An Investigation into the Characteristics of a Novel Rotatable Pantograph Catenary System for High-Speed Trains

Abstract

High speed trains receive traction electrical energy from a high-voltage catenary via a pantograph catenary system (PCS). As the velocity of trains increases, the traditional PCSs face significant challenges, such as strong aero resistance under high-speed conditions, severe electrochemical corrosion caused by poor contact between the pantograph strip and the catenary, harmful wear both on the pantograph strip and the contact wire produced by high-speed sliding friction between them, etc. The effectiveness and reliability of the PCS has a direct impact on the performance and safety of the HTS power supply. In order to alleviate some of these bottleneck effects related to the operation of the currently used PCSs, especially under high-speed conditions, this paper proposes a novel configuration where rotatable pantograph rollers replace the currently used pantograph strips. As the sliding friction is now replaced by rotating friction, this has numerous benefits, such as less friction heat, better heat dispersion and improved catenary-tracking performance. Moreover, should the whole system be modularized, it could adapt to different levels of traction power through adjusting the number of rollers.