed curve is generated by the simulator using
different driving strategies, which include accelerating, cruising,
coasting, braking and so on. The accelerating mode is generally
active at the beginning of the journey with maximal tractive
IET Electr. Syst. Transp., pp. 1–9
Fig. 2 Beijing Yizhuang subway tractive effort and resistance and power characteristic

efforts. Cruising mode is invoked when the train reaches the speed Pregen = Pmech × hmotor (5)
limit and partial power is utilised at this time. When the coasting
mode is utilised, no power is needed to draw the train. Braking
mode is applied when the train is approaching a stop or a lower
speed limit. The maximal feasible braking efforts lower than the
rail adhesion are usually utilised to regenerate electrical energy. 2.3 Power network modelling
These energy-efficiency controls have been proved by the
In a DC railway power network, traction rectifier substations are the
Pontryagin maximum principle under the assumption of train
main electricity source for vehicles. Fig. 3 presents a typical DC
traction simplification [10–12, 31], in which the maximum
traction power network with multiple trains modelling system.
acceleration and braking must be the most energy efficient.
There are four DC substations with rectifiers which can prevent
The driving strategies should fulfil the constraints determined by
regenerative current from flowing back. The resistors present the
tractive ability and speed limits. In Fig. 2, the Beijing Yizhuang
overhead line and return running rail resistance, which are split by
line vehicle tractive effort and train resistance of motion with
the running vehicle or substations. The value of resistance depends
standard passenger load is illustrated. According to the generated
on the length and the resistivity of the conductor, which are 15
speed trajectory, the mechanical power of the train can be
and 10 µΩ/m for overhead line and return rail, respectively. The
computed in (3), which is negative when braking
running trains are located on both up and down tracks, which can
be presented by a power source, and power flow analysis can be
ds utilised to solve the whole system, which will be explained in the
Pmech = F × (3)
dt following section.

2.3.1 Rectifier substations: Generally, the electrical supply

To analyse the power flow in the power network simulation, the
substations are equipped with three phase 6-pulse or 12-pulse
power requirements can be transformed from mechanical power
rectifiers shown in Fig. 4. With the development of power
results in (4) and (5). Equation (4) is used to calculate the tractive
electronic techniques, equivalent 24-pulse rectifiers are being
power requirement and (5) is used to calculate the regenerative
applied in modern rapid transit systems, which are combined with
power requirement, which is a negative value. The efficiency of
two 12-pulse rectifiers in parallel. The voltage regulation
the motor can be obtained in Fig. 2
characteristic of the rectifier units has a non-linear feature, in
which the ratio of output voltage and current depends on different
Pelec = Pmech /hmotor (4) loads [32]. To simplify the analysis of simulation, this study limits

