The Effectiveness Evaluation of Automatic Voltage Level Control in the Traction Network of AC Railways

The work evaluates the effectiveness of voltage level control in an AC traction power supply system. Using the SimInTech program, a dynamic model of the traction power supply system was developed. A model for automatic voltage control of a booster transformer based on a PID controller is proposed. A theoretical calculation of the energy-optimal voltage ratio of neighboring traction substations based on the superposition method is presented. The simulation results showed that controlling the voltage level leads to a significant improvement in the throughput and energy efficiency of the railway section. At the same time, the best results were demonstrated by the method based on stabilizing the voltage level in the middle of the intersubstation zone. The option, which focuses on equalizing the voltage at adjacent traction substations, ensures the most uniform loading of traction substations, but leads to a slight increase in electricity losses and does not guarantee the throughput of the railway section. Prospects for further development of the research topic are given.