Application of power electronic devices in rail transportation traction system

Abstract

Power electronic devices (PED) play an important role in developing rail transportation traction systems (RTTS), which has made enormous progress over the past decades. With the development of PED such as thyristor, GTO and IGBT, traditional DC drive systems are replaced by more efficient AC drive systems. Due to the advantages of AC drive system, such as high efficiency, energy saving, environmentally friendly etc, rail transportation has shown rapid development in recent years in China. This has strongly stimulated both power semiconductor industry's demand and technological progress. Focusing on the application of PED, this paper mainly discusses the latest challenges, effective solutions, and development trends of PED for RTTS.