Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation for Compound Catenary Systems

Abstract

This study proposes a new pantograph testing method for railway pantograph/overhead contact lines (OCL) systems, based on hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) consisting of a physical pantograph and a numerical compound OCL model. A servo-hydraulic actuator fixed to a frame structure is used to realize vertical displacement of the contact wire model. In order to compensate for phase lag of the servo-hydraulic actuator and stabilize the HILS system, the dynamically substructured system (DSS) method is used. This HILS enables the investigation of dynamic interactions between the contact wire of the OCL and the pantograph head, due to dropper-passing of the pantograph. In order to validate the proposed method, HILS testing is carried out at the Railway Technical Research Institute. The contact force between the actuator and the pantograph head is measured using a loadcell. Results from this experimental investigation are compared with those generated by a numerical simulation of the emulated system, i.e. the system to be represented by the HILS experimentation.