Electrical Transients Analysis for Conductor Rail Gaps of Taipei Rapid Transit System

The design for the conductor rail gaps of a rapid transit system complies with service and maintenance criteria for crossovers, pocket track turnouts, walkway side variations, terminal stations, and different power supply sections. The collector shoes of a moving train passing the gaps will produce mechanical abrasion and switching transient characteristics. If the transient voltage is very large, it will produce electrical erosion on the leaving termination of the conductor rail. Maintenance technicians must often replace the damaged components beside the gaps with a new one to maintain service quality, thus, deciding the position and the type of the gaps to reduce arc voltage is very important. This study analyzed transient voltage of Taipei transit train passing crossovers, pocket track turnouts, and the distinct power supply section from deducing electrical circuits. If non-bridgeable gaps are replaced with bridgeable gaps, the bridgeable gaps will produce more arcing current than non-bridgeable gaps for the circuit from transient to steady state. The analysis results indicate that the magnitude of transient voltage depends on the charge and discharge time of the line impedance, the train operation speed and the overlap time of the two collector shoes touching the two sides of the conductor rail.