The Thermal Dissipation Characteristics Analysis of the Rotatable Circular Pantograph–Catenary System

Abstract

As the unique power entrance of high-speed trains, the pantograph–catenary system (PCS) plays the critical role of power transmission for high-speed trains. The pantograph achieves the electrical power based on the sliding electrical contact between the pantograph strip and the high-voltage contact line. However, when the environmental temperature is relatively low especially during the winter, the contact line is covered by ice or snow easily. The ice or snow adhering on the surface of contact line may lead to poor electrical contact between the pantograph strip and the contact line, which may trigger the pantograph–catenary arc appearing. Accompanying with mechanic shock and friction heat, the off-line arc may deteriorate the quality of power transmission and meanwhile erode the contacting surface of the pantograph strip and the contact line to some extent. In order to solve this technique bottleneck, a novel rotatable circular-shape pantograph strip is proposed to improve the overall performance of the traditional pantograph strip. Compared with the traditional strip, the circular pantograph strip owns many advantages, such as less friction, better thermal dissipation, and better shock resistance. The thermal dissipation performance of both the traditional and circular pantograph strip is evaluated in this article, with the consideration of suffering off-line arc under the icing conditions.