Japanese Shinkansen Research Articles

A Study of Power Factor Correction for Shinkansen Power Converters

For the better performance and/or the high speed running for electric rolling-stocks, high accuracy power factor control with PWM power converter fed by ac power line has become popular. It is practically easy to control actual power factor itself at the input point of the power converter on the rolling-stock, however, the more important is that at substations. Although there are some technical difficulties for detecting the correct voltage phase angle on the train, caused by, for example, interference from thyristor controlled converters, suitable target value for practical power factor can be calculated under reasonable conditions. Among some kinds of control concept, the instantaneous current control referring sinusoidal waveform is the most suitable solution for the Japanese Shinkansen. The test results proved the expected power factor control performance.

Numerical analysis for the influence of water film on adhesion between rail and wheel

The adhesion force between rail and wheel is one of the important factors for proceeding towards the realization of high-speed railway. On the other hand, it is supposed that the water film formed between the rail and wheel has a remarkable influence on the adhesion force under rainy condition at higher speeds. In this paper, taking Bett and Cappi's viscosity values of water, which show quite a different behaviour from the viscosity of oil, the influence has been investigated of important factors such as rolling speed, contact pressure and temperature on water film thickness for a smooth surface by applying elastohydrodynamic lubrication theory. Based on the numerical solutions, an empirical equation has been developed for water film thickness relating to rolling speed, load and material parameter by using a linear regression method and comparing it with other authors' works on a lower material parameter or elastic-isoviscous contact. Furthermore, in order to understand the influence of the above factors and the surface roughness on the adhesion force, adhesion coefficients have been calculated on a trial basis in the case of rough surface contact under limited conditions, and the theoretical results have been compared with the measured values of the tests on Japanese Shinkansen vehicles in the field.

Comparison of High-Speed Rail and Maglev Systems

European and Japanese high-speed rail (HSR) and magnetically levitated (maglev) systems were each developed to respond to specific transportation needs within local economic, social, and political constraints. Not only is maglev technology substantially different from that of HSR, but also HSR and maglev systems differ in trainset design, track characteristics, cost structure, and cost sensitivity to design changes. This paper attempts to go beyond the traditional technology comparison table and focuses on the characteristics and conditions for which existing European and Japanese systems were developed. The technologies considered are the French train a grand vitesse (TGV), the Swedish X2000, the German Intercity Express (ICE) and Transrapid, and the Japanese Shinkansen, MLU, and high-speed surface train (HSST).