Method and system for monitoring a pantograph of a railway vehicle and railway vehicle

• US 10,048,303 B2
• Filed: 11/08/2016
• Issued: 08/14/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2015
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Alstom Transport Technologies
• Original Assignee: Alstom Transport Technologies
• Inventors: Barlini, Davide, Loguercio, Donato-Carlo
• Primary Examiner(s): Hollington, Jermele M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rodriguez, Douglas X
• Application Number:
  US15/346,128
• Publication Number:
  US 20170131337A1
• Time in Patent Office: 644 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/30 Trolleys
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/0023 Detecting, eliminating, remedying or compensating for drive train abnormalities, e.g. failures within the drive train
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 5/045 with trolley wire finders
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 5/24 Pantographs
• CPC Class Codes: B60M 1/12 Trolley lines; Accessories therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/008 on air- or spacecraft, railway rolling stock or sea-going vessels
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/14 Circuits therefor , e.g. for generating test voltages, sensing circuits G01R31/1209 - G01R31/1227 take precedence; for testing switches G01R31/327

Abstract

A system for monitoring a pantograph of a railway vehicle, the pantograph being adapted to be connected to a catenary and electrically connected to a traction unit, the catenary being adapted to provide an alternating current to the railway vehicle, the system further including: a voltage step detection device for detecting a voltage step of a pantograph voltage at the pantograph, a zero crossing detection device for detecting a zero crossing of a line current, the line current being a portion of a pantograph current provided to the traction unit, the pantograph current being the current flowing through the pantograph; and a bouncing detection portion adapted to determine at least one bouncing time of the pantograph based on one or more detected voltage steps of the voltage step detection device and/or one or more detected zero crossings of the zero crossing detection device.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring a pantograph of a railway vehicle, the pantograph being adapted to be connected to a catenary and electrically connected to a traction unit, the catenary being adapted to provide an alternating current to the railway vehicle, the system further comprising:

a voltage step detection device for detecting one or more voltage steps of a pantograph voltage at the pantograph;

a zero crossing detection device for detecting one or more zero crossings of a line current, the line current being a portion of a pantograph current provided to the traction unit, the pantograph current being the current flowing through the pantograph; and

a bouncing detection portion adapted to determine at least one bouncing time of the pantograph based on one or more detected voltage steps of the voltage step detection device and one or more detected zero crossings of the zero crossing detection device.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the bouncing detection portion is further adapted to detect at least one arc time of an electrical arc between the pantograph and the catenary based on the one or more detected voltage steps of the voltage step detection device and the one or more detected zero crossings of the zero crossing detection device.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the voltage step detection device comprises a signal generation portion, which is adapted to generate a first signal based on each detected voltage step, wherein the bouncing detection portion is adapted to determine the at least one bouncing time of the pantograph based on the first signal.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the signal generation portion comprises a band pass filter, which is centered to a predetermined frequency.

5. The system according to claim 3, wherein the zero crossing detection device comprises a zero crossing detector, which is adapted to generate a second signal based on a detected zero crossing of the line current, wherein the bouncing detection portion is adapted to determine the at least one bouncing time of the pantograph based on the second signal and/or first signal.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the zero crossing detection device further comprises a second detection unit being adapted to detect the line current, wherein the zero crossing detector is connected to the second detection unit, in particular via a low pass filter, and adapted to generate the second signal based on the detected line current.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the voltage step detection device comprises a filter circuit, which is connected in parallel to the traction unit and which is, in particular, adapted to generate an oscillating filter current in response to a voltage step of the pantograph current.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the oscillating filter current oscillates in a predetermined frequency.

9. The system according to claim 7, wherein the voltage step detection device comprises a signal generation portion, which is adapted to generate a first signal based on a detected voltage step, wherein the bouncing detection portion is adapted to determine the at least one bouncing time of the pantograph based on the first signal, wherein the voltage step detection device comprises a first detection unit being adapted to detect the oscillations of the filter current, wherein the signal generation portion is connected to the first detection unit and adapted to generate the first signal based on the detected filter current.

10. The system according claim 1, wherein the bouncing detection portion includes a state machine comprising a first state, when the pantograph is connected to the catenary and at least one second state and/or third state, when the pantograph is disconnected from the catenary, wherein the state machine is adapted to pass over between the first, second and/or third states based on a detected voltage step, in particular the first signal, and a detected zero crossing, in particular the second signal, wherein the determined bouncing time is determined based on a first time of the transition from the first state to the second state and a second time of the transition from one of the second or third states back to the first state.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the second state defines that there is an arc between the pantograph and the catenary and the third state defines that there is no arc between the pantograph and the catenary, wherein the state machine is adapted to pass over from the second to the third state upon a detected zero crossing, in particular the second signal, and to pass over from the third state to the second state upon a detected voltage step, wherein determined arc time is determined based on the time the state machine is in the second state.

12. A railway vehicle comprising a pantograph adapted to be connected to a catenary, a traction unit electrically connected to the pantograph, and an electric motor connected to the traction unit and a system for monitoring the pantograph of the railway vehicle, the pantograph being adapted to be connected to the catenary and electrically connected to the traction unit, the catenary being adapted to provide an alternating current to the railway vehicle, the system further comprising:

a voltage step detection device for detecting one or more voltage steps of a pantograph voltage at the pantograph,

a zero crossing detection device for detecting one or more zero crossings of a line current, the line current being a portion of a pantograph current provided to the traction unit, the pantograph current being the current flowing through the pantograph; and

a bouncing detection portion adapted to determine at least one bouncing time of the pantograph based on one or more detected voltage steps of the voltage step detection device and one or more detected zero crossings of the zero crossing detection device.

13. A method for monitoring a pantograph of a railway vehicle, the pantograph being adapted to be connected to a catenary and electrically connected to a traction unit, the catenary being adapted to provide an alternating current to the railway vehicle, the method comprising:

detecting a voltage step of a pantograph voltage at the pantograph,

detecting a zero crossing of a line current, the line current being a portion of a pantograph current provided to the traction unit, the pantograph current being the current flowing through the pantograph; and

determining at least one bouncing time of the pantograph based on one or more detected voltage steps and one or more detected zero crossings.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising detecting at least one arc time of an electrical arc between the pantograph and the catenary based on one or more detected voltage steps and one or more detected zero crossings.