An ‘on scale’ simulator for urban DC railway traction application

Abstract

This paper discusses on an experimental platform of an electromechanical simulator able to reproduce the power flows between a railway vehicle and the power supply system. The platform consists of an scaled-down system. It represents an urban DC railway systems in normal and extraordinary operating conditions. It is equipped with hardware and software components, suitable for testing mechanical moving, electrical traction components and systems, storage device behavior and control strategy. In the final part of the paper the short-term vision about the platform in the context of Hardware in the Loop (HIL) application is focused.