A Mechatronic Approach for the Detection of Wheel Slip/Slide and Antislip Control of Locomotive with AC Traction Motors

This paper presents a mechatronic approach for the detection of wheel slip/slide and antislip control of locomotive with ac traction motors, to enable an optimal use of adhesion in poor contact conditions. The proposed technique explores the variations in wheelset dynamic properties caused by condition changes at the wheel-rail contact and detects slip conditions from measurement of train speed with internal optical encoder of the wheelset axle indirectly. The modeling of a typical traction system, consisting of an induction traction motor (with associated power inverter and field-orientated control) connected to a wheelset via a gearbox, is introduced. The development of the slip detection and control scheme is presented, and the effectiveness of the proposed technique is demonstrated using computer simulations.