Fig. 3 Typical DC traction power network with multiple trains

IET Electr. Syst. Transp., pp. 1–9

& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015 3
Fig. 4 12-Pulse rectifier unit and voltage regulation characteristics
the working region of the rectifier units. Thus the simplified voltage
regulation characteristic becomes linear as shown in Fig. 4. This
diagraph illustrates the output voltage and current at normal load
states. Based on the data from Beijing Yizhuang line, the no-load
voltage of each 12-pulse rectifier unit is 850 V, while the rated
voltage and current are 750 V and 2500 A, respectively. As there
are two 12-pulse rectifiers in parallel, the equivalent resistance for
the rectifier substation can be calculated in the following equation
DV Vopen circuit − Vrated 850 − 750
Rsub = = = = 0.02 V
DI Irated − 0 2500
2.3.2 Train loads: Previous research often utilised constant current
source models or constant efficiency of regenerative braking energy
usage to present trains in a traction power network [13, 33, 34],
while in this study, trains are considered as dynamical power sources
or power loads for a better simulation performance. Most modern
metros use asynchronous motors, such as the Beijing Yizhuang
metro. There are several working states for trains, as follows:
(i) Motoring: When the train is motoring, the rotors of the vehicle
turn slower than the synchronous speed, transforming the input
electrical power into mechanical power. This input power comes
from the power network supplied by substations and other
regenerating trains.
(ii) Normal regenerative braking: When the train is braking, the
rotors are turning faster than the synchronous speed controlled by the
driver. Thus, the motor will transform mechanical energy available at
the drive shaft into electrical energy, which can be transferred back to
the network system to power other motoring trains. For normal
regenerative braking, all of the regenerating energy can be transferred
into the transmission network to power other trains.
(iii) Over-voltage regenerative braking: As regenerative braking
can increase the voltage of a train, a high regen voltage will occur
when there are not enough motoring trains absorbing the
regenerative energy in the power network. In the case of a high
voltage hazard, some braking energy cannot be transferred to
contact lines, but is wasted in the on-board braking rheostat as
heat when the regen voltage exceeds a safe value. Therefore, it is
essential to analyse the amount of usable regenerative energy in
performance evaluation simulation.
The auxiliary load of the train is assumed as a constant, including
the air conditioning and lighting power. The vehicle power
requirement is computed by summing the auxiliary load power
and input power of the motor.
3 Power flow analysis
To obtain the solution of the power network requires solving a set of
equations which describe the internal electrical relationship between
4 & The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015
all the junctions. Analysis method can be applied to solve the
network in the following equation
[I] = [Y ] × [V ] (7)
Due to the trains acting as an ideal power source, the train power
formula (8) can be utilised as constraint of the power analysis,
where PT is the train power demand
(6)
PT = UT IT (8)
According to the nodal analysis and power load requirements, the
non-linear power flow problem can be solved. The approach to
develop the admittance matrix and to solve the power flow
problem of multi-train power network is presented below.
3.1 Admittance matrix development
Defining the substation and train positions is the initial step of
development of the admittance matrix. The locations of substations
are permanently fixed, whereas according to the single-train
trajectory from the train motion simulation, the location of the
single-train can be confirmed at any time, which can be explained
by dtrain(t) where 0 ≤ t ≤ T. Adding an input of the timetable and
the total number of running cycles, the total whole-day operation
time and location of trains can be derived in (9) and (10), where t0
is the headway
Ttotal = T + (N − 1) × t0 (9)
 i 
Dtrains (t) = dtrain (t − n × t0 ), 0 ≤ t ≤ Ttotal , 0 ≤ (t − n × t0 ) ≤ T
(10)
After confirming the location of trains, each resistance of contact
lines segment split by running trains and substations can be
computed in the following equation
ri = r × li (11)
In terms of a complex circuit model, current sources are easier than
voltage sources in iteratively computing the power flow. Using
Norton’s theorem the rectifier substation circuit can be replaced by
a current source with a parallel resistance. As the trains in the
power network are moving all the time, the network circuit should
be reconfigured at every simulation time step. To establish the
complex admittance matrix of the DC power network more
effectively, sparse matrix ordering methods can be utilised [16].
IET Electr. Syst. Transp., pp. 1–9
3.2 Power flow algorithm
In the equivalent circuit of a DC-fed traction power system, the bus
connected to the substation can be referred to as a slack bus, where
the voltage can be confirmed, while the bus connected with trains
can be considered as a load bus, where the power can be
confirmed. The solution to the power-flow problem is to identify
the power of slack buses and the voltage of load buses. There are
several different iterative approaches to solve the nonlinear system,
for instance Gauss–Seidel and Newton–Raphson iterative schemes,
point-Jacobi method, bi-factorisation iterative algorithm and so on.
The bi-factorisation iterative algorithm has been utilised in some
previous studies, whose feasibility has been proved by
mathematical and geometrical explanations in [19, 20]. However,
using the original bi-factorisation iterative algorithm can cause
Fig. 5 Programing flowchart for non-linear DC power system calculation
IET Electr. Syst. Transp., pp. 1–9
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015
some errors, due to the fact that iterative results cannot converge
in some conditions. This is because of the non-receptivity
characteristic of the DC railway power network. To achieve a
more accurate computation, an improved method based on the
bi-factorisation iterative algorithm is utilised in this paper. Two
specific conditions which can cause non-convergence problem are
explained and the improved programming structure for solving DC
power system is depicted in Fig. 5.
(i) Too much regenerative energy surplus: When too much
regenerating power is exported from braking trains, this will
increase the voltage of each substation and reduce the voltage of
each braking train at the first iterative calculation. In this way, the
power flow algorithm cannot work at the next calculation and it
5
Table 1 Simulation parameters which connects the suburbs of Beijing and city centre, covers a
length of 22.73 km and contains 14 stations including both
route length 22.73 km
number of stations 14 underground and over ground segments. The electrical network is
number of substations 12 made up of 12 rectifier substations with nominal 750 V supply.
substation no-load voltage 850 V The no-load voltage set in the simulator is 850 V with an 0.02 Ω
substation inner resistance 0.02 Ω equivalent resistance. The parameters of simulation are shown in
overvoltage limitation 950 V
vehicle mass 199 tonnes
Table 1. Fig. 6 describes the speed trajectory of up and down
passenger mass 88 tonnes track by efficient coasting control, which have been proven to
max. tractive effort 289.45 kN achieve 15% energy saving compared with normal driving
max. tractive power 3680 kW without coasting control [35]. This optimised trajectory has been
auxiliary power 45 kW
validated experimentally in September 2014, which achieved 16%
saving of traction energy compared with current ATO driving and
10% compared with current human driving. In general, the line
leads to an error. The improved simulation detects this condition, and speed limit is 80 km/h. Based on the speed trajectory, the
uses over-voltage control to reduce the regenerative power, shown in time-domain power requirement can be computed, which is
Fig. 5.
shown in Fig. 6.
(ii) Energy demand exceeds substation capacity: When all the
substations are switched on, this situation does not occur with a
normal headway. Therefore, this problem is always because 4.1 Train power assessment
regenerating trains lead to some substations being switched off,
and then the remaining substations cannot provide the power To illustrate the working performance of a DC power network
demanded by other motoring trains. As a result, the power flow simulation for a whole-day operation, some results at a specific
calculated cannot converge and no results will output. The simulation time are firstly explained. Table 2 shows the power
improved programming will find this situation where there is not analysis result at 20,033 s, where the whole-day operation time is
enough energy supply and switch on all substations, limiting the approximately 18 hours (64,800 s). There are 13 trains running in
regenerating power by over-voltage control. the network with a total traction power of 3690 kW and braking
power of 7681 kW. The total usable regenerating power is 878
kW, because of overvoltage limitation. In this case, the output
4 Case studies substation power equals zero, which means all the traction power
demand could potentially be supplied by other regenerating trains.
In this section, some energy evaluation results based on the Beijing However, only 878/7681 = 11.43% of the braking power is reused
Yizhuang subway line are presented. The Yizhuang subway line, by other trains. The efficiency of potential regenerative energy at

