ABSTRACT
This chapter presents general design and construction principles of overhead contact lines used on Polish railways that pretend to be a part of future HS system. The whole description is based on TSI “energy” approach and its requirements. The TSI approach provides the “energy” subsystem containing of:
substations, regarding devices transforming high-voltage energy drawn from the power grid into energy suitable for traction stock;
section cabins, regarding all electrical equipment placed between substations in order to transmit the traction energy using the overhead contact lines connected in parallel (on double-track lines) while allowing to break the circuit or disconnect a section when needed;
overhead contact line, regarding all overhead wiring necessary to transmit the power along the line from the substations and section cabins to moving electric vehicles, with respect to any environmental conditions;
return circuit, regarding all track-level equipment necessary to transmit the energy from the traction vehicles back to the substations with respect to personal safety, uninterrupted operation of signalling and control systems and protection of any underground civil structures.
Although a pantograph is considered to be an integral part of a vehicle its interaction with the overhead contact line is being assessed according to the TSI “energy” requirements.This chapter focuses on the need of upgrade of all the “links” mentioned above in a “chain” of power supply system in order to make it suitable for high-speed operation.
The paper presents basic OCL parameters and test results of current collection. One of the basic parameters limiting the maximum service speed on a given line is the pantograph-OCL cooperation quality. The survey presented in this chapter confirmed that Polish overhead line equipment type 2C120-2C-3 and YC150-2CS150 can be safely used on lines with speed up to 250 km/h which seems to be a technical limit for 3 kV DC system.
The chapter presents the following tendencies in overhead line equipment design in Poland: common use of copper alloys (CuAg, CuMg, CuSn), increased wire cross-section up to 150 mm2 and increased mechanical tension (for CuMg and CuSn). For AC overhead contact lines it is anticipated to use bronze messenger wires. The paper puts a thesis that development of high-speed railways in Poland should be linked with introduction of the 2×25 kV 50 Hz system, as recommended in TSI “Energy”.
