ORIGINATOR LARRY MACHAAK

E
EFFECTIVE DATE OCTOBER 4 20012
REVISION 1
PAGE 1 OF 2

Description of tthe ATS D

DC Tractio on Locomo
otive Systtem
Oct 2012

DC Bus +

Tractioon
Armature Pow
wer Armatuure
DC Bus Chopper Contaactor
Capacitor Module

Line
AC Reactor
Speed
Input Sensorr
Rectiffier
Moduule
C
Control Bus
TTraction Field
Windings
Chopper
Module

Reverser

Control Bus
A300638
Dynamicc Field
Brake Crowbar
Dynamic
Brake Resistorss
Chopper
Module

DC Bus - D
DC Bus -

Figgure 1: Main componentss of the Tractiion System 
Control Bus

A
American Traction S Systems
C
Commercially-Sensitive Proprietary Infoormation
 ORIGINATOR LARRY MACHAAK
E
EFFECTIVE DATE OCTOBER 4 20012
REVISION 1
PAGE 2 OF 2

 
Descrip
ption of M
Modules
The Rectiffier Module co onverts 480V, 60Hz AC power to DC po ower at a volta age of approxximately 650VV. The
output of the rectifier module
m is sm
moothed by six x parallel-connected capaccitors. Line rreactor reduce es the
harmonic load on the 48 80V supply. The
T rectifier mo odule consistss of a half-conttrolled SCR / Diode bridge ffor the
purpose of limiting the charging curren
nt drawn by the bus capacitoors during powwer up.

The Chopper Modules are a power converters designned to operate

e over a DC bu us voltage rangge of 500V to 800V.
They are used
u as comp ponents of a po
ower conversiion system co
onsisting of sevveral moduless sharing a com
mmon
DC bus filtter capacitor.

When the e Armature Ch hopper Module is used to control the a armature of D DC traction motor, it contro ols the
armature current
c by app
plying pulses of
o the DC bus voltage directtly to the armaature at a frequ
uency of 1kHzz. The
pulse widtth, or duty cyclle, is varied fro
om zero to a fu d in accordancce with the volttage required by the
ull 1ms period
armature. This require ement is dete ermined by a high-speed ccurrent regula ator which con ntinuously see eks to
maintain th he output currrent at a level that matches the value of thhe traction refe
erence. The m mean current drawn
from the DC
D bus is prop portional to the
e duty cycle as
s well as the a
armature curre ent. This mea ans that the chhopper
can supply y the armaturre with a very large amountt of current att low speed w while consumin ng a relativelyy small
amount off current from the DC bus. The Armaturre Chopper M Module also re eceives speed d feedback fro om the
axle that itt is driving and
d continuously y compares thee measured axxle speed with h a reference iinput derived ffrom a
non-driven n axle. For th he purpose of controlling wheel-spin
w or wheel-slide, a speed regu ulator overridees the
traction refference with a lower value iff the axle speeed deviates ouutside a small band of accep ptable values.

The Arma ature Chopperr Module can also operatee very effectivvely as a brakke down to ve ery low speed ds. It
t by applying a voltage to the armature that is lower tthan its open-ccircuit voltage so that both ccurrent
achieves this
and poweer flow are revversed. This change
c occurrs as a seamle ess transition when the po olarity of the trraction
reference is reversed.

Energy reccovered from the traction motors

m during dynamic
d brakin
ng is returned d to the DC bu
us. All of the e
energy
returned to
o the bus must be dissipated without res sulting in a larrge increase iin voltage. Thhe excess po ower is
absorbed in dynamic brrake resistors controlled by the Dynamic Brake Choppe er. The Dynaamic Brake Ch hopper
normally operates
o indeppendently by re esponding only to the increa ase in DC buss voltage that occurs when power
absorbed by the Armatu ure Chopper Modules
M is returned to the DC bus. A sself-load mode e is provided ffor the
purpose of applying a te
est load to the traction powerr system while e the car is sta
ationary.

The Field Chopper Mo odule has iden ntical construcction and is uused to controol the currentt in the motorr field.
Typically, a locomotive e has either 4 or 6 identic cal traction m
motors. The fields require very little vo oltage,
consequen ntly, they may y be connecteed as a series string controllled by a single chopper. B By commandin ng the
field curre
ent to be equ ual to the armmature curren nts, the overa apability can be made to follow
all traction ca
characterisstics similar to
o those of the conventional series-field arrrangement. A At the nominaal DC bus volta age of
750V, tracction motors of o the EMD D7 77 and D78 series
s with typ
pical gearing h
have a base sspeed equivallent to
approxima ately 25mph. Above this sp peed, the field current must be progressivvely weakened d in order to eextend
the speed range. A spill-over field co ontrol system is implemente ed by using thhe armature ccontrollers to ssend a
field weakening request when any one e of them reacches a duty cyycle of 100%.

A separate ely-excited mo otor operating at high speed d with a weak field can prod duce a very hig gh armature vvoltage
if the field controller fails
s in such a waay that the DC C bus voltage is applied direectly to the field circuit. Thee Field
Crowbar is s used to prev vent a high armmature voltage e arising in the
e event of a fa h field condition. On
ailure to a high
detection of such a con ndition, the SC
CR in the Fielld Crowbar diverts the field d controller ouutput through a low-
value resis stor in order to
o blow the fusee in the Field Chopper
C Modu ule.

A
American Traction S Systems
C
Commercially-Sensitive Proprietary Infoormation