Fig. 6 Up and down direction speed trajectory and electrical power requirement

IET Electr. Syst. Transp., pp. 1–9

6 & The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015
Table 2 Train power detection at simulation time = 20,033 s
Headway = 300 s, Simulation time = 20,033 s

Train no. Location, km Direction Over voltage Power, kW Final power, kW Voltage, V

1 1.35 up yes −2957 −2 950

2 2.57 down yes −3637 −24 950
3 4.70 up yes −952 −717 949
4 6.22 down no 45 45 934
5 8.96 up no 45 45 909
6 9.84 down no 45 45 901
7 11.94 up no 50 50 885
8 13.26 down no 45 45 875
9 14.95 up no 45 45 864
10 16.46 down no 47 47 855
11 18.82 up no 45 45 843
12 19.91 down no 45 45 833
13 22.63 up no 3727 3727 776

Table 3 Substation output results at simulation time = 20,033 s

Sub no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

location, km 0 2.62 4.71 6.97 9.31 10.66 13.48 14.47 16.46 18.82 20.10 22.73
voltage, V 950 950 950 928 906 895 874 867 855 843 832 786
power, kW 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 299 780 2739

20,033 s is low, 88.57% of which has been dissipated in the on-board braking power of 3637 kW. The power and voltage output from
braking rheostat. This is because that the first three trains are braking substations at this simulation time is described in Table 5.
and regenerating power at this time, but only the last train 13 is The following section shows some energy evaluation results for
motoring which requires a lot of power. Due to the long distance the whole journey.
between them, only a little of regenerated power can be transferred
which also causes the first three trains reach the over-voltage
4.2 Energy audit
limitation. In Table 3, the substation output results are described.
Only the last three substations output power to supply the train 13. According to the single-train power requirement, whole-day energy
Table 4 shows the results at 20,066 s, where the total traction consumption has been calculated for all trains operating in the
power, braking power and usable regenerating power are 9892, system. This includes the energy supplied by the substations, that
5548 and 4839 kW, respectively. Therefore, 87.22% of braking used by the train in traction, that regenerated by the trains with
power has been reused, and substation output power is 6728 kW. regen and that wasted in the transmission network. For simplicity,
Compared with the previous case, a regenerative efficiency with the headway remains constant all day. As the substation energy
87.22% is better. From the results in Table 4, the voltage of train 7 consumption is compared with different headways, the total
is the lowest with 745 V, because the tractive power train 7 is very number of running cycles is set at 121 to make the total traction
large which makes the line voltage drop considerably. The highest energy consumption and braking energy the same with different
voltage is 947 V, at train 4. This is because train 4 can regenerate a headways. Fig. 7 shows the energy results of the one day’s
large amount of energy and transfer it into other motoring trains operation with regeneration turned off versus different headways,
nearby, thus the voltage of train 4 is high. Due to the over-voltage which range from 300 to 400 s. The total traction energy and
limitation, the voltage of train 4 cannot exceed 950 V; as a result, braking energy are 64.31 and 43.56 MWh, respectively, and they
the output regenerative power is 2929 kW which is less than the are fixed values with different headways. The substation energy
consumption ranges from 68.90 to 70.62 MWh, and there is only
2% difference with various headways. Of the substation output
energy, 7–9% has been dissipated by the substation inner resistor
Table 4 Train power detection at simulation time = 20,066 s and contact lines, with an average value of 5.01 MWh.
Fig. 8 illustrates the energy results with regenerating trains. As
Headway = 300 s, Simulation time = 20,066 s there are no changes in the number of operating trains and train
Train no. Location, Up/ Over Power, Final Voltage,
trajectory, the traction energy and braking energy are also the
km down voltage kW power, V same for the results without regeneration. The energy consumption
kW at the substations is reduced by 22–42% by having regeneration.
The figure shows that the effective use of regenerated energy is
1 1.33 up no 51 51 915 highly variable, and is not simply related to headway. This is
2 2.62 down no 54 54 916
3 4.70 up no 652 652 919
because the stations positions are at unequal distances and the
4 6.80 down yes −3637 −2929 947 braking and accelerating trains randomly overlap. The energy
5 8.40 up no 45 45 895 consumption as measured at the substations ranges from a
6 10.35 down no 45 45 841 minimum of 39.77 MWh (307 s headway) to a maximum of
7 11.84 up no 3727 3727 745
8 13.48 down no 51 51 829
55.02 MWh (350 s headway). In principle, more than 27% of the
9 14.48 up no −1820 −1820 841 energy saving from the substation can be achieved by ‘optimising’
10 16.50 down no 3727 3727 795 the headway. However, in practice, even small deviations in
11 18.81 up no 1938 1938 814 timings of a single train could result in a significant reduction
12 20.10 down no 52 52 832
13 22.13 up no 45 45 840
(or even increase) in the effective use of regenerated power.
The network losses are a little higher, with an average value of

