Krasnov O. An active traction converter for AC electric locomotives with DC traction motors

The dissertation is devoted to the actual scientific and technical problem of increasing the energy efficiency of the AC electric locomotives with DC traction motors due to the improvement of traction converters. Active rectifiers are one of the effective ways to increase the power factor on AC electric locomotives with DC traction motors. In this thesis, the mathematical description of the active current source rectifier with DC motor is improved. The analysis of the active rectifier energy efficiency with a sinusoidal, trapezoidal and rectangular-stepped pulse-width modulation (modulation frequency 900 Hz, 1,200 Hz and 1,800 Hz) is performed. The power circuit of the active traction converter with two-zone DC voltage regulation and the algorithm for controlling transistors in traction and recuperation modes has been developed. The results of computer simulation showed that the active traction converter can provide a high power factor of electric locomotive (0.83...0.99). The trolley wire current THD is 9...17%, which is less than with a thyristor converter. This reduces the consumption of electricity for traction.