The design of an electronic load for mitigating transient overvoltage in the track circuits of railway signaling systems

Abstract

The research presented the design of safety electronic load suppression (SELS) for mitigating transient overvoltage in the track circuits of railway signaling systems while changing the track occupancy in the track circuits of the signaling system that caused damage to the BR966F2 relay. The analysis of the average failure of the electronic devices, the failure modes and effect analysis (FMEA), and the performance test of electronic devices were conducted. and the performance test of electronic devices were conducted. which can control the operation with 2oo3 processing mode (two out of three voting) under the series circuits pattern to resolve the damage caused by the application. Results illustrated that the mean operating time of the SELS between failures was 9,399 hours. In addition, regarding the performance of the electronic load for mitigating transient overvoltage of 1 kV at 31.4 V and overvoltage 50 VDC at 178.6 °C within 83 seconds at 35.4 V. Additionally, the SELS could function adequately without failure or causing any damage. Therefore, the SELS was more reliable.