Power electronics in Indian railways - an analysis

摘要

Continuous development in semiconductor technology for the last three decades or more have led to the availability of a host of high power semiconductor devices and fast, versatile VLSI (Very large Scale Integration) chips enabling proper controlof such power devices. These developments have enabled a phenomenal growth of power electronics which basically deals with processing of electric power to make it suitable for various applications. A major application of power electronics in this periodhas been in the field of railway traction all over the world. This has led to benefits like smoother drives for passenger comfort, energy conservation, higher operational speeds, cost effective maintenance besides helping the growth of electronicsindustry in general. Indian Railways is one of the largest railway system in the world and offers a big scope for application of power electronics. From the late '60s few efforts have been made to introduce such systems with mixed results. Greaterchallenge lies, before the Indian industry to make use of this particular application area for its growth.