IET Electr. Syst. Transp., pp. 1–9

& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015 7
Table 5 Substation output results at simulation time = 20,066 s
Sub no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

location, km 0 2.62 4.71 6.97 9.31 10.66 13.48 14.47 16.46 18.82 20.10 22.73
voltage, V 915 916 919 936 870 833 829 841 800 814 832 843
power, kW 0 0 0 0 0 733 902 389 2116 1525 756 308

Fig. 7 Energy audit with regeneration turned off

5.60 MWh, when regeneration is turned on, but this is not significant consumption is due to the complex interaction between the
compared to the net energy reduction. In the current model, the headway, the inter-station journey time, and line receptivity. Small
usable regenerated energy accounts for 35–68% of the overall changes in the otherwise constant headway vary the effective use
braking energy. The variability of the substation energy of available regenerated energy significantly (Table 6).

Fig. 8 Energy audit with regeneration turned on

IET Electr. Syst. Transp., pp. 1–9

8 & The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015
Table 6 Energy evaluation of different rail system
System with System with
regen off regen on
simulation duration 121 121
(running cycles)
traction energy demand, 64.31 64.31
MWh
braking energy demand, 43.56 43.56
MWh
max substation 70.62 55.02
consumption, MWh
min substation 68.90 39.77
consumption, MWh
max available regen 0 30.28
energy, MWh
min available regen 0 15.56
energy, MWh
average network energy 5.01 5.60
loss, MWh
5 Conclusion
The contribution of this paper is to propose a DC power network
modelling method combining train motion and power network
simulation, which can be utilised to evaluate the energy
consumption for a whole subway traction power system. Rather
than focusing on mechanical energy optimisation, the method
illustrated in this paper aims to develop a global energy audit
simulation system and achieve energy saving from the sources
(substations). The development of an integrated simulation
combining the train motion and traction power network is
illustrated and the simulation results based on the Beijing
Yizhuang subway line are described.
Train power assessment results show that the amount of
regenerated braking energy that can be used effectively in a
non-reversible substation power system is highly variable. The
effectiveness of regeneration depends on the relative positions of
the motoring trains and regenerative braking trains. The energy
audit result shows different system energy consumption with the
regen on and off as well as the energy consumption with various
headways. It has been noted that the system energy consumption
with regen on can be reduced by 22–42% compared with the
system with regen off, although the transmission loss is slightly
increased due to higher current transmission. Furthermore, the
system energy consumption with regeneration turned on can
benefit from timetable optimisation, which can, in principle,
increase the efficiency of regenerative energy utilisation and
additional 27% energy saving can be achieved.
The conclusions are relevant for systems with a mix of standard and
regenerative trains on the network. It is recommended that the energy
bill should not be based on the traction energy consumed, but on a
value which is derived from the cost of the traction energy, and the
(lower) value of the regenerative energy. The future work will focus
on developing various algorithms to optimise the traction power
system based on this detailed energy audit simulation.
6 Acknowledgments
This research was jointly supported by Guangzhou Metro Corporation
and Guangzhou Metro Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd. The
authors also thank due to the financial support from Anhui
Birmingham International Research Institute in Rail Transportation
and Anhui Comprehensive Transportation Research Institute.
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