The Use of Electric Energy Storage Devices to Improve Traction Properties of Autonomous Locomotives

The analysis of international experience in development of autonomous locomotives with a hybrid power plant allowed to prove the possibility of increasing the operating efficiency of diesel locomotives using electric energy storage devices. A proposed circuit diagram of the power system of a diesel locomotive implies as source of energy both a diesel engine and a traction battery with a DC pulse chopper. An algorithm has been developed to control the traction drive of a diesel locomotive with a hybrid power plant, which ensures an increase in the tractive force of the locomotive on sections with difficult track profile. Modernisation of the power system of a diesel locomotive using a hybrid power plant is considered for the diesel locomotive of 2TE116 series. A mathematical model of operation of a diesel locomotive traction drive powered by a hybrid energy source through a controlled voltage breaker has been developed using the energy balance equations of a traction electric motor. Respective traction properties of 2TE116 diesel locomotive with a standard power plant and a hybrid power plant were calculated using numerical modelling methods in MatLab and LabView software environments. It is shown that, over the entire range of operation speed, a diesel locomotive with a hybrid power plant allows obtaining a tractive effort 15 % higher than a diesel locomotive with a standard power plant. Calculations have proved that increasing the traction properties of the modernised 2TE116 diesel locomotive makes it possible to increase the designated weight of the train by 15 %, and, accordingly, the efficiency of using the locomotive as a traction unit on the railway network.