Abstract
Geomagnetic storms can cause earth surface potentials (ESPs) in the ground. ESP produces geomagnetically induced current (GIC) in a loop which is made up by rails and ground. If GIC flows into intercity railway track circuit, it will threaten the normal operation of track circuit. The reason that geomagnetic storms invade the track circuit was analyzed, and then how GIC affects the characteristics of choke transformers, was found. The calculation method of GIC according to a simulation based on the GIC flow path in the track circuit was built. Electromagnetic system model of choke transformer and track relay were designed in Maxwell software to get the magnetic flux density distribution of them. The results show that GIC values of 2.4 A can bring about serious direct current bias of choke transformers and cause the terminal voltage of track relay to decrease, resulting in relay malfunction. The numerical calculation results show that geomagnetic storms will interfere with intercity railway track circuit, which is in accordance with some phenomenon happened in some rail tracks. This method proves geomagnetic storms’ influence on intercity railway track circuit and attentions should be paid to this influence.
Highlights
When the solar actives intensely, a large number of plasma jets out with the velocity of 300–1000 km/s in the interplanetary space near the earth, so geomagnetic storms are formed
The results show that geomagnetically induced current (GIC) values of 2.4 A can bring about serious direct current bias of choke transformers and cause the terminal voltage of track relay to decrease, resulting in relay malfunction
We presented the composition of 25 Hz phase-sensitive track circuit and show how GIC flows into track circuit
Summary
When the solar actives intensely, a large number of plasma jets out with the velocity of 300–1000 km/s in the interplanetary space near the earth, so geomagnetic storms are formed. Oyedokun et al [10] made a calculation of geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) in transmission networks. These articles reported and found geomagnetic storms can have disadvantages of electrical system on the ground. Because rails are very long and exposed in the field as long conductors, they can be analogous to transmission lines, oil pipelines, and other long conductors, so we could infer that geomagnetic storms would affect the track circuit, and it is necessary to study this effect scientifically. The geomagnetic storms will affect the track circuit and signal equipment [14]. The new problem that geomagnetic storms interfere with the track circuit is worth studied
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