ABSTRACT
Pantograph dynamic contact force play an important role in evaluating the current collection quality of pantograph and the operation conditions status of the catenary. The proposed new contact force measuring method is based on the linear relation of the strain responses which measured by fiber optic strain stages fixed on the bottom of the pantograph head and the concentrated load acted on the pantograph head. Additionally, the stiffness of contact strip in the liner relation varies with the wear depth of strip. On the other hand, temperature compensation is investigated for improving measuring precision. Moreover, in the high frequency range where inertia force dominates the influencing factors of contact force measuring precision, an improved method was used to estimate the inertia force. These optimizing increased the accuracy of measurement greatly. Finally, the feasibility and accuracy of this new contact force measuring method is verified by experiment.
