Design and experimental validation of a 50kW IPT for Railway Traction Applications

Abstract

Present day city growth progressively demands a transport service that is increasingly flexible, efficient, whilst respecting the city's historical and cultural heritage. In that sense, catenary-free tram solutions offer a reduction in the level of visual intrusion. For these trams various charging infrastructures are in use nowadays and Inductive Power Transfer (IPT) can complement the offer in the current market. In this paper, the design and validation of a 50kW IPT is introduced for railway traction applications. The prototype has been initially validated in a laboratory environment and afterwards installed in a tram and validated in a railway test track. The total system efficiency is higher than 88% with a traveling direction tolerance to misalignment of ±1000mm.